Darkness Peering Book

In small towns, everyone thinks that they know everyone's secrets and good police work is a matter of perpetual minor nosiness and betrayals. When a young Downs Syndrome girl is found in the woods, Police Chief Nathan Storrow finds his investigations drawing him to conclusions he would rather not make; years later, his daughter Rachel, herself a police officer, investigates the kidnapping of Claire, teacher at the local school for the blind, and colleague to Rachel's brother Billy, and finds herself going down some of the same paths of suspicion. The emphasis here is as much on the investigators and the personal problems that stand in the way of their success as it is on the details of crime and punishment. There is a lot of legwork, endless talking to Claire's students and some clever misdirection as to the interpretation of clues, but Nathan and Rachel both in turn have to learn to see what is in front of them, as much as follow a trail. The novel is dominated by atmosphere--the woods adjoining the town are omnipresently gloomy. Nathan's past alcoholism, Rachel's affair with a married man, become obstacles; we never escape from our pasts, and the present is unforgiving. --Roz KaveneyRead More