Twenty years ago Detective Francis X. Loughlin solved his first huge case. He pushed a seventeen-year-old boy to the breaking point and sent him up for murder. But now there’s been another death, another pretty, young doctor viciously killed in her pristine Manhattan apartment–and a startling link to that long-ago conviction. All fingers point to the convict Julian Vega, no longer so young, out of jail on a technicality, and no longer the eager-to-please youth Loughlin first met in the interrogation room. But this is no open-and-shut case. When Loughlin arranges for a DNA test, the results blow up in his face. Soon there are bulldozers in the graveyard, exhuming twenty-year-old remains and renewing a family’s deep-seated mourning. Because there’s one thing in this case that Loughlin’s now sure of–the blood under the latest victim’s fingernails definitely doesn’t belong to Julian Vega. It doesn’t even belong to a man. It belongs to Allison Wallis, the woman murdered twenty years before. Two men circle each other from opposite sides of the law. Both have something to prove, both are only too aware of their own limitations. Once again, Peter Blauner plunges his readers into the murky territory where right bleeds into wrong, and truth finds the most unexpected hiding place. Keenly observant, carefully crafted, and shatteringly suspenseful, this is a spellbinding new work from the bestselling author of The Intruder.
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"The suspense had me scared xxxxless!! Set my teeth on edge. Could not put it down, although I wanted to throw it against the wall a few times. Stephen King is right: Best crime novel I have read in a long, long time!!!!" — Mickie (5 out of 5 stars)
"The suspense had me scared xxxxless!! Set my teeth on edge. Could not put it down, although I wanted to throw it against the wall a few times. Stephen King is right: Best crime novel I have read in a long, long time!!!!"
“One of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time. I’ve come to expect a lot from Peter Blauner, but this was amazing, even by his standards. It’s got the cynical yet crystalline quality of Raymond Chandler, and two of the great antagonists in mystery fiction. This is one ace-high suspense novel.”
“An intelligent, exciting tale of crime and punishment, and the wonder of redemption…Slipping into Darkness is Peter Blauner at his best.”
“A taut psychological thriller with a pair of conflicted but compelling antagonists and a surprise ending you’ll never see coming.”
“The best New York thriller of the moment is Peter Blauner’s Slipping into Darkness, with a title referring to both moral quicksand and failing eyesight. And this moody, location-specific story wears its urban authority with ease…layered and involving…Each of its main characters is lifelike, and each is sharply defined by a sense of New York.”
“Even the most seasoned mystery authors will be hard-pressed to write a better novel than Slipping into Darkness, Blauner’s sixth. It may very well be the crime novel of the year. Literary in language and form, it applies the latest in science and technology to a classic tale of sex and murder.”
“Raw, savvy…Like an especially good Law & Order pumped up on steroids…A mystery with satisfying moral heft.”
“[The book] is elevated by Blauner’s surefooted characterization of Julian. Newly free, struggling to find his way, dependent on the (somewhat tenuous) kindness of strangers, he is both sympathetic and tough; his portrait has a complexity that few authors could achieve.”
“Peter Blauner’s new novel is being marketed as a thriller, just as his first five were, but this New York City crime writer is up to a lot more than that. Sure, the plot is tense, intricate, and full of surprises, but it’s not the plot that matters in a Blauner novel. It’s the characters.”
“Sublime…a thoroughly satisfying novel about people doing the best they can and villainy hiding in plain sight.”
“My favorite mystery writers are poets; writers who see and describe people, places, and emotions in a way that is original and accurate. Mr. Blauner ranks with the best…It is possible you’ll read a better mystery this year. You won’t read a better novel.”
" A wonderfully gripping thriller/mystery...very well-written. "
" Perfectly fine crime drama - very quick read. Solid but not great. "
" Terrible writing killed it before it began. "
" My first Blauner book and a great read. Good storyline about DNA and Peter writes so well. Enjoyable. "
" Great book if you are into mysteries. Keeps you guessing until the end. A fast read since you don't want to put it down. "
" Very good mystery; excellent character development. "
" You can read my thoughts here. (3.75/5) "
" Peter Blauner is one of the best writers out there by far. This was an awesome book. "
" I like Peter Blauner's thrillers. They tend to leave me sitting on the edge of my seat. "
" I may not have seen that ending coming, but to get there was a bit drawn out. So much confusion, then wham, the end. Overall it was a decent story, but I wouldn't read it again. "
" Listened to the book on CD. Really makes you feel for wrongfully jailed people... pulpy, in general, but fast-paced and kept my interest. "
" Dentro do género, podia ser um pouco melhor, visto que os que já li desta colecção o foram. "
Peter Blauner is an Edgar-winning, bestselling author of several novels, including Slow Motion Riot, The Intruder, and Sunrise Highway. His books have been translated into twenty languages. Picture in the Sand is the culmination of two decades of writing and research that took him from Brooklyn to Cairo a half-dozen times.
Michael Kramer is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, and recipient of a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award. He is also an actor and director in the Washington, DC, area, where he is active in the area’s theater scene and has appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater J.
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