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Darkness First: A McCabe and Savage Thriller
Darkness First: A McCabe and Savage Thriller
Darkness First: A McCabe and Savage Thriller
Audiobook10 hours

Darkness First: A McCabe and Savage Thriller

Written by James Hayman

Narrated by Stephen Mendel

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

The mutilated body of a young woman. The town doctor lying comatose in the road. A hundred and fifty tablets of Canadian OxyContin. This is the havoc that a merciless killer has wreaked on a sleepy Maine seaport.

As detectives Maggie Savage and Michael McCabe investigate, they realize the man they are after does not exist. Nobody knows his real name. Nobody has seen his face. But everybody fears his blade.

The only one who may know the murderer's true identity is an eleven-year-old girl—who has vanished into thin air.

Taut, twisting, and starring two unforgettable heroes, Darkness First will thrill fans of John Sandford and C. J. Box.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateOct 20, 2015
ISBN9780062450302
Author

James Hayman

James Hayman is the New York Times bestselling author of the McCabe and Savage thrillers The Cutting, The Chill of Night, Darkness First, and The Girl in the Glass, which combined have sold more than half a million copies.

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Reviews for Darkness First

Rating: 4.2454545090909095 out of 5 stars
4/5

55 ratings9 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Michael McCabe and Maggie Savage are drawn into another bizarre and savage murder mystery. Dr. Emily Kaplan, is savagely attacked, shortly after this a young girl...a stranger...arrives at her clinic but then flees in fear. Emily follows her in an attempt to help her. The girl is brutally murdered, and Emily is almost killed. thus, begins a story that revolves around the drug Oxycontin. There were multiple blind alleys as the story unfolded and you just can’t help exploring each one looking for the t answer to the mystery. A good one...and well worth the time to spend with McCabe and Savage.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In this third book of the McCabe and Savage series, Maggie Savage goes home to Washington County when her best friend is attacked when she is witness to a murder. The murdered girl was a dealer of Oxycontin, a scourge in northern Maine, and seems to be part of a larger team that stole a large number of pills from Canada and is selling them in Maine. Maggie joins the local and State Police in trying to find the killer.I've read several of this series, all out of order not that it makes much difference as this can be read as stand-alone novels. I love the Portland-based books, but it was nice to move the setting to DownEast. I also liked that Maggie had the starring role in this book; usually, McCabe is the primary character but he only had a minor but important role here. The plot moves along pretty fast and I think it was the tightest of all the M&S books I've read. I kept suspecting different people and even at the end, there was a twist that almost threw me. Another very enjoyable read by Mr. Hayman.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Darkness First is one of the first ten books in Harper Collins/Wm. Morrow's new Witness Impulse digital imprint. The imprint looks promising with e-books in the mystery/suspense/category and a place for submissions of new work on their website. It's a good popcorn read for a lazy Saturday afternoon - just you, the book, and a big bag of popcorn.Darkness First tells the tale of theft of Oxycontin, vicious killings, vulnerable targets (a vet with PTSD and an eleven-year-old girl), and a pair of hard-nosed detectives. It's a pretty straightforward thriller and plot, distinguished by its awesomely villainous villain. I do like a good villain. The detective are also good with a lot of nice banter and the female detective taking the lead. The plot was fairly predictable, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. If you're looking for enlightenment, look elsewhere, but for quick entertainment value, Darkness First will fit the bill.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Darkness First begins with a rather audacious theft of 40,000 Canadian branded OxyContin pills from a Canadian warehouse, an approximate street value of five million dollars. The two young thieves kill the security guard during the theft only to be killed in return by the theft's mastermind. This is followed by a young woman visiting a rural physician in Maine only to abruptly leave when questioned by the physician and wind up being killed in a gruesome manner and the attempted murder of the physician that witnessed the murder. Unfortunately for the killer the physician is the best friend of Portland police detective Maggie Savage. She quickly leaves Portland to return to her hometown and join the investigation. As Maggie launches her portion of the investigation, the killer seems to be two steps behind killing off all loose-ends or witnesses to his identity until the only remaining witness is the eleven-year-old sister of the first murdered young woman. Maggie realizes that she can't do her investigation alone and when her brother is implicated in the murders, she calls on her Portland PD partner Michael McCabe to help.Darkness First is a fast-paced suspense thriller where the good guys have to try and keep a step or two ahead of the bad guy. Unfortunately the bad guy seems to know everything the good guys are doing. All of the key evidence seems to point to Maggie's brother, Harlan, and even Maggie's father seems to believe the worst. Maggie steps out on an extremely small limb in order to vouch for her brother and continue her investigation. Things heat up quickly, not only on the investigation, but between Maggie and McCabe. There are quite a number of twists and turns to the story that only add to the overall suspense. I rather enjoyed Darkness First and the Savage and McCabe duo. If you're looking for a suspense-thriller that's well-written, incorporates family drama with a bit of romance, and is a quick, entertaining read then grab Darkness First.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When a doctor reaches out to try to help an abused woman, the woman ends up dead and the doctor severely injured. Suspicion surrounds the doctor when a bag of Oxy is found in her pocket. Detectives Maggie Savage and Michael McCabe know the killers name, but soon learn that is leading them nowhere, and the murdered woman’s young sister is in grave danger. Darkness First does an amazing job of drawing the reader deep into the story. With its shifting locations and characters, the story is progresses very meticulously. There is the perfect balance of narration and dialog, and the characters are well-developed and interesting. This mystery/police procedural was an all-around great read, and I highly recommend it for fans of this genre. I received a review copy of this book from Witness Impulse in return for an honest and fair review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Darkness First by James Hayman is the lead title for the launch of the new digital first line Witness Impulse. The novel opens with a man by the name of Connor waiting for a delivery of Oxycontin, delivered by brothers Rory and Scott to the fishing boat he is waiting in. After they arrive in the kayak, Connor sends them over the side of the fishing boat to sink or swim, he doesn't care which. He knows they won't get far without wet suits in the Bay of Fundy as the water is 40 degrees and the tide is going out. Thus starts the string of murders in Maine that are investigated by Detective Maggie Savage and her partner Detective michael McCabe. Maggie is called in by her father, who is the local sheriff of Machiasport, Maine where the story takes place after a young woman is found dead and another gravely injured. The search for the killer takes the detectives on a race to find him before any one else is killed. Maggie's brother Harlan becomes a suspect after he beats up another a police officer. The sister of the murdered woman is the key to solving the murder and bringing a killer to justice.Maggie must do whatever she can to prove that her brother is not the killer and time is running out. This novel is a wonderful mystery full of twists and turns with family dynamics playing a big part. A fast paced thriller featuring a pair of detectives and a ruthless killer on the hunt for what he believes is his. A series not to be missed. I highly recommend it!!I received a copy of this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A drug dealer and killer is on the loose in a small Maine town. Detective Maggie Savage is called in by her father, the local sheriff to assist. Detective Savage later calls in her partner, Detective McCabe, for backup.Though told primarily following/from Detective Savage's point of view, when there are other points of view, the shifts are done effortlessly.The writing style and narrative are crisp, action packed, and descriptive without being overly verbose.Vivid and varied characters fill various scenes and areas of life the detectives visit throughout their elusive and winding investigation.Overall, a thrilling read!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Maggie receives a call from her Sheriff father one night that her best friend has been hit by a car and is in critical condition. Being in law enforcement she is drawn into the hunt for the man who not only did this but has murdered a woman. Maggie's life is put in danger as well as her friend, Emily. Oh my gosh, this is one of the most suspenseful books I've read in a while, the characters are so real, the plot scary, and the writing style excellent. Be prepared for a frightening venture. I received a copy of this book free from Harper Collins Publishers in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is, surprisingly enough for me, an e-book. E-readers have become so ubiquitous that even I have been pulled into the web; not that I like them, but too often that's the only way I can get a title I want. So, my Kindle is becoming a constant companion.Darkness First was well worth reading this way. It is set in Machiasport, Maine, a major factor in my choosing this book. My husband is from southern Maine and I lived there for several years. Although this is set in northern Maine, we traveled and camped in various parts of the state so I know the area fairly well. I'm happy to report that only once was Hayman unable to resist the corny old jokes about people from Maine answering questions with absolute minimum effort, and their accent (ayuh, that too). An old codger questioned on a boat at the dock is the stereotypical Downeaster. On the other hand, our heroine's father, Sheriff Savage, is the real thing. Look to him for what a real Maine man is like. Hayman, who lives in Portland, gets it just right.The story is one of Hayman's McCabe and Savage thrillers, part of the new Witness Imprint from HarperCollins. The sheriff's daughter has followed him into law enforcement, currently working in Portland at the Crimes Against People unit. She grew up in Machiasport though and hasn't been home to see her dad in too long. When she gets a middle-of-the-night call from him that her lifelong best friend, Dr. Emily Kaplan, has been run over by a car and is severely injured, Maggie Savage immediately heads north. The villain has not only injured Emily, he has gruesomely murdered a young woman. Going by the alias Conor Riordan, he is one of the scariest bad guys I've come across in a long time. He is a sexual pervert and killing is one outlet for him; this guy gets off on torturing women. I spent a good deal of the book worrying myself silly for Maggie and Emily. There is a credible alternate suspect, but it didn't take me long at all to figure out who Mr. Evil was. As I've said before, I'm not really good at that normally. It didn't detract from the story at all; getting the goods on him and cornering him were still to come.As you read this book, you get a feeling for the various types of people who have been born in northern Maine or have settled there. Hayman has obviously spent some time with these people who are among the most individualistic in the country. I enjoyed his depiction of that part of that vast and vastly interesting part of our country.Maggie's younger brother is involved in this story and he too is well drawn as a veteran of the Iraq war with PTSD. Their loyalty to each other despite his mental problems is invaluable to the investigation and the denouement. I can't tell much more of the story without spoilers, so I will just recommend this book. Even though there is violence and the villain may keep you up a night or two, the writing and the plot are excellent. If you like character-driven thrillers, this is for you.Source: Publisher via Partners in Crime Book Tours