Book Review: Out of the Dark

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Out of the Dark     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Sharon Sala
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Romance   Romantic Suspense   Religious Cult
Mira, Oct 2003, $6.99, 384 pp.

In 1977 St. Louis Sam and Maggie Cochrane live the American dream, loving each other and their little girl. However, Maggie seeks something extra beyond being a loving wife and mother so she attends classes at the community college. There she meets Soloman and his cult of followers The People of Joy. She runs away with six year old Jade to join Soloman’s followers. Two years later she is dead from an overdose and Jade is sold to pediophiles.

Over the next two decades a lonely Sam becomes a successful businessman, but finds no sign of his family until friends on vacation see a portrait of Maggie. They inform Sam who asks his friend former cop Luke Kelly to investigate. Luke learns Maggie is dead, but tracks down Jade in New Orleans. He brings Jade and her companion Raphael to meet Sam. As Raphael is dying from AIDS due to his days as a child prostitute, Jade and Luke fall in love while Sam tries to become a father to his beloved adult daughter. However, someone learns of Jade’s return and is worried that his career may end if the scandal of his using her as a child hooker surfaces.

OUT OF THE DARK is an exhilarating romantic suspense tale that emphasizes the family drama over the intrigue. The story line is at a superb level of quality when Sam and Jade meets and when Luke tries to reach out to his beloved. When a hired killer enters the plot, the character study takes an unnecessary back seat. Still fans of the human drama will appreciate Jade’s Mount Everest climb OUT OF THE DARK.

Harriet Klausner

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