Pitch Black

April 21, 2008
In this taut potboiler from Crandall (Promises to Keep
, etc.), Philadelphia reporter Madison Wade moves to a quiet Tennessee town with her adopted son, Ethan, a tough street kid just starting to get his bearings. Madison is beginning a fledgling romance with the local sheriff, Gabe Wyatt when Ethan goes on a camping trip with his new friend, Jordan, and with Jordan's stepfather and a couple of other boys. The trip ends in tragedy: Jordan's stepfather dies; the evidence points to murder; all suspicion turns toward new kid Ethan. That the reader gets to see things from Ethan's viewpoint drains some of the tension from the plot, but the real drama, nicely turned, is among the adults in their attempts to trust one another.