Review: Dark As Night

The lovely people at Uglytown Press have a new chef in the kitchen. Mark T. Conard, an Asst. Professor of Philosophy at Marymount Manhattan College in NYC, is cooking up a noir feast with Dark as Night. The wine is a sullen blood red and the main course, served up by Philadelphias mob, was kicking and screaming just minutes ago. And the waiter, a crooked coked up cop, expects a big tip.

Morris White is a nice guy trying to make an honest living. From a kid raised on trouble, hes become the sous-chef at a first-rate Philadelphia restaurant, Le Tour de Cochon. Hes also got a new woman, Vicky Ward, in his life. Shes got his heart working at double speed and his mind wrapped around future possibilities. The way he figures it, his life is on track to becoming everything hes ever wanted it to be. But, the past has a way of coming up from behind to put a snub nose to your temple when you least expect it.

Whites troubled past is embodied in the form of his half brother, Vince Kammer. As White grew out of his delinquent ways, Kammer grew into them. Showing up at Grateford Prison to pick Vince up after his three-year stint for breaking and entering, White finds his half- brother even meaner than before. Instead of a young man with a bad attitude, hes an angry man with a chip on his shoulder. And a plan that he refuses to say anything about. Although White knows hell regret it, he invites Vince to stay with him. Just until hes back on his feet. But White is worried.

Vince cant help it. Hes got a bad case of revenge and nothing is going to get in his way. Except, perhaps, Johnny Stacks, a local bookmaker that wants his cut of the hundred grand worth of diamonds Vince went to prison trying to steal. He sends his goons, Erasmo Mo Pacitti, his right hand man, and Lenny Zielinsky, an imprudent and impulsive gopher, to bring Vince and his partner in crimes, Billy Hope, Jr., in for a little persuasion.

Also on Vinces trail is a dirty cop named Dick Franks. Hes looking for something to snort and needs bucks to buy it with. Hearing that Vince has been sprung, and that he should have a pocketful of diamonds, beating their location out of the ex-con becomes a priority.

Word on the street is that Vince is staying at his brothers house, which soon brings a conga line of bad guys Morris Whites way. They are desperate, well armed, bad-tempered and theyre looking for something White doesn't have a clue about.

Mr. Conard goes right for the jugular with Dark as Night. The tornado-like plot sucks you in on page one and it doesn't stop spinning until the last page. This fiction debut is a twisted tale of the finest calibre. Conard has hit the noir nail on the head. Hard.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jennifer Jordan

Book Review: Dark As Night