Killing Moon

The crack of a handgun shatters the silence of a warm summer night.... A notorious local felon and former child magician vanishes, seemingly without a trace.... A corrupt police force applies a stranglehold to a failing town.... An ailing old man hatches a last-ditch plan to save the police department he once headed, and the community he still loves.... An outsider arrives, bearing a simple recipe for death that could destroy them all....

The town of Black Falls isn't dying so much as it is quietly fading away. No supermarket. No traffic lights. No hope. Donald Maddox has returned to his hometown after fifteen years, a man with no law-enforcement background -- indeed, no background at all -- who finds himself employed as an auxiliary patrolman on a local police force known to inspire more fear than trust in its citizenry. But when a brutal murder shatters the isolation of this forgotten place, both the local cops and Maddox appear to have something to hide. As the tightly-wound...

Publishers Weekly

Hogan's fourth novel (after the Hammett Award-winning Prince of Thieves) convincingly and movingly brings alive the dying Massachusetts community of Black Falls, which is plagued by a brain drain and by a corrupt, if small, police force. Don Maddox, the town's first (and only) college scholarship recipient, reneged on his obligation to return and work in the community, but 15 years later the prodigal son shows up for his mother's funeral. Oddly, Maddox becomes a part-time auxiliary policeman, clashing often with his superiors. The author soon reveals Maddox's hidden agenda, which is related to a lucrative drug ring and to a series of murders believed to have been committed by a registered sex offender. Strong characters and a memorable setting more than offset a windup with some predictable cliffhangers. (Jan.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Chuck Hogan abandoned his career as a video store clerk when his first novel, The Standoff, became a bestseller and was translated into fourteen international editions. His most recent novel, Prince of Thieves, was awarded the Hammett Prize for excellence in crime writing, and is being made into a major motion picture by Warner Brothers. He lives with his family in Massachusetts.