BLOOD AND RAIN

A JOHN DARK SHOCKER!

by B.L. Morgan

ISBN 9781600760679

published by Stone Garden

reviewed by Cellblock

03.20.2008

John Dark is neither a detective nor a nice guy, because he doesn’t have to be. He just has to get the job done. He is poor, drunk, violent and uncaring, and that is on a good day. He does the jobs the cops want to do to the scum on the streets, but can’t. In the violent streets of East St. Louis there are plenty of opportunities to “cleanup” for some hard cash from seemingly legitimate sources. Treading in a world where violence and murder are a way of life, nothing should surprise the man who walks the fine line between wrong and outright evil. Until now that is.

To be honest I groaned out loud when my editor dropped this book in my lap and gleefully said “Read it, it’s a detective story!” Reluctantly I gazed at the tome in my lap and thought that is wasn’t too big and maybe I could give it a skim, after all it had bloody handprints on the cover and the back mentioned violence and murder repeatedly.

To my surprise I enjoyed the hell out of this book and read it through in less than a day. Mr. Morgan has a unique view on the world and adeptly puts it to paper in a way that really flows. The book includes two separate stories that intertwine and create an enthralling environment the reader can readily imagine. Every city in America has its spots where your mother would either avoid, or tell you to lock the doors. The main character John Dark works in the shadows and alleyways as you pass obliviously.

B.L. Morgan has an aggressive writing style that borders on a men’s adventure novel. But he pulls off the detective genre with a hint of supernatural and a friggin’ boatload of the ole’ “ultra-violence”. Although I didn’t learn any new revolutionary detective techniques, I wasn’t bored out of my socks with the good cop trying not to be corrupt drama I was expecting. I look forward to B.L. Morgan’s next literary publication.

Purchase a copy of this book at Amazon.com: Blood and Rain