The Night Stalker

Novelist James Swain's cop drama introduces readers to former cop Jack Carpenter, a man summoned to a Florida state prison to meet with a death row inmate who has one final request. Of course, there's more than meet's the eye to this chilling story as Carpenter soon finds himself involved in a journey to save a family from the killer's grasp. Narrator Richard Mover gives a spirited performance that taps into the heinousness of cold-blooded killers as well as the stone-cold personality of Carpenter. Mover displays a knack for developing characters, no matter how insidious they might be. A stirring and compelling listen. L.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

August 18, 2008
What crime fiction fan can resist a guy who isn't afraid to knock a few slime-bag heads when no one is watching? In Swain's fine second suspense novel to feature South Florida PI Jack Carpenter (after Midnight Rambler
), imprisoned serial killer Abb Grimes hires the tough, unrelenting ex-cop to find his kidnapped grandson, Sampson Grimes. The chief suspect is the child's father, Jed Grimes, but Jack thinks Jed is innocent, even though the evidence suggests otherwise. There's plenty of action and intelligent sleuthing, but it's Jack's uncompromising character and Swain's equally uncompromising writing that will keep readers turning pages and eager for the next installment: “I'd visited many prisons, and the smell was always the same: a choking mixture of piss, shit, fear, and desperation, wiped down by harsh antiseptics.” The winner of France's Prix Calibre 38, Swain is also the author of Deadman's Bluff
and six other books in his Tony Valentine gambling series.