Jonathan Moore captivates readers with his new thriller,
THE NIGHT MARKET, a tale that takes place in a near-future
San Francisco. Although near-future in this case could come
as early as next year, if you're a cynic. People scramble to
buy products whose popularity rises as quickly as a fizzle
will follow, and they're onto the next "big thing." The
rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer.
Veteran Police Inspector Ross Carver and his partner arrive
at the scene of a homicide to find a body that's literally
consuming itself. Before they can begin to work the scene,
a group of FBI agents hustles them out and through a
decontamination process.
We next see Carver waking up, two days later, with his
heretofore unknown neighbor, Mia Westcott, reading to him.
He has no memory of the crime scene. Mia said she saw him
delivered home three days earlier.
The bulk of the novel encompasses Carver trying to put
together what happened and why he can't remember it. Mia
has some information, and she wants to help, but Carver
must keep her at a distance until he understands what's
going on.
Carver's San Francisco brims with futuristic images but
also has plenty of familiar landmarks including Golden Gate
Park and the Fairmont Hotel. And, while his plot will have
conspiracy theorists jumping for joy, some aspects ring
with feasibility which in itself is creepy. Masterful prose
and a nod to noir experts combine to make this novel
unforgettable. Fans of Greg Iles for plot twists and
writing, will enjoy this novel as will mystery fans who
aren't afraid to wonder what comes next. I look forward to
reading Moore's prior two San Francisco novels -- THE POISON
ARTIST and THE DARK ROOM -- that Moore calls collectively a
loosely connected trilogy.
From an author who consistently gives us “suspense that never stops” (James Patterson), a near-future thriller that makes your most paranoid fantasies seem like child’s play. It’s late Thursday night, and Inspector Ross Carver is at a crime scene in one of the city’s last luxury homes. The dead man on the floor is covered by an unknown substance that’s eating through his skin. Before Carver can identify it, six FBI agents burst in and remove him from the premises. He's pushed into a disinfectant trailer, forced to drink a liquid that sends him into seizures, and is shocked unconscious. On Sunday he wakes in his bed to find his neighbor, Mia—who he’s barely ever spoken to—reading aloud to him. He can’t remember the crime scene or how he got home; he has no idea two days have passed. Mia says she saw him being carried into their building by plainclothes police officers, who told her he’d been poisoned. Carver doesn’t really know this woman and has no way of disproving her, but his gut says to keep her close. A mind-bending, masterfully plotted thriller—written in Moore's "lush, intoxicating style" (Justin Cronin)—that will captivate fans of Blake Crouch, China Miéville, and Lauren Beukes, The Night Market follows Carver as he works to find out what happened to him, soon realizing he's entangled in a web of conspiracy that spans the nation. And that Mia may know a lot more than she lets on.