Review: When Darkness Falls

The Jack Swytek series just gets better in When Darkness Falls. In this book, Jack becomes the defense lawyer for Falcon, a homeless man, who has attempted suicide from one of Miami’s bridges. However, he soon finds out Falcon is not at all the person he seems to be. Falcon originally appears as poor, homeless with mental problems and a thing for the Mayor’s daughter, Alicia. While hanging from the bridge, she is who he asks the hostage negotiator, Vincent Paulo, to speak with in exchange for him coming down.

Falcon somehow comes up with the $10,000.00 bail in cash and is back on the streets. The mayor is frantic and wants the man stopped as he feels he will be stalking his daughter. Then a woman is found badly beaten to death in the abandoned shell of a car that Falcon calls home. Falcon is then on the run and manages to take Jack’s best friend, Theo, and three other people hostage in a seedy motel room.

The stakes are very high due to Falcon’s apparent mental condition and murder charges looking inevitable. Vincent Paulo is once again called in to negotiate with him as he has a history of negotiating with Falcon. However Falcon also demands that Jack be in the middle of the negotiations also and it appears that someone behind the scenes does not care what happens as long as Falcon does not leave the room alive because he knows too many secrets.

Gippando has created a masterful page turner in When Darkness Falls. One does not know from one minute to the next when the negotiations are liable to fall apart and Falcon could crack and kill all the hostages.

When Darkness Falls introduces two new main characters that I am was not familiar with that may have been in his previous books. Vincent Paulo, the hostage negotiator is just back from leave after a hostage situation in which he made the wrong decision that has left him blind. Alicia Mendoza, a police officer and the Mayor’s daughter, is Vince’s past girlfriend that he split up with after he was blinded. Now they are thrown together again in this hostage situation. And of course, the ever colorful, Theo is back. Theo is a black man, who was innocent, that Jack saved from the electric chair at the final hour and is now Jack’s best friend. Jack has very high stakes in this situation also as he cannot face the prospect of losing Theo.

I have only had the pleasure of reading one other of the six Jack Swytek novels but will be looking for the previous ones and looking forward to future installments to find out what Jack and Theo get themselves into next. I would also like to learn more about Vince and Alicia as they were very interesting characters themselves.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Gina Metz - RAM

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.

Book Review: When Darkness Falls

Please Note: Books reviewed are usually provided by the publisher, author, or an agent. Reviewers usually get to keep the book.