Although I knew that When Night Comes was a departure from the style for which Dan Walsh is known, I was eager to read this story because I enjoy his writing so much, and I was in no way disappointed.
Fans of Dan Walsh's previous novels will find When Night Comes very different. It's entertaining suspense. It's not Christian fiction, but rather fiction written by a Christian. It's written from a biblical worldview, but without the emotional and spiritual themes that run through his other novels. Sometimes reviewers subtract rating stars due to these factors, and I don't think that's fair, because When Night Comes is in a different class and therefore shouldn't be compared to them. Yet it's still the writing of Dan Walsh, a masterful storyteller, and that's a very good thing.
When Night Comes has elements of police procedurals, romance, and lots of just plain spine-tingling suspense. There's a strong military theme built around World War II events and conspiracies that I found fascinating. It's about greed, guilt, fear, and image generation through dreams that actually place you in the scene as an eyewitness - the Pearl Harbor attack, Doolittle raid on Tokyo, etc. And it makes you think about how far people will go in order to obtain wealth, hide guilt, and maintain their good reputation.
I'm probably not the best audience for this book, for while I enjoy a good murder mystery, I don't care for the scary stuff - and that's why I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed When Night Comes. I certainly won't ever think of dreams in quite the same way! But as a fan of police procedurals, I can say that Dan holds his own very well in the area of suspense. His writing is tight, the plot well developed, and the villains are totally without conscience. There's even a neat little twist at the end that I never saw coming.
Dan is gifted at writing suspense and I hope he gives us more of these stories - but it's the lovely stories for which he is best known that I will seek out most often. Highly recommended to all who enjoy suspense - and for those fans, 5 stars.
Thank you to Dan Walsh for providing an electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Fans of Dan Walsh's previous novels will find When Night Comes very different. It's entertaining suspense. It's not Christian fiction, but rather fiction written by a Christian. It's written from a biblical worldview, but without the emotional and spiritual themes that run through his other novels. Sometimes reviewers subtract rating stars due to these factors, and I don't think that's fair, because When Night Comes is in a different class and therefore shouldn't be compared to them. Yet it's still the writing of Dan Walsh, a masterful storyteller, and that's a very good thing.
When Night Comes has elements of police procedurals, romance, and lots of just plain spine-tingling suspense. There's a strong military theme built around World War II events and conspiracies that I found fascinating. It's about greed, guilt, fear, and image generation through dreams that actually place you in the scene as an eyewitness - the Pearl Harbor attack, Doolittle raid on Tokyo, etc. And it makes you think about how far people will go in order to obtain wealth, hide guilt, and maintain their good reputation.
I'm probably not the best audience for this book, for while I enjoy a good murder mystery, I don't care for the scary stuff - and that's why I'm pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed When Night Comes. I certainly won't ever think of dreams in quite the same way! But as a fan of police procedurals, I can say that Dan holds his own very well in the area of suspense. His writing is tight, the plot well developed, and the villains are totally without conscience. There's even a neat little twist at the end that I never saw coming.
Dan is gifted at writing suspense and I hope he gives us more of these stories - but it's the lovely stories for which he is best known that I will seek out most often. Highly recommended to all who enjoy suspense - and for those fans, 5 stars.
Thank you to Dan Walsh for providing an electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
