INTO THE BLACK NOWHERE
Meg Gardiner
2018
Dutton

Last year a book came across my desk that grabbed my attention for two reasons. The first was the author of the book being Meg Gardiner. Every book I’ve read by Gardiner has been fabulous, she is a master storyteller who has never failed to keep my flipping pages as fast as I can. The second attention grabber was the title. UNSUB. If you read crime fiction or watch crime movies and TV you know this is shorthand for unknown subject. It is used to describe a criminal, usually a killer, who is committing ongoing crimes. As a reader this tells me I’m in for a story that is going to be suspenseful and exciting. UNSUB was that and more and was one of my favorite books of 2017.

UNSUB introduced us to Caitlin Hendrix, a detective in Southern California. Caitlin is easy for the reader to like, she’s smart, empathic and clever. In the second of the series, INTO THE BLACK NOWHERE, Caitlin is a rookie with the FBI training with the Behavioral Analysis Unit and they are working a case near Austin Texas that involves women going missing. Bodies are being found in the woods surrounded by polaroid photos.

Now, if you’ve read anything involving the BAU you know that it’s not an easy job. Agents see horrific things and have to try and get a mindset similar to that of their unsub. It’s usually not pretty and Caitlin while up to the task may discover that the job takes more out of her than she anticipated. This particular case is developing quickly and time is a factor if they plan to prevent more murders. As the clock ticks ever forward the story picks up pace and as a reader I found my self actually sitting up and reading faster. Gardiner does such an amazing job of building tension I actually had to take a little break and kind of walk it off. By the time I got to the end I was feeling pretty tense. And just like the whole book was an amazing read, the ending was beautifully done. I very much look forward to the next book with Caitlin Hendrix.

Jon Jordan