Darkness First by James Hayman Review

Darkness First

by James Hayman

on Tour October 2013

Book Details:

Genre: Thriller Published by: Witness Publication Date: 10/1/2013 Number of Pages: 434 ISBN: 9780062301697 Purchase Links:

Synopsis:

Darkness First by James Hayman is the third book in the McCabe and Savage series. The sadistically mutilated body of a young woman is found in the secluded seaside town of Machiasport, Maine and detective Maggie Savage is drawn home to solve the murder and restore peace. Maggie is the daughter of a sheriff, and justice is in her blood. What makes her so desperate for answers, though, is the fact that her dearest childhood was found just a few steps away from the corpse, comatose, with 150 tablets of Canadian Oxycontin in her pocket. Maggie delves through the darkest parts of Machiasport, trying to find whichever doomed corner the murdered girl wandered into. After casing old haunts and interviewing the locals, whispers of a menacing character begin to surface: a faceless and nameless man who nobody knows but everybody fears. In the tradition of John Sandford and William Kent Kreguer, Darkness First is a gruesome thriller about a small town rocked by a savage crime.

Author Bio:

James Hayman is a native New Yorker having been born in Brooklyn and raised in Manhattan. Like many city kids, he was sent off to a New England boarding school at fourteen. Eight years later he graduated from Brown University and returned to New York where he spent the next twenty-five years working as a copywriter and creative director at some of Madison Avenue’s biggest ad agencies, creating print and TV advertising for clients like the US Army, Lincoln Mercury, Merrill Lynch and Procter & Gamble. After deciding that the New York agency business was “no country for old men,” Jim left Madison Avenue and moved to Portland, Maine where he worked for several years as a freelance business writer, publishing dozens of articles and two non-fiction business books. In 2007 he decided to follow in the footsteps of other former “Madmen” (James Patterson, Stuart Woods, Chris Grabenstein and Ted Bell to name just a few) and begin a new career writing suspense/thrillers. His debut novel, THE CUTTING was the first in a planned series featuring Portland homicide detectives Michael McCabe and Maggie Savage. It was quickly published and garnered rave reviews both in the print media and online. THE CUTTING was followed by THE CHILL OF NIGHT. Both books have been published around the world and translated into six languages. The third McCabe/Savage thriller, DARKNESS FIRST, is due from Harper Collins’ new Witness imprint in October. Jim lives in Portland with his wife, the artist Jeanne O’Toole Hayman.

Catch Up With the Author:

My Review:

I really need to get the first two books in this series. This reminded me of Law and Order SVU, but on a much smaller scale. Small towns are great for a lot of reasons. This book reminded me of how in small towns everyone knows each other. In this case that was a good thing, because there were not that many suspects, or so the reader is led to believe. Maggie was a great character to follow. As I was reading I felt as though I was investigating with her. This also made me think about how sometimes friends are willing to do more for you than some relatives. I am giving this book a 5/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.

Tour Participants: