What do you think?
Rate this book
The Kiss of Night: A Novel
“The gates of hell are open night and day.”
–Vergil, Aeneid
The death of a retired Chicago homicide detective forces Will Moore, an assistant city editor for the Chicago Tribune, to revisit life-and-death events from his first days as a police reporter for City News Bureau. As he becomes immersed in the dark river of despair coursing through the streets at night, Will comes to understand the humanity lying beneath Chicago crime statistics. Will himself becomes part of the story when his next-door neighbor, a young Latino gang member is murdered, and Will is asked to help take revenge. The Kiss of Night will keep you turning page after page before reaching its affecting conclusion.
–Vergil, Aeneid
The death of a retired Chicago homicide detective forces Will Moore, an assistant city editor for the Chicago Tribune, to revisit life-and-death events from his first days as a police reporter for City News Bureau. As he becomes immersed in the dark river of despair coursing through the streets at night, Will comes to understand the humanity lying beneath Chicago crime statistics. Will himself becomes part of the story when his next-door neighbor, a young Latino gang member is murdered, and Will is asked to help take revenge. The Kiss of Night will keep you turning page after page before reaching its affecting conclusion.
Kindle Edition
Published May 19, 2025
2 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 5, 2025
Mark Wukas' novel The Kiss of Night is the engrossing, dark and Odysean coming of age story of a young classics student-turned-journalist at the City News desk in Chicago. Will learns a great deal about himself and the world as he covers the overnight police beat - about cruelty, regret, guilt, kindness, friendship and redemption. The novel also reminds us that people we meet can make an incredibly strong and long-lasting impression on us that can shape us in ways we can't begin to imagine. Some of the novel is hard to take - intentionally so, I'm sure - especially the desperation on the streets of the inner city and some of Will's relationships. But the pages turn quickly in a book that I recommend highly.
June 6, 2025
The Kiss of Night is a sharp and heartfelt novel set in the shadowy underbelly of Chicago journalism and crime. Told through the lens of Will Moore, a former classicist turned newspaper editor, the story retraces the roots of a decades-old secret between Will and retired homicide detective Frank Foley. The plot unfolds as a mystery layered with reflections on morality, loyalty, and regret. What begins with the obituary of a legendary cop slowly unravels into an exploration of a shared past haunted by violence, ethical compromise, and a chilling understanding of justice.
What struck me immediately was the writing. It’s clean, stylish, and unpretentious. Mark Wukas writes like someone who has seen things—journalism that feels lived-in, dialogue that crackles, characters who breathe. The voice is witty but vulnerable. I loved how the narrator doesn’t pretend to be a hero. He fumbles, he overreaches, he regrets. And I could relate to that. Wukas builds the suspense slowly, not with cheap thrills, but with memory, conscience, and the weight of choices. That’s what hooked me: not the mystery, but the man trying to live with it.
There's a lot of reflection, and if you're in the mood for fast-paced action, you might fidget through the philosophical detours. But I didn’t mind them. They grounded the story. I liked sitting in the newsroom with Will, feeling the city breathe outside the windows. And Foley? God, Foley was a character. Crude, brilliant, and strangely touching. Their relationship—gruff affection, mutual wariness, unspeakable bonds—was the novel’s aching heart.
The Kiss of Night is a book about ghosts—of people, places, past selves—and what it means to try and do right in a world that rarely lets you. It's for readers who love character-driven crime fiction, who want a story with soul and grit, not just blood and bullets. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s worked in news, lived in Chicago, or wrestled with guilt. Wukas’s writing reminds me of Michael Connelly’s gritty realism mixed with the introspective depth of Raymond Chandler, but with the emotional resonance of Richard Russo.
What struck me immediately was the writing. It’s clean, stylish, and unpretentious. Mark Wukas writes like someone who has seen things—journalism that feels lived-in, dialogue that crackles, characters who breathe. The voice is witty but vulnerable. I loved how the narrator doesn’t pretend to be a hero. He fumbles, he overreaches, he regrets. And I could relate to that. Wukas builds the suspense slowly, not with cheap thrills, but with memory, conscience, and the weight of choices. That’s what hooked me: not the mystery, but the man trying to live with it.
There's a lot of reflection, and if you're in the mood for fast-paced action, you might fidget through the philosophical detours. But I didn’t mind them. They grounded the story. I liked sitting in the newsroom with Will, feeling the city breathe outside the windows. And Foley? God, Foley was a character. Crude, brilliant, and strangely touching. Their relationship—gruff affection, mutual wariness, unspeakable bonds—was the novel’s aching heart.
The Kiss of Night is a book about ghosts—of people, places, past selves—and what it means to try and do right in a world that rarely lets you. It's for readers who love character-driven crime fiction, who want a story with soul and grit, not just blood and bullets. I’d recommend it to anyone who’s worked in news, lived in Chicago, or wrestled with guilt. Wukas’s writing reminds me of Michael Connelly’s gritty realism mixed with the introspective depth of Raymond Chandler, but with the emotional resonance of Richard Russo.
December 19, 2025
The Kiss of Night is aptly named. It is about seduction, how a police beat reporter for the legendary City News Bureau becomes enthralled with the adrenalin rush of deadlines, the minutia of death and the degenerate lifestyle that spins off working the overnight shift. It is a love letter to a city, an era, and a profession, written by someone who was that, there, then. Mark Wukas has conjured 1980s Chicago in the wee hours, on the hard streets, where existential questions about truth and justice underlie the frantic, ceaseless demands of the news cycle. He does it gracefully, with flickers of Gatsby in the red glow of the Magikist sign smiling benignly over the chaos below, the story’s “careless people,” and the narrator’s close call with corruption.
December 23, 2025
In The Kiss of Night, Mark Wukas gives us a gritty story about crime and what it was like to start a career in Chicago in the 1980s-1990s. A former City News Bureau reporter, Wukas develops a compelling piece about the streets, tawdry romance and the last years of the Magikist Lips sign.
A famed piece of Pop Art, the sign acts as a kind of Greek god watching tragedies unfold. Wukas, a former literature major, links his story with ancient mythology about the mortals, their failings, small victories and lurid romances. I generally enjoyed the linkage between modern Chicago and ancient Greece, though the idea wears thin and becomes hokey towards the end of this work.
The 1980s-1990s represented the last era of the golden age of journalism. Digital "journalism" had yet to arrive, and, more importantly, a lot of people still read the news, even with the excrescence of entertainment-driven broadcast journalism in full swing. In the story, reporter Will Moore, an Ivy League grad, takes a job as a crime reporter on a whim, dropping his pursuit of a Master's Degree in the Classics following a break-up with his preppy girlfriend.
It's a baptism of fire for Moore, much like the heroes of Ancient Greece. He makes a big journalism mistake right away, but quickly learns the ropes and earns the grudging respect of the police. Soon, he's a capable street crime reporter, even scooping the daily newspapers. The City News Bureau is a competitive place with Moore forming bonds with some of his fellows and rivalries with others out to subvert him. Along the way, he meets gangsters, barflies and the working class denizens of Chicago.
For me, there's a weakness in The Kiss of Night. Wukas frames his story with the work starting decades after the meat of the story takes place. The work starts with Moore as a veteran reporter who visits an elderly woman. Her recently deceased husband was a former Chicago Police detective. The woman tells the reporter that he had saved her husband's life. Discovering what Moore did is the fuel driving the novel.
However, how Moore saved the detective is a letdown. He has a long conversation with the detective in which policeman bears his soul. Is that how Moore saved the detective's life? A long conversation? I was expecting something a little more substantive.
Because of this issue, I thought about giving the novel 2.5 stars. However, there is enough story, characterization and flavor for me to recommend it. The Kiss of Night captures Chicago in its gritty loveliness. Nelson Algren said loving Chicago is, "like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real." Mark Wukas shows us why.
A famed piece of Pop Art, the sign acts as a kind of Greek god watching tragedies unfold. Wukas, a former literature major, links his story with ancient mythology about the mortals, their failings, small victories and lurid romances. I generally enjoyed the linkage between modern Chicago and ancient Greece, though the idea wears thin and becomes hokey towards the end of this work.
The 1980s-1990s represented the last era of the golden age of journalism. Digital "journalism" had yet to arrive, and, more importantly, a lot of people still read the news, even with the excrescence of entertainment-driven broadcast journalism in full swing. In the story, reporter Will Moore, an Ivy League grad, takes a job as a crime reporter on a whim, dropping his pursuit of a Master's Degree in the Classics following a break-up with his preppy girlfriend.
It's a baptism of fire for Moore, much like the heroes of Ancient Greece. He makes a big journalism mistake right away, but quickly learns the ropes and earns the grudging respect of the police. Soon, he's a capable street crime reporter, even scooping the daily newspapers. The City News Bureau is a competitive place with Moore forming bonds with some of his fellows and rivalries with others out to subvert him. Along the way, he meets gangsters, barflies and the working class denizens of Chicago.
For me, there's a weakness in The Kiss of Night. Wukas frames his story with the work starting decades after the meat of the story takes place. The work starts with Moore as a veteran reporter who visits an elderly woman. Her recently deceased husband was a former Chicago Police detective. The woman tells the reporter that he had saved her husband's life. Discovering what Moore did is the fuel driving the novel.
However, how Moore saved the detective is a letdown. He has a long conversation with the detective in which policeman bears his soul. Is that how Moore saved the detective's life? A long conversation? I was expecting something a little more substantive.
Because of this issue, I thought about giving the novel 2.5 stars. However, there is enough story, characterization and flavor for me to recommend it. The Kiss of Night captures Chicago in its gritty loveliness. Nelson Algren said loving Chicago is, "like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real." Mark Wukas shows us why.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews