The Darker Side

Welcome to Cody McFadyen's Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour.

The Darker Side by Cody Mcfadyen is the third book in the Smoky Barrett series.

About the Book:
A lie, a long-ago affair, a dark desire- everyone has secrets they take to the grave. No one knew that better than FBI Special Agent Smoky Barrett. But what secret was a very private young woman keeping that led her to her very public murder? And what kind of killer was so driven and so brazenly daring that he'd take her life on a commercial airliner thirty thousand feed in middair, a killer so accomplished that he'd leave only a small souvenir behind?

These are the questions that bring Smoky and her handpicked team of experienced manhunters from L.A. to the autumn chill of Washington, D.C., by order of the FBI director himself - and at the special request of a high-powered grieving D.C. mother.

As a mother, Smoky knows the pain of losing a child - it nearly killed her once before. As a cop with her own twisted past, she takes every murder personally, which is both her greatest strength and her only weakness. Brilliant, merciless, righteous, the killer Smoky is hunting this time is on his own personal mission, whose cost in innocent human lives he's only begun to collect. For in his eyes no one is innocent; everyone harbors a secret sin, including Smoky Barrett.

Soon Smoky will have to confront a flawless killer who knows her flaws with murderous intimacy.

OK, it is almost 11:00 at night and I have to start this review all over. Somehow as I was getting ready to post, I lost my Internet connection and all that I had written was lost. So as I have to get up early and finish my lesson plan for work I will keep this review short.

Review:
Secrets are central theme to this book. We learn about Smoky's secret, which she has to come to terms with so that her relationship with the man she is seeing, Tommy, can move on to the next level.

The Serial Killer wants to be hunted. He leads Smoky and her team on a cat and mouse chase. They need to solve the clues before there is a next victim.

Cody McFadyen is a visual and detailed writer. He has done his research well. He makes everything believable.

I found The Darker Side to be a suspenseful read. I was one the edge of my seat as I read the book. I can't wait until book 4 comes out so that I can continue to read about Smoky and her team adventures.

Shadow Man

After reading The Faces of Death by Cody McFadyen, I wanted to read the first book in the Smoky Barrett series. I went to the Library and checked out Shadow Man.

We met Smoky after she has been knifed and scarred, raped and her family is killed by a serial killer that her FBI team and her have been tracking. She is trying to decide if she should live or die; when she learns that her best friend from high school has been killed and that the killer tied her friend's daughter to the body and left the girl there for three days. Smoky receives a message from the killer taunting her. Something awakens in Smoky that she thought was died and she goes in search of the killer who calls himself Jack the Ripper 2.

After reading The Faces of Death, I had high expectations for Shadow Man. It did not live up to my expectations. The book started out slow. I had a hard time getting into the book but around page 200 things got better. The chase was on to find out who the killer was and stop him from killing again. Things became more intense and fast. I understand that this was Cory McFadyen's first book and he was still refining his writing style. I wish it had the same intensity as The Faces on Death.

I figured out who the killer was early and then I made the most cardinal sin a reader can do. I read ahead to see if I was right and I was. Reading ahead can be a good thing or a bad thing in this case it was a bad thing. It made a slow book slower.

If you want to read a book in the Smoky Barrett series, either read the series in order or start with The Faces of Death and not read the Shadow Man. Wow I did not realize how much I did not like this book until I wrote the review. Sorry Cody.

But I did love The Faces of Death. You can check out my review at http://readingmama.blogspot.com/2008/08/face-of-death.html I just began to read the third book in the Smoky Series, The Darker Side. So far it is good. A murder on an airplane and no body saw anything. How does that sound, chilling?

Happy Reading

The Face of Death

Welcome to Cody McFadyen's Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Book Tour.


The Face of Death by Cody McFadyen is intense psychological thriller with a chilling serial killer.

Synopsis:


A sixteen-year-old girl holds a gun to her head at the scene of a grisly triple homicide. She claims "The Stranger" killed her adoptive family, that he's been following her all her life, killing everyone she ever loved, and that no one believes her. But Special Agent Smoky Barret does. Her team has been handpicked from among the nation's elite law enforcement specialists and they are as obsessed and relentless as the psychos they hunt; they'll have to be to deal with this case.

For another vicious double homicide reveals a killer embarked on a dark crusade of trauma and death : an "artist" who's molding Sarah into the perfect victim-and the ultimate weapon. To catch him, Smoky is going to have to put her own fragile, once-shattered life on the line. For The Stranger is all too real, all too close, and all too determined. And when he finally shows his face, Smoky had better be ready to face her worst fear.
from back cover

When I finished reading The Face of Death, I was liked oh my gosh how am I going to review this book. All I can say is that I LOVED IT.

Smoky Barrett is an intense FBI Agent who has both physical and emotional scars that she has acquired from past cases. She heads the Violent Crimes Unit in Los Angeles. She has a decision to make to stay with her team in L.A. or become a teacher of new FBI recruits in Quantico. I love Smoky. She is a tough lady who is able to overcome her past. She cares about her adopted daughter and her friends. They have become her family.

Not that I am an expert in serial killers, but I feel that The Stranger is a little bit different then the typical serial killers that we read about. The Stranger has planned all of this years ago and over time his plans have come to fruition. That is what I find chilling about this book.

For a couple of night after I read the book, I had a hard time sleeping. I was afraid that someone would come into my house. That is how intense this book was. I don't even know when the last time a book made me react that way.

A word of caution there is graphic violence. It was shocking to read what The Stranger did to his victims but I feel that it was necessary to put it into the book so that we and Smoky can see into The Stranger's mind.

This is the second book in the Smoky Barrett series. You do not need to read the first book to understand the second. McFadyen explains the past so you can understand what happened to Smoky. The first book in the series is Shadow Man. The third book The Darker Side will be available in October. I will be looking for these two books so that I can read more about Smoky.

About the Author:

Cody McFadyen was born in Texas in 1968. He now resides in California. He designed websites before selling his first novel. He lives with his two black labs, often referred to as ‘The Black Forces of Destruction.’ His first novel Shadow Man and his second book were both international best sellers.