Places in the Dark

Reading books is a wonderful and, at times, a boring process. It seems that one must read so many books that fail to move, that are well thought out, excellently written but at the last page you are left with perhaps a smile, ocassionaly a mild comment, "oh, that was a good book". But, just every so often one happens upon a book that reaches deep down beyond the surface of the maundane and leaves you with the feeling that the few hours you have just spent were some of the more meaningful hours of your life. That's what "Places in the Dark" has done for me.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a reader of mysteries. When I picked up this book, I chose it because of the cover. Once I realized it was a mystery, I was so engrossed that I didnt' care. The characters in this books are so well-drawn and the story had be hooked within the first 25 pages.In this book, Dora March gets off the train in Port Alma, Maine in 1937 and leaves the town forever changed by the time she disappears a year later. She gets a job watching over an elderly man who dies while in her care. She then gets a job working at the local newspaper where she meets and falls in love with the editor and brother of the main character Cal. Cal finds himself falling in love with Dora, and finally expresses it to her. Shortly thereafter, Billy is found dead and Cal is left desperately trying to find Dora, who he is convinced killed his brother.This book goes back and forth from the past and back to the present. I could not put this book down once I picked it up because it was that good. This is a must-read!

In the fall of 1937, a mysterious woman, Dora March, steps off the bus in the small seaside town of Port Alma, Maine and enters the lives of two brothers: Cal, who always leads with his head and William, who always leads with his heart. Though she stays in town only a year, her presence changes their lives forever, leaving one dead and the other almost crazy with guilt. Places in the Dark is a suspenseful, compelling page turner that keeps you off balance throughout the entire book. Everytime you think you have a handle on the plot and mystery, Thomas Cook turns you in a different direction, convincing you, you're mistaken and on the wrong track. Though there is not a spare word in this story, the real strength of this novel is the powerful, eloquent, vivid writing. Each character is beautifully drawn and developed and given a strong voice to move the story forward to its unexpected, climactic ending. Places in the Dark explores the tragedy of loss, guilt and betrayal and how easily love can both delight and destroy those we care about. One of the best new books this year, it's a story that shouldn't be missed.

Thomas Cook is unquestionably one of the best fiction writers since Agatha Christie. His prose is beautiful and compelling and his characters lives are believable. His plots are terse with minimal embellishment and no fluff to weaken the plot. He is one of the few modern fictional writers whose succeeding books never get stale or repetitive. Some of his paragraphs are written so beautifully that I have to reread them. "Places in the Dark" has a Maine coastal location that fits the plot beautifully and his small town characters remind those of us who grew up in small towns of people that we knew. Mr. Cook leaves no loose ends and I almost always finish his books in one days reading.

A mystery of psychological suspense, set in a small coastal Maine village in 1937, Edgar-award winner (for "the Chatham School Affair) Thomas H. Cook's "Places in the Dark" pits the stoic against the romantic and, between them, an enigmatic woman of mystery.Cal Chase, the narrator, a pragmatic, unemotional lawyer, mourns his murdered younger brother, beloved, high-spirited Billy, and vows to track down the mysterious Dora March, the love of Billy's life, who disappeared right after the murder.As Cal digs into the woman's past, he dredges up his own - the childhood he and Billy shared with parents whose temperaments were incomprehensible to each other and the more recent past, the days since the appearance of Dora. Billy's mother encouraged him to follow his heart, their father counseled Cal to adhere to the voice of reason.As the story unfolds the reader realizes that both ideologies have left the boys too narrow to deal with the tangled forces of love. Cal's rigid, tortured voice serves to emphasize the passions building within him, building, inevitably as he see in hindsight, to tragedy. But there are more shocks in store for Cal, devastating realizations about life and character and crippling trauma.A brooding excursion into the depths of the human heart, full of surprises and dread, with a stunning ending.