A city in darkness. A building in lockdown. A score that can only be settled in blood…
Working off the books for FBI Special Agent Alex Monroe, Florida bounty-hunter Lori Anderson and her partner, JT, head to Chicago. Their mission: to entrap the head of the Cabressa crime family. The bait: a priceless chess set that Cabressa is determined to add to his collection.
An exclusive high-stakes poker game is arranged in the penthouse suite of one of the city’s tallest buildings, with Lori holding the cards in an agreed arrangement to hand over the pieces, one by one. But, as night falls and the game plays out, stakes rise and tempers flare.
When a power failure plunges the city into darkness, the building goes into lockdown. But this isn’t an ordinary blackout, and the men around the poker table aren’t all who they say they are. Hostages are taken, old scores resurface and the players start to die.
And that’s just the beginning…
I'm so delighted to be hosting the blog tour for Deep Dark Night today. Many thanks to Steph Broadribb, Orenda Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Blog Tours for inviting me and for my digital copy of the novel.
To say Lori Anderson hasn't had the easiest few months would possibly be the understatement of the year and with FBI Special Agent Alex Monroe still exerting a hold over her, things aren't about to get any easier. Although Deep Dark Night can be read as a standalone, I would strongly recommend the previous books in the series because the compelling full story of how it is that a Florida based bounty-hunter has become so enmeshed with the Mob deserves to be enjoyed in its entirety to date.
Lori doesn't appear in the prologue which instead features a group of teenagers who explore an out-of-bounds basement under their apartment building and make a horrific discovery., the truth of which isn't revealed until much later. When Lori and her lover, JT are introduced, it initially seems as if they're on familiar territory - in risky situations with people who would kill them without pausing for breath. However, before long it's clear that Deep Dark Night has a different feel from the first three books which were all fast-paced chase stories taking place over numerous locations. Here, the action occurs in a far more intimate setting but still has all the tension and atmospheric scene-setting I've always loved about this series.
There is one obvious comparison to a well-known book as Lori becomes caught up in a deadly locked room drama which has definite echoes of 'And Then There Were None.' However, throughout the novel, I couldn't help but feel that Steph Broadribb had taken the elements of several other classic plotlines; Deep Dark Night could perhaps be described as a modern day Agatha Christie story crossed with a 'one last job' sting, a violent Mob tale and a 'who will survive?' disaster movie! It never feels derivative or obvious and instead constantly kept me on my toes as I tried to figure out how on earth Lori and JT were going to escape the predicament they find themselves in and what the real truth is behind the burning question they are set.
Much of the narrative is written from Lori's first-person perspective and as always, I love this resolute, tough character. She finds herself in these dangerous situations time and again but her drive to protect Dakota and JT means she never gives up, even when things may seem hopeless. Nevertheless, there is a more vulnerable side to her and I was pleased to see several references to the psychological impact of their recent experiences in both her chapters and those that follow JT . Sometimes the protagonists of action thrillers seem almost unbreakable - inside and out - but Lori and JT bear the physical and emotional scars of their adventures and far from thriving on the excitement, they both long to return to Dakota knowing she and they are safe.
Deep Dark Night might be a different sort of book to the previous Lori Anderson novels but that doesn't mean it is any less exciting or addictive. The plot still feels fast moving with everything liable to change at any moment, the sense of place is just as vividly realised and of course the characterisation is everything I've come to expect from this fabulous series. Highly recommended again!
Deep Dark Night is published by Orenda Books, purchasing links can be found here.
Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.
About the Author
Steph Broadribb was born in Birmingham and grew up in Buckinghamshire. Most of her working life has been spent between the UK and USA. As her alter ego – Crime Thriller Girl – she indulges her love of all things crime fiction by blogging at www.crimethrillergirl.com, where she interviews authors and reviews the latest releases. Steph is an alumni of the MA in Creative Writing (Crime Fiction) at City University London, and she trained as a bounty hunter in California. She lives in Buckinghamshire surrounded by horses, cows and chickens. Her debut thriller, Deep Down Dead, was shortlisted for the Dead Good Reader Awards in two categories and a finalist in the ITW Awards, and hit number one on the UK and AU kindle charts, and the sequel, Deep Blue Trouble and Deep Dirty Truth soon followed suit.
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