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Title of Book: Dead of Night Dead of Night, Hidden Faces Series #3
“Ew, what’s that?” Kelly wrinkled her nose. The back of my neck tingled. “Probably some dead animal down in the woods.” “Oh, great.” “Well maybe the breeze will carry it away in a minute. It didn’t. When we moved a few feet over, the smell grew worse. I knew that smell. Excerpt from Dead of Night Annie Kingston has a troubled son, a worthless ex-husband, a bossy big sister, two interested men and a tough, ugly job that she is uniquely qualified to do. She’s a police sketch artist. But she doesn’t just work with witnesses who describe the people they saw commit a crime. She’s been asked to draw five women who have turned up dead. Because death has made them more difficult to identify, the police want Annie to draw a more life-like picture. Annie’s son Stephen, on parole for drug crimes, is only getting more troubled. Her daughter Kelly is in danger because of the riff-raff Stephen’s activities attract to the Kingston home. A maniac who believes no one can stop the killing spree has decided to harass Annie. Brandilyn Collins has created a great character in her forensic artist Annie Kingston. No one else can do exactly what Annie can so she has no choice but to stay involved with the police. She also has a strong sense of justice that keeps her going even when she’d rather live a quiet life. Dead of Night starts fast and never lets up. The sing-song madness of Collins’ serial killer set me on edge from the first word and set the tone for a taut thriller. In book three of Collins’ Hidden Faces series Annie is stretched to the limits with all that’s going on in her life. But Collins gives Annie an underlying toughness that keeps her fighting for her family and justice. This toughness and vulnerability make Annie a very real life character. I emailed Brandilyn and asked her how she balanced these two aspects of Annie’s character. She said, “One of the keys to plumbing the depths of a character is give her certain vulnerabilities and fears, then place her in a situation where she has to not only face them but overcome them--in the moment she thinks she's weakest.” Annie is no more prepared for the morgues, crime scenes and corpses than anyone. I got a real sense of how it would be to have to see such ugliness. The emotional toll it takes on Annie is at war with her urgent need to help. Collins did a great job of drawing me into the pages of Dead of Night and holding me there, right through to the shocking, twisted end. |
