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Light Before Day
by Christopher Rice
| List Price: |
$23.95 |
Unavailable for
purchase at this time |
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Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
In West Hollywood, journalist Adam Murphy is abruptly fired while chasing a career-making story. A Marine pilot is killed when his helicopter spirals into the Pacific Ocean -- and Adam suspects the death was not accidental. Battling his own demons in a city of temptations, Adam pursues the truth alongside his new boss, a famous curmudgeonly mystery writer, and discovers more than he planned about his recently estranged lover, a string of murders of other young men -- and a conspiracy so extraordinary that it threatens his sanity and his life. With a talent for creating suspense-tinged fiction that is "chillingly perverse" (USA Today) and "vivid and intense" (The Boston Globe), Christopher Rice delivers a dark thriller of revenge and sexual obsession.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| Really Awful... |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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Based on comments about his other books maybe some day I'll try one of them...but this book was REALLY BAD. I'm an intelligent college-eductaed guy that reads 1-2 books per week (of all types) and I simply couldn't follow the story here. A muddy, improbable mess!
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| Major disapointment after previous efforts. |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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While reading this book, my interest in it became "so light it could be blown over in a strong wind," in spite of the flashy "sodium lights".
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| Is gay bashing still a sport of sorts? |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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I discovered Christopher Rice because, having read all Anne Rice's books as soon as they came out, I couldn't ignore his birth and existence and I did read his first book out of curiosity and I have not regretted it at all. I just got this third book when I checked the section of new crime stories in W.H. Smith in Paris, and I do not regret getting it and reading it. I guess from now on I am going to read his books for himself and I will probably call him Christopher to separate him from his mother. This book is in many ways a page turner, but I don't think that's its main characteristic nor quality. For me the main character is that it is entirely contained in one world, West Hollywood centered on the gay community there. After a few chapters you are surprised by the fact that it sounds natural, normal, banal, in other words just plain simple. The psychology, the behavior, the culture, in one word the personalities of Christopher's characters are welcoming you with a wink and a smile. You feel loved, wanted in this world, trusted as a friend. That feeling of being the friendly and nonchalant voyeur in this neighborhood puts you at ease and you just let yourself relax and enter the slit in the fabric that enables you to witness the events of this world. And what events! What fascinating events! It is a thriller, so there are crimes, but instead of feeling or even thinking that it is no surprise that these "fags" could commit such horrible crimes, you feel and think they are committing these crimes either because they are pedophiles which has nothing to do with being gay, or because they have suffered unbearable violence in their youth and gotten no help to negotiate a proper answer to it that could lead them to some peace with themselves, distance with the monster that exploited them, or because they are sick in a way or another, sick with drugs, sick with alcohol, sick with greed, and probably sick with psychological distortion, dismemberment, warping or other disturbances. You project yourself totally into the characters that are running after the criminals, be they men or women, gay or straight. It does not matter anymore. Christopher has erased the problem. Yet we must say that he takes us so deep into horror that it could be classified as some kind of horror literature though he does not want to lead us down that road and is very careful to avoid the gritty details that would make him jump over the limit. The other characteristic that is interesting is the way he follows the trail of the criminals as a journalist and not as a cop. And Christopher adds one element that even makes it more effective: the hunter or tracker if your prefer is the hunted or tracked animal too. Right to the end of the novel, the crime-hunter Adam will be the prey or at least the tracked prey and all his reasoning to determine which way to go is in fact systematically the best way to keep the criminal bird of prey on his tracks. It is not that Adam is dumb. It is because when you only know part of the truth and you try to reconstruct the whole truth in order to be ahead of the criminal you are tracking, you cannot get to the right conclusion, you may but there is never any necessity that it be true because there are always several points of view to take into account and when you are following a trail you have to choose between the low road or the high road or the middle road since you can't follow more than one at a time. So the end is also the result of some luck in a way. But it can't be avoided because Adam, due to his name, cannot be God, hence cannot be true all the time. When you close the book, you think it over and try to sum it up in one sentence and you find it very difficult. The American society, Los Angeles or California if you prefer, is leading crime to some extreme points that always amaze me and the answer to this violence and crime is too often in the hands of simple citizens either because civil society does not trust the police or because the police is far from answering at the proper level of efficiency, motivation and means. Not enough cops, conflicting police bodies and institutions, lack of interest and even at times plain bigotry against some types of victims. Is gay bashing still a legitimate sport or not? We definitely have this question in the back of our minds when we close the book. And nothing would have been possible if at least three women had not helped very effectively, and that's maybe why the book seems to be balanced and full of sanity. It is not sexually segregative.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines
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| simply amazing |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This book is my new favorite book. At first, I was just reading it for something to do, but soon after starting it I was enthralled by what I was reading. The complexity and depth of this novel is what is truly astounding. Almost everything you think you know about what is happening is unraveled by the end, when Rice pulls out all the stops. This book is one of the best I have ever read, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. I haven't read the other two books by Christopher Rice, but if this book is anything to go by, I'm getting them tomorrow. By the end of the book, every minor plot line and every intricate detail are revealed to have grave importance, and nothing is as it seems. It's thrilling and suspenseful, and all around a great read. Everyone should read it.
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| Disappointed |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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Was really looking forward to this book but it didn't hold up. The plot was all over the place; too many characters; and at times too confusing. The plot twists that were jaw-dropping in his first 2 books are completely gone here. Hope he does better on his next one.
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