Jon Evans, Dark Places

Dark Places

Jon Evans

HarperCollins, Jun 2004, $13.95, 326 pp.

ISBN: 0060594233

San Francisco computer programmer Paul Wood enjoys backpacking in remote unreachable places around the globe. Currently he hikes the rough terrain of the Himalayas on the sustenance budget plan when he finds a mutilated corpse with Swiss army knives stabbed through each eye. Paul is more than shook at seeing the body as two years ago he and his girlfriend were in central Africa when she was murdered in the same macabre manner.

Paul soon learns other people were killed with the same creepy modus operendi. Unable to ignore his preliminary findings Paul and his current girlfriend Bosnian Talena investigate. Other travelers from the central African tragedy join Paul when he decides to avenge the budget backpacking world by taking out a serial killer.

This entertaining but chilling thriller provides readers with a look at the backpacking community that reside in youth hostels or outside as they hike the planet. The story line hooks the readers with its twists and turns, albeit not all seem real, but no one will care. Paul is a terrific protagonist as he travels the orb although it is difficult to accept this gentle soul as a vengeful fighting machine. Still fans of dark suspense will appreciate this eerie tale as they hitch a ride with Jon Evans to extremely DARK PLACES.

Harriet Klausner