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Cairnburgh Mystery #3
The Darkness
The Darkness won silver in the Mystery category of the Forward National Literature Awards 2011.
Its trailer won the 'Most Intriguing Trailer' in the New Covey Awards, July 2009.
When Tommy Davidson is found with his throat cut, his brother Andrew’s shock turns to thoughts of vigilante retribution. Known villains, including the person indirectly responsible for the death, begin to disappear. Thanks to the efforts of one of Cairnburgh’s cleverest lawyers, each has managed to evade justice. But not any more. Meantime, rape victim Rhona Kirk starts a new life in Dundee but finds it difficult to shake off her past. As DCI Jack Carston tries to find what links the various missing persons, he’s aware of his own darker impulses and of an empathy between himself and the vigilante. His investigation becomes a race against time and against the pressure of darkness.
Its trailer won the 'Most Intriguing Trailer' in the New Covey Awards, July 2009.
When Tommy Davidson is found with his throat cut, his brother Andrew’s shock turns to thoughts of vigilante retribution. Known villains, including the person indirectly responsible for the death, begin to disappear. Thanks to the efforts of one of Cairnburgh’s cleverest lawyers, each has managed to evade justice. But not any more. Meantime, rape victim Rhona Kirk starts a new life in Dundee but finds it difficult to shake off her past. As DCI Jack Carston tries to find what links the various missing persons, he’s aware of his own darker impulses and of an empathy between himself and the vigilante. His investigation becomes a race against time and against the pressure of darkness.
332 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2008
16 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 13, 2011
First Line: Tommy Davidson was in his study, kneeling on a special praying chair which he and his wife had been given by some French friends in Rennes.
There haven't been many joyful moments in Rhona Kirk's life. An endless procession of her drunken mother's boyfriends almost inevitably led to the young woman's brutal rape. The rapist never went to prison, and now other men in Rhona's life are beginning to disappear.
Tommy Davidson's wife and daughter were killed when their vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. The drunk driver hired himself a good lawyer and walked away a free man. Unable to face life alone, Davidson commits suicide, and his brother Andrew is left to face a world he believes is utterly devoid of justice. It is a world in which he does not want to live. Is there any way he can possibly make a difference?
When villains begin to disappear from the streets of Cairnburgh, Scotland, jokes are made down at the police station. Detective Chief Inspector Jack Carston joins in, and why not? All too often these missing men have committed their crimes and then been allowed to walk away because of the machinations of their lawyers. If a vigilante is patrolling the city's streets, more power to him. May he succeed where the police can't.
At least, that's what Carston thinks at the beginning. When his thoughts begin to mirror the resident Neanderthal, Spurle's, Jack takes stock. Just how much do his thoughts influence his actions, his words, his behavior?
This third Jack Carston mystery is a look into the heart of vigilantism. In a world where the criminal justice system seems to work only for the criminals, is there any real harm in letting vigilantes take the law into their own hands to get vicious killers and rapists off the streets? Is there any real harm in the police letting vigilantes take care of business when their own hands seem to be tied by the courts of law?
Kirton tells an engrossing story as he examines these questions. His main character, DCI Jack Carston, is a happily married man who thinks nothing of being his wife's dress mannequin whenever she needs to pin up a hem or check the hang of a sleeve. By having Carston compare himself to someone like Spurle-- a complete misanthrope who wouldn't know political correctness if it had his gonads in a vise-- we understand how worried Carston is, not only by his own thoughts, but by what's happening on the streets of his city.
While Carston and his men are trying to find clues and piece them together, we witness the birth and development of a vigilante in Andrew Davidson. The Darkness is never about who done it; it's all about why it was done. In reading alternating chapters written by Davidson, we can see his transformation from an angry, grieving brother into something ugly and frightening that even Davidson himself doesn't recognize.
Once again, Bill Kirton delivers a well-told tale wrapped in several thought-provoking questions. Although The Darkness stands well on its own, I'd suggest you get to know Jack Carston by reading the first book in the series, Material Evidence. Carston is one of my favorite coppers.
There haven't been many joyful moments in Rhona Kirk's life. An endless procession of her drunken mother's boyfriends almost inevitably led to the young woman's brutal rape. The rapist never went to prison, and now other men in Rhona's life are beginning to disappear.
Tommy Davidson's wife and daughter were killed when their vehicle was struck by a drunk driver. The drunk driver hired himself a good lawyer and walked away a free man. Unable to face life alone, Davidson commits suicide, and his brother Andrew is left to face a world he believes is utterly devoid of justice. It is a world in which he does not want to live. Is there any way he can possibly make a difference?
When villains begin to disappear from the streets of Cairnburgh, Scotland, jokes are made down at the police station. Detective Chief Inspector Jack Carston joins in, and why not? All too often these missing men have committed their crimes and then been allowed to walk away because of the machinations of their lawyers. If a vigilante is patrolling the city's streets, more power to him. May he succeed where the police can't.
At least, that's what Carston thinks at the beginning. When his thoughts begin to mirror the resident Neanderthal, Spurle's, Jack takes stock. Just how much do his thoughts influence his actions, his words, his behavior?
This third Jack Carston mystery is a look into the heart of vigilantism. In a world where the criminal justice system seems to work only for the criminals, is there any real harm in letting vigilantes take the law into their own hands to get vicious killers and rapists off the streets? Is there any real harm in the police letting vigilantes take care of business when their own hands seem to be tied by the courts of law?
Kirton tells an engrossing story as he examines these questions. His main character, DCI Jack Carston, is a happily married man who thinks nothing of being his wife's dress mannequin whenever she needs to pin up a hem or check the hang of a sleeve. By having Carston compare himself to someone like Spurle-- a complete misanthrope who wouldn't know political correctness if it had his gonads in a vise-- we understand how worried Carston is, not only by his own thoughts, but by what's happening on the streets of his city.
While Carston and his men are trying to find clues and piece them together, we witness the birth and development of a vigilante in Andrew Davidson. The Darkness is never about who done it; it's all about why it was done. In reading alternating chapters written by Davidson, we can see his transformation from an angry, grieving brother into something ugly and frightening that even Davidson himself doesn't recognize.
Once again, Bill Kirton delivers a well-told tale wrapped in several thought-provoking questions. Although The Darkness stands well on its own, I'd suggest you get to know Jack Carston by reading the first book in the series, Material Evidence. Carston is one of my favorite coppers.
June 21, 2012
After reading the two previous books in the series, I may have left it there but for a totally unexpected turn of events which found me reading The Darkness on my netbook as my first ebook.
I had thoroughly enjoyed the first of the Cairnburgh series but didnt find the second as good. I was looking forward to finding out which path 'The Darkness' would further and it didnt take long as I was soon caught up in the story. I particularly liked the parallel narratives which really kept the novel moving along quickly. Strangely, I found that this style gave me two 'heroes' with whom to identify and I could foresee a problem as to how this was going to be resolved, but I neednt have worried.
Although this isnt a who-done-it, there is an element of that in the book together with its associated red herrings.
This is without doubt the best of this author that I have read and, hopefully as his works are rather difficult to come by, it wont be the last.
I had thoroughly enjoyed the first of the Cairnburgh series but didnt find the second as good. I was looking forward to finding out which path 'The Darkness' would further and it didnt take long as I was soon caught up in the story. I particularly liked the parallel narratives which really kept the novel moving along quickly. Strangely, I found that this style gave me two 'heroes' with whom to identify and I could foresee a problem as to how this was going to be resolved, but I neednt have worried.
Although this isnt a who-done-it, there is an element of that in the book together with its associated red herrings.
This is without doubt the best of this author that I have read and, hopefully as his works are rather difficult to come by, it wont be the last.
August 8, 2016
GO DARK, YOUNG MAN
The advice to beginner crime and thriller genre writers right now is, if you want to shift books, ‘go dark, young man’. Violence, murder, rape, bad language? Old hat. We want burnt bodies, extreme mutilation, anal rape, every third word in the dialogue a swear word. The villain is usually a monster who enjoys murdering and torturing, and the motivation is often sketchy ie the villain is a psychopath who was beaten as a child.
The premise is: ‘bad person does bad thing’. But, to me, ‘good person does bad thing’ is a lot more interesting. This is the premise of The Darkness by Bill Kirton, a thought-provoking twist on the police procedural genre.
The ‘villain’, Andrew Davidson, is an ordinary G.P. His brother’s family were killed in an accident by a drunken driver and the sensitive brother committed suicide. The villain evaded justice by hiring a clever lawyer and then Davidson notices that other local villains have escaped paying for wicked crimes in a similar manner. So, he decides to do something about it. This story is told by Davidson in the first person. The other lead character is D.C.I. Jack Carsten – his story is told in the third person - who notices that local villains are fortuitously disappearing from his manor. He can’t help but feel that they have deserved anything they get. The story of rape victim/prostitute Rhona Kirk – the men she is involved with also start to go missing - is expertly woven into the main narrative.
I know what you are thinking. Not Charles Bronson again. Death Wish 25? In any civilised country with a developed legal system clever lawyers will get the guilty off. In the USA it is summarised in the saying: ‘if you’re rich you walk, if you’re poor you fry’. But what to do about it, other than fight for political reform of the judicial system? Take matters into your own hands when the end result of self-righteous vigilantism is often worse than the original crime?
Bill Kirton has obviously thought about this and the twist to this novel will explode your preconceptions. The pacing is a little slow and I didn’t really get gripped by the novel until halfway through. But the interplay and battle of wits between the two main characters builds to a riveting conclusion. The book is well-written and the prose is clean and active, though there were several groups of typos in my ebook which looked like the result of ‘Microsoft Word going wonky’. Easy to fix. Similarly easy to sort out were the occasional ‘head-hopping’ changes of point of view within scenes. These are minor quibbles.
I found the book interesting and thought-provoking and a welcome change from the formulaic police procedural/crime thriller which tries to go dark but sometimes makes you slam the book shut in disgust. With this novel Bill Kirton has shown that ‘the darkness’ lies not down slippery steps into a dank and musty-smelling cellar but in the heart of each individual.
The advice to beginner crime and thriller genre writers right now is, if you want to shift books, ‘go dark, young man’. Violence, murder, rape, bad language? Old hat. We want burnt bodies, extreme mutilation, anal rape, every third word in the dialogue a swear word. The villain is usually a monster who enjoys murdering and torturing, and the motivation is often sketchy ie the villain is a psychopath who was beaten as a child.
The premise is: ‘bad person does bad thing’. But, to me, ‘good person does bad thing’ is a lot more interesting. This is the premise of The Darkness by Bill Kirton, a thought-provoking twist on the police procedural genre.
The ‘villain’, Andrew Davidson, is an ordinary G.P. His brother’s family were killed in an accident by a drunken driver and the sensitive brother committed suicide. The villain evaded justice by hiring a clever lawyer and then Davidson notices that other local villains have escaped paying for wicked crimes in a similar manner. So, he decides to do something about it. This story is told by Davidson in the first person. The other lead character is D.C.I. Jack Carsten – his story is told in the third person - who notices that local villains are fortuitously disappearing from his manor. He can’t help but feel that they have deserved anything they get. The story of rape victim/prostitute Rhona Kirk – the men she is involved with also start to go missing - is expertly woven into the main narrative.
I know what you are thinking. Not Charles Bronson again. Death Wish 25? In any civilised country with a developed legal system clever lawyers will get the guilty off. In the USA it is summarised in the saying: ‘if you’re rich you walk, if you’re poor you fry’. But what to do about it, other than fight for political reform of the judicial system? Take matters into your own hands when the end result of self-righteous vigilantism is often worse than the original crime?
Bill Kirton has obviously thought about this and the twist to this novel will explode your preconceptions. The pacing is a little slow and I didn’t really get gripped by the novel until halfway through. But the interplay and battle of wits between the two main characters builds to a riveting conclusion. The book is well-written and the prose is clean and active, though there were several groups of typos in my ebook which looked like the result of ‘Microsoft Word going wonky’. Easy to fix. Similarly easy to sort out were the occasional ‘head-hopping’ changes of point of view within scenes. These are minor quibbles.
I found the book interesting and thought-provoking and a welcome change from the formulaic police procedural/crime thriller which tries to go dark but sometimes makes you slam the book shut in disgust. With this novel Bill Kirton has shown that ‘the darkness’ lies not down slippery steps into a dank and musty-smelling cellar but in the heart of each individual.
August 6, 2025
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include THE DARKNESS (The Jack Carston Mysteries #3) by BILL KIRTON in the library of Awesome Indies'
Badge of Approval
recipients.
August 19, 2011
Loved this book. Not only a good read, but thought-provoking.
February 12, 2013
One of my favorites in this series. Tough British crime drama, well-developed characters.
August 21, 2012
Silver medal in the 'Thriller' section of the 2011 Forward National Literary Awards
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews