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BLUE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, THE
by Jonathon King
Onyx, April 2003
265 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0451410785

How far can you run from your past? Can the things that made you throw off your old life catch up to you again? Those are the questions that ex Philadelphia cop, Max Freeman, asks himself everyday.

Max left his police job in Philadelphia after he shot and killed a black teen who was holding up a store. The fact that the kid shot his gun at Max and left him with a bullet hole in the neck didn't change the fact that Max didn't want to kill the teen ñ but it happened. There were no charges brought against Max because the shooting was a good one, but the whole situation left him with a bad feeling for the job. So Max left the force and Philadelphia and ran away to the Florida Everglades. It was in Florida where he met lawyer Billy Manchester, the son of a friend of his mother. He was a very successful lawyer with a bad stuttering problem that kept him out of courtroom trials, but no one knew the law better than Billy.

Max stayed with Billy when he first arrived in Florida. Since Max wanted to live as far from civilization as he was able, it was Billy who helped him find a shack in the middle of the Everglades. The only way to get to Max's home was by canoe and you had to know all of the strange watery channels that led to and from the shack.

One evening, while he was paddling the canoe, Max found the body of a young child who was recently kidnapped and then dumped in the glades. It took Max over an hour of hard paddling to get help, but by the time he reported the incident he discovered that the FBI knew all about the murder and the body. They were already on their way to the glades to find and pick up the child's remains.

This was a bad summer for the people who lived near Max's new home. There had been a rash of kidnapped and murdered children and the police didn't have any leads or suspects, that is until Max Freeman showed up. Now the police and the FBI think that Max has something to do with all the deaths. The murderer had emailed the FBI with the Global Positioning System co ordinance of each body and then a GPS unit was found in Max's shack. It seems as if someone is out to frame Max for all the deaths. But why? And why are all the children being killed?

THE BLUE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, introducing ex-police officer Max Freeman, is the debut novel for author Jonathon King. This Philadelphia ex-cop has all the qualities needed to become the star of a new series.

Along with well-developed secondary characters, like Billy Manchester and Florida Homicide Detectives Diaz and Richards, author Jonathon King has created a multileveled story of intense interest. I found myself being pulled in by the dark tone and the highly visual details. By the end of this novel you feel as if you've been dragged though the rich Everglades swamps to find the solidly formed conclusion to this mystery.

I highly recommend this novel. If we're lucky it will be developed in a series.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, April 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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