Pitch Dark

by A.M. Wilson & Alex Grayson

From the minute the blurb hit my screen this was one that I was really looking forward to getting my hands on but was my anticipation rewarded or was it all smoke and mirrors…well there was plenty of subterfuge and anticipation and whilst I would say that I finished the book more than a little replete, it wasn’t entirely what I had anticipated.

Niko is a police officer, and a good one at that but it is his vocation, his calling, his determination to fulfil a promise he made to himself more than a decade ago when his best friend Aislin disappeared. As a youngster, he was devoted, totally smitten and losing her left him with one burning ambition …to find her!

But his crusade always ran the risk of taking him to dark places, and to the fact that it may not have the ending he would wish for, so when he is confronted with a tortured body that bears a strong likeness to Aislin, his focus is invigorated and his goal is reset…this time it is to find the people responsible for murdering his friend.

I liked the fact that he was so head strong, so focused but at times he really gave off a vibe that was difficult to reconcile. He was angry, he had a right to be but as an office of the law I wanted him to brood a little more, to exorcise his cool protective attitude but at times he just came off as being a little cold.

Now the book could have held its own on the hunt for the killer and Niko alone but the author cleverly threw in a distraction, she presented a mystery in the shape of a woman with no memory of who she is or where she has either been or come from but that shows all the hallmarks of having been in the clutches of the same person that killed Aislin.

The connect between them was understandable but far from conventional. The author wrote with feeling and details what I can only describe as a heart-breaking, because the physical and emotional pain that the characters and I do mean both characters had been through. While I would accept that this is not a light fluffy romance, it isn’t as dark as I had anticipated but it does cover some very disturbing scenarios and that in itself is enough for a word of caution.

Overall though I would have to say that this was first class.