Book Review: The Chill of the Night by James Hayman

 
The Chill of the Night by James Hayman

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Publish Date: June 22, 2010

Paperback, 352 pages

My Review:
Why I read this:  I received a copy of this from the author through Pump Up Your Book Promotion. I jumped at the chance to review The Chill of the Night because I reviewed The Cutting by James Hayman last year, which was his first novel and I loved it.  You can find the review here.

How is the novel driven: The Chill of the Night is mostly plot-driven but there is more character development of McCabe in this one as well as there was in the first one.  I love getting to know McCabe more and seeing how his mind works.  I'm most fascinated with his eidetic memory.

My thoughts:
After reading several young adult novels in a row, it's nice to get back to an adult thriller book.  And what better way to do that with an author I fell in love with last year with his first book, The Cutting.  And even better than that, In the Chill of the Night continues the story of the main character from The Cutting, Michael McCabe.

The action starts from the beginning.  We are introduced to the first victim and the next thing you know it's two weeks later and that victim is found murdered.  Of course the murder has a twist and that twist takes Detectives McCabe and Savage through the twists and turns of solving this before more victims are found.

Great action and suspense, I was intrigued and kept intrigued through the book.  I loved also that I learn more about McCabe.  He is not just McCabe the detective as some mysteries do, but he is also Father, ex-husband, boyfriend, and friend.  I love all sides of him and the fact that he tries no matter what to do what is best.

I found this one a little more gritty than the first one.  There are more sexual references (due to the crimes), the language seems a little harsher.  I remember this because I gave the first book to my dad to read and I don't give him ones that are too rough, because he prefers to stay away from those.  However I don't feel it was too gratuitous in this book and I still highly recommend it.  It really wasn't meant to titillate, it's more the nature of the crimes.

Overall a wonderful thrill ride.  If you enjoy police procedural type thrillers with great characterization then this is the book for you.  No real need to read the first one, this stands on it's own, but reading the first one does give a stronger understanding of McCabe and his life.

One thing I really loved:  McCabe - he's probably my second favorite character in a suspense book and I look forward to reading more books about him in the future.


My Rating:  4.0/5.0

About the Book:

Fresh off the success of The Cutting, James Hayman brings Detective Michael McCabe back in an even more powerful tale of duplicity, murder, and revenge

Glamorous young Portland attorney Lainie Goff thought she had it all—brains, beauty, and a fast-track to a partnership in a top-ranked firm that was going to make her rich. But then one cold winter night she pushed things too far, and her naked frozen body is found in the sub-zero temperatures at the end of the Portland Fish Pier. The only witness to the crime: a mentally disturbed young woman named Abby Quinn who mysteriously disappears the very same night. With the discovery of Lainie Goff ’s body and the disappearance of Abby Quinn, Portland homicide detective Michael McCabe finds himself on the trail of a relentless and clever killer. A killer he must find before another life is lost. With The Chill of Night James Hayman returns to tell a gripping tale of evil and deceit and creates characters so real and so human, we want to meet them again and again.

About the Author:
JAMES HAYMAN spent more than twenty years as a senior creative director at one of New York’s largest advertising agencies. He and his wife, artist Jeanne O’Toole Hayman, now live in Portland, Maine. This is his second novel.

James Hayman's website
His Blog

For more information see my tour post here.

FTC Information: I received this book from the author through Pump Up Your Book Promotion for review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.