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Instruments of Night

Name: Instruments of Night
Author: Thomas H. Cook
ISBN: 9780553578201

by Thomas H. Cook

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Overview

Thomas Cook is one of today's most acclaimed writers of psychological thrillers, penning hypnotic tales of forbidden love and devastating secrets. Now he has written an unforgettable novel that weaves one man's tortured life with a deadly mystery that spans five decades....

Riverwood is an artists' community in the Hudson River valley, a serene place where writers can perfect their craft. But for all its beauty and isolation, it was once touched by a terrible crime--the murder of a teenage girl who lived on the estate fifty years ago. Faye Harrison's killer was never caught--and now her dying mother is desperate to learn the truth about her daughter's murder.

Enter Paul Graves, a writer who draws upon the pain of his own tragic past to write haunting tales of mystery. Graves has been summoned to Riverwood for an unusual assignment: to apply the art of fiction to a crime that was real, and then write a story that will answer the questions that keep Faye's mother from a peaceful death. Just a story. It doesn't have to be true. Or does it?

Synopsis

Every once in a while you read a book you never forget. The excitement of it stays with you down the years, fresh and vital. Thomas H. Cook's latest novel is, in the words of Mystery Scene editor, Ed Gorman, "best of all" his mysteries, a fascinating tale of murder and small-town mayhem. When writer Paul Graves goes to a small town at the request of a literary lady, he begins to investigate a murder that took place in 1946, a murder not unlike that of his own sister, who was murdered when Paul was 12. Instruments of Night is a dark, literate journey that sheds light on the past -- and on murder.

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

. . .[T]here's no ignoring his savage imagery, or escaping the airless chambers of his disturbing imagination.

About the Author, Thomas H. Cook

Thomas H. Cook is the author of fourteen novels, including The Chatham School Affair, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel; Sacrificial Ground and Blood Innocents, both Edgar Award nominees; and two early works about true crimes, Early Graves and Blood Echoes, which was also nominated for an Edgar. He lives in New York City.

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Editorials

Marilyn Stasio

. . .[T]here's no ignoring his savage imagery, or escaping the airless chambers of his disturbing imagination.
—The New York Times Book Review

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Cook's previous novel, The Chatham School Affair (1996), won the Edgar Award for Best Novel. His latest is every bit its equal, a beautifully composed tale with enough plot twists to satisfy even fans who have learned to expect surprises from this talented author. Protagonist Paul Graves is a writer of dark, violent crime novels that feature a sadistic killer, Kessler, his cringing assistant, Sykes, and Slovak, the detective who doggedly pursues these master criminals. Graves sets his stories in turn-of-the-century New York--far enough back in time that he can safely distance himself from the grisly crimes he conjures. But he can't distance himself from the horror that he still feels at the murder of his own sister, committed when he was a child. As the novel begins, Graves is asked to investigate a real murder by Allison Davies, who runs a writer's colony at Riverwood, her family estate in the Hudson River Valley. In 1946, a young girl, Faye Harrison, was murdered there, and the crime has never been solved. The victim's aged mother would like some closure before she dies. Graves agrees to look into the crime in order to keep his own personal demons at bay for a while longer. Cook employs many of the typical conventions of the genre, even resorting to the classic device of timetables. His complex plot is anything but dated, however. He excels in devising harrowing situations that eerily echo Graves's personal tragedy, ultimately delivering another indelibly haunting tale that once again demonstrates that he is among the best in the business. (Nov.)

Library Journal

Paul Graves, a writer of dark, historical mysteries, is hired to research the 50-year-old murder of an innocent girl and write a story that might explain it. His own tortured past as childhood witness to his sister's murder colors his every thought and action. Using shifting points of view, Paul presents his investigation as a series of leads that turn false, forcing him to revise his view of the case. In a multiple-twist ending, he and his fictional character seem to merge, even as a female acquaintance appears destined to become a character in a future story. Cook has previously used the premise of a troubled narrator looking back at a tragedy that has shaped many lives, most recently in Breakheart Hill (LJ 7/95) and the Edgar Award-winning The Chatham School Affair (LJ 7/96). Here, his Gothic, even melodramatic, prose style emphasizes mood and setting but will often seem repetitious and jarring to contemporary readers. This may appeal to mystery fans wanting something closer to Poe than to Chandler; those wanting more action than angst should pass. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/98.]--Roland C. Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale