Book Review: A Permanent Twilight

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

A Permanent Twilight     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Chuck Freadhoff
Class/Genre:   Mystery
HarperCollins, Sep 2000, $25.00, 338 pp.

A desperate Sara Bradley calls her Uncle Johnny Rose at his place of business, the LA Journal. Johnny, a reporter, is not in, so she leaves a voice message saying she needs to see him. Later on, Johnny listens to his voice mail and hears the fear and panic in his niece’s voice. He knows he never heard that before even if she has been living on the streets of Hollywood. Almost ignoring the metro editor who wants Johnny to cover a restoration story, the journalist races out to search for his relative.

After frantically failing to find Sara all day, Johnny finally catches up with his niece only to watch her die in a fire. Although abandoned buildings like the one that Sara died in burn easily, Johnny wonders what started the blaze. He thinks back to his niece’s apprehensive voice and thinks murder may be involved. He begins making inquiries that lead him to the Hollywood Restoration Committee and Sara’s best friend Gem, who Johnny thinks, may be the next victim.

The second Johnny Rose investigative novel (see BLUE RAIN) is a by the book thriller. The story line is fast-paced, but Johnny never breaks out of the Kolchek mold of being the lone ranger fighting uphill against the establishment, including the editors to report a story. The street kids add an intriguing take to the plot, but even that insightful yet sermonizing look fails to lift the tale out of the ordinary. Fans of hard core journalistic investigations will find Chuck Freadhoff’s novel very interesting. For everyone else, the book is a pass.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner