Darkness Falls

Darkness Falls is a model of what the modern suspense thriller should be - tense, scary, page-turning and stomach-churning - because we care most of all about what happens to the characters. Set aside a day -- you won't be able to put it down once it has you in its grip.' - Val McDermid on DARKNESS FALLS 'Debut crime novels that can be praised unreservedly are rare. Murphy creates terrific menace and tension, well-climaxed.' - Marcel Berlins, The Times on GOODNIGHT, MY ANGEL 'Sets new standards in the psychological thriller...It's hard to believe something this assured is a first novel. A remarkable debut - threatening, thrilling and thoroughly authentic.' - Val McDermid on GOODNIGHT, MY ANGEL Yesterday Clara Pascal, successful barrister, was prosecuting a top drugs baron in a trial that filled the newspapers. Now she lies in a cellar, chained to the wall and unable to communicate with anyone. Her kidnapper won't even tell her why she is being held hostage. Meanwhile the machinery of the state is set in action to search for Clara, with Detective Inspector Steve Lawson in control. Using the literary device of mixing the mentality of the killer with that of Clara's abductor, Murphy succeeds in heightening the tension to almost unbearable levels. From the beginning her writing succeeds in depicting the despair a victim can feel, and the contrast between Clara's horrifying suffering and the police procedural of the investigation is highly effective. Truly unputdownable. (Kirkus UK)A Crown Prosecutor descends into hell, as does the family awaiting her return. Dropped off at the schoolyard early by a mum in a great hurry to get to court and start her day prosecuting minor felons before devoting time to the Crown's case against drug czar Ray Casavettes, young Pippa becomes the sole witness to something unimaginable: the abduction of her mum Clara by a man wearing a red ski mask and a blue anorak and driving a white van. Five days later, Pippa is still in shock, her dad Hugo is near breaking point, and Clara is terrorized, near starvation, half-mad, and chained to a cellar wall by a man who seems to loathe her. Will the police find her before she becomes a fatality? Unfortunately, the ghoul they suspect is not the right ghoul, although he has a record of raping and destroying young girls and has crossed paths with Clara in court. Casavettes offers help in finding Clara in exchange for bail, but DI Steve Lawson and his superiors resist until routine detective work puts them, Casavettes and his thugs, and Clara's tormentor on a collision path that ends with death, pain, and the anguish of second-guessing. Alternating segments of dogged police work, despite the personality conflicts at the Diva Street Station, with the excruciating degradation of Clara, Murphy (Goodnight My Angel, not reviewed, etc.) turns personal responsibility into an unassailable rallying cry