Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: A Friend in the Dark
SERIES: An Auden & O’Callaghan Mystery
AUTHORS: Gregory Ashe and C.S. Poe
PUBLISHER: Emporium Press
LENGTH: 251 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 8, 2020
BLURB:
Rufus O’Callaghan has eked out a living on the streets of New York City by helping the police put away criminals as a confidential informant. But when Rufus shows up for an arranged meeting and finds his handler dead, his already-uncertain life is thrown into a tailspin. Now someone is trying to kill Rufus too, and he’s determined to find out why.
After leaving the Army under less than desirable circumstances, Sam Auden has drifted from town to town, hitching rides and catching Greyhounds, until he learns that a former Army buddy, now a police detective in New York City, has died by suicide. Sam knows that’s not right, and he immediately sets out to get answers.
As Rufus and Sam work together to learn the truth of their friend’s death, they find themselves entangled in a web of lies, cover-ups, and accelerating danger. And when they witness a suspect killed in cold blood, they realize they’re running out of time.
REVIEW:
Rufus is a confidential informant for a NYC detective. When he goes to meet the detective for a drop, he finds him dead. And then it’s on. He’s shocked and lost because Jake is his touchstone.
Sam is Jake’s army buddy. Fuck buddy. Friend. And he doesn’t believe what he’s been told about Jake’s death. He finds Rufus and together they try to suss out the truth of what has happened and what’s going on.
At first, they are like oil and water. They don’t gel – neither of them having any kind of trust really. But then they have to trust somebody if they are going to find out what really happened to Jake and there aren’t any other candidates. And especially when Jake’s partner and other cops appear to be uninterested in getting to the truth, they are running out of time to figure out what is really going on – because it’s a lot bigger than Jake’s death. I don’t want to spoil the plot line here, but there appear to be multiple villains they are trying to outrun while proving what happened to Jake.
While Rufus and Sam are the two main characters of this story, I would say New York City is the third. This book has a very gritty New York feel – with details that only someone who has lived in New York can capture faithfully 🙂 Loving New York as I do, I really liked this aspect of the story. I am a fan of both of these authors – particularly the Hazard and Somerset series and the Snow & Winter series. I found the quality of the writing in this series did not disappoint. The mystery plot is sufficiently twisty to satisfy. What I didn’t get quite as much and I’m hoping will build in the subsequent book is the relationship between Sam and Rufus. These are two really damaged guys and I’m not sure how they are going to fit together. Rufus has had a tough life on the mean streets of New York and Sam has a lot of baggage for a number of reasons. But I’m interested in following their journey. There is a lot to overcome and the mystery plot is difficult and sordid. There isn’t a lot of romance here, but I want to know what will happen with these two and if they can work together in some way or fashion. Recommended for fans of gritty mysteries in particular.
RATING: 
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