Damo's Reviews > A Visible Darkness

A Visible Darkness is the second book in the Max Freeman thriller series after the Edgar Award winning The Blue Edge of Midnight. Once again we’re thrust into the dark realm of murder for profit and become reacquainted with the lone wolf PI who’d prefer to remain hidden away on his stilt house in the Everglades.

Freeman is winkled out of his hidey-hole by friend and attorney Billy Manchester who needs someone to investigate a series of deaths. They’re all old women who have died from what appears to be natural causes. But they also carry sizable life insurance policies that had been resold.

The thing is, we know who the killer is and we know there are a number of aspects about him that will make him very difficult to detect and bring to heel. This is a case that immediately poses problems, feels particularly dangerous and is going to require some fancy footwork on the part of the investigator. Some don’t like knowing who the antagonist is but, being more of a thriller than a mystery, I thought it added to the suspense of the story.

This is everything I like about private investigator stories. A PI who prefers to work alone, but is also accomplished at enlisting support from local police when necessary, a plot that moves forward steadily with just enough blind alleys to keep you guessing and an underlying criminal who’s not immediately obvious.

Max Freeman has a past, but it’s not something that completely suffocates you in the present. You get a sense that he’s faced some bad situations, but rather than cripple him with indecision, it’s helped him to be assured and confident. Just what you want in a decent protagonist.

The book was a finalist for the 2004 Shamus Award for Best PI Novel and provided a well structured narrative combined with well-defined primary characters that are gradually becoming more fully fleshed out. It has definitely invited me to continue on with the later books of the series (the series is 7 books strong at the time of writing).