Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

A really relentless narrative, concerning the kidnap and psychological torture of female barrister Clara Pascal. At the beginning of the novel Clara seems a little on the two-dimensional side but Murphy soon establishes a character of psychological depth; the reader becomes gripped by her situation.

The main police characters are well drawn, and the dialogue is thoroughly convincing - Murphy's major strength: she leaves Val McDermid and Minette Walters standing for credible speech.

One of the best British crime novels I've read this year.

It's Pippa Pascal's birthday, and the nine year old wants her mother, high-flying lawyer, Clara, to take her to school. And so, even though she shouldn't, Clara makes the time in order to take Pippa to school on this important day. But outside the school gates, things go terribly wrong, when a masked man jumps out of a nondescript van and grabs Clara, bundling her into the van and driving away. Within minutes the police are on the scene; unfortunately, even though Pippa was a witness to her mother's kidnapping, the traumatized little girl is of little help. As the police try to figure out if Clara was kidnapped for ransom, or if she was snatched because of her involvement in the very high profile prosecution of a crime boss, the once totally in control Clara Pascal, imprisoned in a cellar and chained to a wall, battles for her life and sanity as she tries to figure out who kidnapped and her and why. But the more she learns, the more she realizes just how precarious her position is and how much she has to fear from this very determined man who seems to have some very firm ideas about what Clara should experience...

"Darkness Falls in a very superbly crafted thriller that centers wholly on the character of Clara Pascal -- who she was, what she did, and her reactions to being imprisoned and controlled by her masked jailer. Slowly we get to know Clara -- to admire her tenacity and courage, even as we dislike her (past) single-minded dedication to her profession. And even though the book focuses equally on the police investigation and the killer's sick fantasies (there is a subplot involving the serial killer), reading of Clara's attempts to connect with her kidnapper is what made "Darkness Falls" riveting. Swiftly and tautly paced and with mounting levels of tension, "watching" how Margaret Murphy brings both these subplots together is a stunning and unexpected twist, made reading "Darkness Falls" a pleasure and well worth not having slept enough the previous night.