Harry Shannon, The Pressure of Darkness

The Pressure of Darkness

Harry Shannon

Five Star, November 2006, $25.95

ISBN: 1594144702

LAPD decided that horror writer Peter Stryker committed suicide while staying at the Universal Sheraton under the alias of Dan Ira Palski. His daughter Nicole Moberly disagrees, as she insists her father feared death and defiantly would not have used a surgical knife to peel his skin. Homicide detective Scottie Bowden, a Delta team "Brother" from their Black Ops days in the 1990's, sends her to private detective Jack Burke to investigate. She hires Jack, who takes the job because he needs money to pay is ailing wife's medical bills.

Jack obtains help from wheelchair bound coroner Doc Washington, who was crippled on their last mission together; Doc provides him with information from the autopsy. As Burke, assisted by Scottie and Doc begins to dig, he realizes that Nicole is right, that her father was brutally murdered; the evidence begin to point towards a cult wanting to bring Armageddon upon the world now.

Though somewhat over-the-top, THE PRESSURE OF DARKNESS is an action-packed thriller starring an interesting hero, who. like his Brothers in Arms has not recovered from his last combat mission. The storyline starts off as a femme fatale whodunit, but it morphs into a cult prepared to release a biological weapon of mass destruction in the name of God. Fans who appreciate non-stop action and adventure will want to follow the exploits of this retired Delta team survivors as they go on one last mission of life and death.