What do you think?
Rate this book
An Absence of Light
Captain Marcus Graver, working out of the Houston P.D.’s Criminal Intelligence Division, has made a career of collecting other people’s secrets. But it takes a bullet to the brain of one of his own investigators to reveal the darkest secrets of all.
Officially the death of Arthur Tisler is a suicide. But Graver’s seen the files of Tisler’s last case and he refuses to bury his questions with the corpse. His instincts tell him that Tisler was onto something big—big enough to cost the investigator his life. And the more Graver digs, the more he’s convinced that the trail of corruption leads back to his own command.
Now he must do the most dangerous thing any cop can do: go outside the department. He must enter a shadowy labyrinth of lies and deception where he can trust no one, not even his closest friends and colleagues. And waiting at the center of the maze is a mysterious, sadistic genius, a pair of beautiful assassins, and a thread of clues that will lead to a dark rendezvous with the truth—and death.
Officially the death of Arthur Tisler is a suicide. But Graver’s seen the files of Tisler’s last case and he refuses to bury his questions with the corpse. His instincts tell him that Tisler was onto something big—big enough to cost the investigator his life. And the more Graver digs, the more he’s convinced that the trail of corruption leads back to his own command.
Now he must do the most dangerous thing any cop can do: go outside the department. He must enter a shadowy labyrinth of lies and deception where he can trust no one, not even his closest friends and colleagues. And waiting at the center of the maze is a mysterious, sadistic genius, a pair of beautiful assassins, and a thread of clues that will lead to a dark rendezvous with the truth—and death.
519 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1994
22 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
David L. Lindsey
29 books92 followersI’m a native Texan, and I spent my early years a few miles from the Mexican border in Starr County. Eventually my family moved to West Texas where I grew up in the oil fields and ranches of the Colorado River valley northwest of San Angelo. After graduating from North Texas State University and spending a year in graduate school (focusing on 19th century European literature), I moved to Austin in 1970 where my wife, Joyce, and I still live.
Although I wanted to try my hand at writing fiction after graduate school, Joyce and I had two small children, and the often-rocky road to publishing and establishing a writing career seemed a risky proposition that I couldn’t afford to take at that point. I took an editing job with a small regional press and spent the next decade knocking around in a variety of jobs, including running my own small publishing company for a few years, and editing books in the humanities for the University of Texas Press.
Finally, in 1980, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to try my hand at fiction. Knowing I couldn’t afford to write for nothing, I decided to increase my odds of getting published by researching what kinds of fiction had the best chance of finding a publisher. Mystery novels rose to the top of my research results. I don’t think I’d ever read a “mystery novel” at that time, but I immediately bought a representative collection of twenty-five popular, famous, and classic mystery novels, including British and European writers. After reading these, and many more, I realized that the “genre” encompassed a startling variety of work, everything from Mickey Spillane to Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Two years later I began my writing career by publishing two mystery novels in the same year. Thirty-odd years later I’ve just finished my 15th novel. Though I began writing in the mystery genre, I eventually went on to write fiction in other areas, mostly dealing with the criminal, national, and private intelligence professions.
When I’m not writing, I spend most of my time in my library. My other pleasure is gardening and landscape work, though where I live in the hilly streets of west Austin, “gardening” most often looks like wrestling with nature, rather than gently nurturing it. Still, though it’s a lot of work, it’s a great pleasure to watch things grow. Joyce and I now sit in the shade of trees that are forty feet tall that we planted when we first moved to this place nearly thirty years ago. That’s a good thing.
Although I wanted to try my hand at writing fiction after graduate school, Joyce and I had two small children, and the often-rocky road to publishing and establishing a writing career seemed a risky proposition that I couldn’t afford to take at that point. I took an editing job with a small regional press and spent the next decade knocking around in a variety of jobs, including running my own small publishing company for a few years, and editing books in the humanities for the University of Texas Press.
Finally, in 1980, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer to try my hand at fiction. Knowing I couldn’t afford to write for nothing, I decided to increase my odds of getting published by researching what kinds of fiction had the best chance of finding a publisher. Mystery novels rose to the top of my research results. I don’t think I’d ever read a “mystery novel” at that time, but I immediately bought a representative collection of twenty-five popular, famous, and classic mystery novels, including British and European writers. After reading these, and many more, I realized that the “genre” encompassed a startling variety of work, everything from Mickey Spillane to Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Two years later I began my writing career by publishing two mystery novels in the same year. Thirty-odd years later I’ve just finished my 15th novel. Though I began writing in the mystery genre, I eventually went on to write fiction in other areas, mostly dealing with the criminal, national, and private intelligence professions.
When I’m not writing, I spend most of my time in my library. My other pleasure is gardening and landscape work, though where I live in the hilly streets of west Austin, “gardening” most often looks like wrestling with nature, rather than gently nurturing it. Still, though it’s a lot of work, it’s a great pleasure to watch things grow. Joyce and I now sit in the shade of trees that are forty feet tall that we planted when we first moved to this place nearly thirty years ago. That’s a good thing.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
July 14, 2020
AN ABSENCE OF LIGHT [1994] By David L. Lindsey
My Review Five Stars*****
I finished reading this novel a couple of nights ago (July 8th) and found it to be an outstanding thriller. Lindsey is of course most well known for his early novel A COLD MIND which was called "a remarkable coming-of-age for the serial killer genre" when the book was published and critically acclaimed in 1984.
He subsequent best-selling crime suspense novel entitled MERCY [1990] made Lindsey famous, and was adapted to the big screen. I am looking forward to reading both these more well known works of his, but I had to buy the physical books and have yet to find a way to read for any length of time during the daytime.
But not to digress, I came across REQUIEM FOR A GLASS HEART [1996] in ebook at my county's Digital Library system. I rented it, read it, and frankly it was perhaps the best spy thriller I have ever read. My gushing review of it is probably over the top but it truly did move me that much. Later I spotted this novel from 1994 and bought it in Kindle format for an opportunity to at least read another one of Lindsey's works. AN ABSENCE OF LIGHT is truly a top shelf thriller with absolutely superlative characterizations of not only the main protagonist but also an entire ensemble of truly colorful, three dimensional characters that veritably leap off the proverbial page. The good guys are strong, sympathetic yet wholly believable while the villains are perhaps even more chilling because the author doesn't depict them as instantly recognizable monsters.
The title of this novel is a nod to his goal of using his masterful gift at writing prose to illuminate what is lurking unseen in the shadows. In this mesmerizing tale of betrayal, deception, shadows and international intrigue, the main protagonist is Captain Marcus Graver who is a former Homicide Detective assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) the most secretive Division of the Houston Police Department. Lindsey's talent for rendering the atmosphere and the setting as a character in the book all by itself is demonstrated again in this second work of his that I have read and loved. His writing style is just incredibly addictive. He makes you feel like you are amidst the action, vicariously feeling the rushes of adrenaline and a wide range of emotions along a harrowing and complex path of escalating suspense. This is a novel that was published over a quarter of a century ago, and I would venture to say that no author before or since can ratchet up tension and suspense any more effectively than David L. Lindsey.
AN ABSENCE OF LIGHT as reading material is a "heavyweight", and by the time you manage to make your way through this lengthy, complex, tautly knit thriller, you feel like "Whew!" and a bit exhausted. I would not have chosen to dive right into this book having just read REQUIEM FOR A GLASS HEART for instance. I have already purchased THE FACE OF THE ASSASSIN but plan to put maybe a dozen books in between.
Typically I don't peruse book reviews before I have composed and am ready to post my own review. However, I made an exception this time and was surprised to see that Goodreads has a rating of 3.8 (300 ratings total), and Amazon (oddly) also 3.8 but with a scant 24 reviews to comprise the sample. The caveat of course is that we are not privy to the opinions of countless readers that held this book in their hands, turning the pages, over 25 years ago. Nevertheless, I gleaned from glancing at reviews that his fans seem to have their personal favorite Lindsey book. I would have to accept that perhaps Lindsey is not the author for everybody, and that every reader who chooses to read one of his books runs the risk of disliking it, maybe even marking it DNF with a flourish. Conversely many other readers, such as myself, will find that his works are not simply outstanding but truly addicting.
I consider this author to be on a short list of writers in the '80s, '90s who were genuine masters of the crime fiction genre, along with such greats of their time as Lawrence Sanders and William Bayer. In this terrific tale of nail biting suspense, the author does make you sit still while your mind is racing, while he meticulously sets each scene. That is a small price to pay for spending your time with such a great novel. The tale is splendidly and vividly layered and textured. It is relentlessly paced in my opinion, and I can't (but will) wait awhile and then savor another one of his literary travels to another place and another time.
TRULY OUTSTANDING THRILLER SUSPENSE NOVEL FROM GRAND MASTER DAVID L. LINDSEY
My Review Five Stars*****
I finished reading this novel a couple of nights ago (July 8th) and found it to be an outstanding thriller. Lindsey is of course most well known for his early novel A COLD MIND which was called "a remarkable coming-of-age for the serial killer genre" when the book was published and critically acclaimed in 1984.
He subsequent best-selling crime suspense novel entitled MERCY [1990] made Lindsey famous, and was adapted to the big screen. I am looking forward to reading both these more well known works of his, but I had to buy the physical books and have yet to find a way to read for any length of time during the daytime.
But not to digress, I came across REQUIEM FOR A GLASS HEART [1996] in ebook at my county's Digital Library system. I rented it, read it, and frankly it was perhaps the best spy thriller I have ever read. My gushing review of it is probably over the top but it truly did move me that much. Later I spotted this novel from 1994 and bought it in Kindle format for an opportunity to at least read another one of Lindsey's works. AN ABSENCE OF LIGHT is truly a top shelf thriller with absolutely superlative characterizations of not only the main protagonist but also an entire ensemble of truly colorful, three dimensional characters that veritably leap off the proverbial page. The good guys are strong, sympathetic yet wholly believable while the villains are perhaps even more chilling because the author doesn't depict them as instantly recognizable monsters.
The title of this novel is a nod to his goal of using his masterful gift at writing prose to illuminate what is lurking unseen in the shadows. In this mesmerizing tale of betrayal, deception, shadows and international intrigue, the main protagonist is Captain Marcus Graver who is a former Homicide Detective assigned to the Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) the most secretive Division of the Houston Police Department. Lindsey's talent for rendering the atmosphere and the setting as a character in the book all by itself is demonstrated again in this second work of his that I have read and loved. His writing style is just incredibly addictive. He makes you feel like you are amidst the action, vicariously feeling the rushes of adrenaline and a wide range of emotions along a harrowing and complex path of escalating suspense. This is a novel that was published over a quarter of a century ago, and I would venture to say that no author before or since can ratchet up tension and suspense any more effectively than David L. Lindsey.
AN ABSENCE OF LIGHT as reading material is a "heavyweight", and by the time you manage to make your way through this lengthy, complex, tautly knit thriller, you feel like "Whew!" and a bit exhausted. I would not have chosen to dive right into this book having just read REQUIEM FOR A GLASS HEART for instance. I have already purchased THE FACE OF THE ASSASSIN but plan to put maybe a dozen books in between.
Typically I don't peruse book reviews before I have composed and am ready to post my own review. However, I made an exception this time and was surprised to see that Goodreads has a rating of 3.8 (300 ratings total), and Amazon (oddly) also 3.8 but with a scant 24 reviews to comprise the sample. The caveat of course is that we are not privy to the opinions of countless readers that held this book in their hands, turning the pages, over 25 years ago. Nevertheless, I gleaned from glancing at reviews that his fans seem to have their personal favorite Lindsey book. I would have to accept that perhaps Lindsey is not the author for everybody, and that every reader who chooses to read one of his books runs the risk of disliking it, maybe even marking it DNF with a flourish. Conversely many other readers, such as myself, will find that his works are not simply outstanding but truly addicting.
I consider this author to be on a short list of writers in the '80s, '90s who were genuine masters of the crime fiction genre, along with such greats of their time as Lawrence Sanders and William Bayer. In this terrific tale of nail biting suspense, the author does make you sit still while your mind is racing, while he meticulously sets each scene. That is a small price to pay for spending your time with such a great novel. The tale is splendidly and vividly layered and textured. It is relentlessly paced in my opinion, and I can't (but will) wait awhile and then savor another one of his literary travels to another place and another time.
TRULY OUTSTANDING THRILLER SUSPENSE NOVEL FROM GRAND MASTER DAVID L. LINDSEY
January 21, 2019
David Lindsey is one of my favorite crime novelists. His A Cold Mind (1983), almost his first novel, represented a remarkable coming-of-age for the serial-killer genre. Mercy (1990) made him famous. But for me it's his 1992 novel Body of Truth that's most imprinted itself on my mind: although it fits the bill as a murder mystery, it's the novel's lifting off the lid of the Reagan-backed dirty war in Guatemala that makes it without a doubt the most harrowing crime novel I have ever read. It achieved this effect on me not through torrents of grue, or whatever, but through its slowly built-up recreation of the atmosphere of (wholly justified) paranoia that must have existed in Guatemala and other countries in Central and South America at the time, where a word out of place -- or simply the whim of some moronic bully -- could have you "disappeared" overnight, possibly a plaything for the torturers for the hours before the mercy of death. And maybe not just you: maybe your whole family.
I read Body of Truth within a few years after its publication, about a quarter of a century ago, and, although most plot details have obviously drifted out of memory, I still find that, every time I think about the book, I re-enter that state of paranoia.
Lindsey's novels tend to be strong meat (though that's not a universal rule), and so I generally space them out a bit. I realized the other day that really quite a while had passed since last I'd read one and that I'd accumulated three on the TBR shelves. So I picked off the fattest of them, which was An Absence of Light, and settled in.
Houston, Texas, and an investigator for the Houston PD's Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) is found in his car with a bullet through his head. The initial verdict is suicide, but Marcus Graver, the CID's head, is not so sure, and his doubts increase within a day or two when the analysts checking the dead man's case files discover inconsistencies. And then another of the investigators involved in those cases dies "of a heart attack." As Graver and a trio of his staff dig further, with the help of a freelance and occasionally extralegal intelligence outfit run by an old friend of his, they unearth a truly staggering criminal plot.
And all the time the body count is rising . . .
Lindsey isn't a writer to everyone's taste. He goes for the slow build-up, eschewing immediate gratification for the sake of meticulous scene-setting and the like. His prose is measured to the extent too often of ponderousness, and can occasionally be ugly. (His copyeditors are responsible for failing to eliminate the latter. In this book we have examples of the laying/lying illiteracy, the loose/lose illiteracy and a "from whence," among others. One of the typos made me grin: "unchartered country.") In other words, he's a writer you have to be patient with, putting your trust in him that this long, slow, occasionally tiresome burn is going to be justified in the later stages of his tale.
And in An Absence of Light he didn't let me down in this respect. The latter half of this long novel flew by, and even now, twenty-four hours or so after finishing it, I'm still not done shaking myself free of it. The reason, I think, is that Lindsey has a knack of getting you into the minds of his villains -- there are two major ones here -- so that you begin to understand their thinking all too well. In An Absence of Light they're predators not in the sense that the Ted Bundys and the Albert De Salvos of our society are but through their complete disregard of the rest of us except as devices to aid the satisfaction of their greed: they're the ultimate end-point of unfettered capitalism.
Again I've been knocked a bit sideways by a Lindsey novel, although I don't think it's up there among his very best (but for a more realistic judgment on this ask me again in three months' time). Yet I admit there were times in the first couple of hundred pages when I wondered why I was bothering. Did I really need yet another description of someone's house, or the burger they grabbed for breakfast? (One descriptive aspect that's dated badly is that within a few paragraphs or even a few lines of the introduction of any of the female characters we're generally informed about their degree of buxomness.) But many good things are all the better if you have to wait a while for them, and that's true here.
I read Body of Truth within a few years after its publication, about a quarter of a century ago, and, although most plot details have obviously drifted out of memory, I still find that, every time I think about the book, I re-enter that state of paranoia.
Lindsey's novels tend to be strong meat (though that's not a universal rule), and so I generally space them out a bit. I realized the other day that really quite a while had passed since last I'd read one and that I'd accumulated three on the TBR shelves. So I picked off the fattest of them, which was An Absence of Light, and settled in.
Houston, Texas, and an investigator for the Houston PD's Criminal Intelligence Division (CID) is found in his car with a bullet through his head. The initial verdict is suicide, but Marcus Graver, the CID's head, is not so sure, and his doubts increase within a day or two when the analysts checking the dead man's case files discover inconsistencies. And then another of the investigators involved in those cases dies "of a heart attack." As Graver and a trio of his staff dig further, with the help of a freelance and occasionally extralegal intelligence outfit run by an old friend of his, they unearth a truly staggering criminal plot.
And all the time the body count is rising . . .
Lindsey isn't a writer to everyone's taste. He goes for the slow build-up, eschewing immediate gratification for the sake of meticulous scene-setting and the like. His prose is measured to the extent too often of ponderousness, and can occasionally be ugly. (His copyeditors are responsible for failing to eliminate the latter. In this book we have examples of the laying/lying illiteracy, the loose/lose illiteracy and a "from whence," among others. One of the typos made me grin: "unchartered country.") In other words, he's a writer you have to be patient with, putting your trust in him that this long, slow, occasionally tiresome burn is going to be justified in the later stages of his tale.
And in An Absence of Light he didn't let me down in this respect. The latter half of this long novel flew by, and even now, twenty-four hours or so after finishing it, I'm still not done shaking myself free of it. The reason, I think, is that Lindsey has a knack of getting you into the minds of his villains -- there are two major ones here -- so that you begin to understand their thinking all too well. In An Absence of Light they're predators not in the sense that the Ted Bundys and the Albert De Salvos of our society are but through their complete disregard of the rest of us except as devices to aid the satisfaction of their greed: they're the ultimate end-point of unfettered capitalism.
Again I've been knocked a bit sideways by a Lindsey novel, although I don't think it's up there among his very best (but for a more realistic judgment on this ask me again in three months' time). Yet I admit there were times in the first couple of hundred pages when I wondered why I was bothering. Did I really need yet another description of someone's house, or the burger they grabbed for breakfast? (One descriptive aspect that's dated badly is that within a few paragraphs or even a few lines of the introduction of any of the female characters we're generally informed about their degree of buxomness.) But many good things are all the better if you have to wait a while for them, and that's true here.
September 10, 2013
Many years ago I read Lindsey’s Spiral in paperback and really enjoyed it; some of the action took place in Houston locations that I regularly traversed. Now equipped with a Kindle, I decided to dip into another Houston-based Lindsey offering, An Absence of Light. Lindsey writes great prose, and his description of the byzantine workings of HPD’s Criminal Intelligence Division seemed to reflect that he’d done his homework. The apparent suicide of a CID officer leads to his superior’s decision to conduct a rogue investigation with ramifications in high places, all leading to a slam-bang ending.
Although Lindsey writes well, I have to ding him for things like the following: Characters wade out into the Texas Gulf and feel the strong pull of the Gulf Stream; that current, however, flows along the Atlantic coast, not the Gulf coast. A character viewing a photographic exhibit whispers something in Israeli to his companion; the language spoken by Israelis is called Hebrew. And a character several times peers at surveillance photos with a loop instead of a loupe.
Although Lindsey writes well, I have to ding him for things like the following: Characters wade out into the Texas Gulf and feel the strong pull of the Gulf Stream; that current, however, flows along the Atlantic coast, not the Gulf coast. A character viewing a photographic exhibit whispers something in Israeli to his companion; the language spoken by Israelis is called Hebrew. And a character several times peers at surveillance photos with a loop instead of a loupe.
May 22, 2010
David Lindsey is a wonderful author. It was a gripping story (but did I expect anything less?)! What I enjoy about his books is that the author lives in Austin (as do I) and writes most of his books set in Houston. I grew up there, so it's like I'm going in my mind where the characters go in the book. But even if you aren't from Houston, his books are truly suspenseful!
July 10, 2016
At times it was like reading a manual on interdepartmental procedure at a large metropolitan police department. The book could have been a hundred pages shorter.
July 5, 2022
I picked this one up at the library’s book sale. It was a great thriller. A flashback to the 90s and the early stages of computers, etc. The main cop has a pager and has to FIND PAY PHONES to check in. That cracked me up. I’m like, dude get a cell phone and then oh yeah….not invented yet. This was very well written and kept you on edge until the end.
March 2, 2023
Written in 1994.
I think that's the thing to bear in mind.
It's not bad, and it's a reminder of the days before cell phones, but when computers were around. So many pay phones!
I think that this might have trouble getting published today.
Author has an impressive vocabulary, although I have never seen anyone use horse color terms for people's hair before.
I think that's the thing to bear in mind.
It's not bad, and it's a reminder of the days before cell phones, but when computers were around. So many pay phones!
I think that this might have trouble getting published today.
Author has an impressive vocabulary, although I have never seen anyone use horse color terms for people's hair before.
November 27, 2017
Didn’t quite end the way I thought it would, therefore it’s a good book.
March 4, 2019
Good story, but slow.
November 8, 2019
Excellent writing and characters.
March 22, 2021
Read in 1994. This novel takes the reader into the shockingly sophisticated and corrupt world of international drug and arms trading.
October 18, 2023
Very nice
This was a well written novel that kept my attention all throughout. I enjoyed the fast pace and was constantly surprised.
This was a well written novel that kept my attention all throughout. I enjoyed the fast pace and was constantly surprised.
February 24, 2024
Very interesting book
March 19, 2017
I just cannot get in to this book. Every time I start, my eyes get heavy and my mind drifts. Most boring book ever.
September 22, 2013
OK, so I was listening to this as an audio book, and I was about 30 minutes out of over 16 hours from the end, and I accidentally erased it from my player. It was at that point I accepted that I didn't care enough to put it back and find my place. I think the pacing of this book was it's biggest problem. Even when the author was trying to have things happening all a once to give a sense of tension it seemed slow. I never got a sense of urgency from the book, and I never turned it off feeling anxious to get back to it. I gave it two stars, because it did keep my attention enough that I would have finished it, but that's not exactly a raving review.
September 18, 2013
This is an excellent story, well written with a strong plot. The protagonist, Marcus Graver, is fully developed and totally believable. The twist ending was a bit predictable, but the build-up to the final scenes was well crafted. The workings of a big city police force are clear, and the paranoia associated with the discovery of criminal activities within their ranks definately adds a dimension to the minor characters.
April 22, 2015
Actually, read this book last year, but couldn't remember much about it so read again. This is a good book, but not great. Story is believable if you subscribe to the idea that there is always a someone else a little higher up pulling the strings - a conspiracy theory of sorts. Marcus Graver is forced to keep climbing this latter to figure out what was going on in his Counterintelligence department.
March 31, 2013
One of my favorite authors delivers a tale of a former Mossad agent turned drug dealer in Houston, Texas. He has infiltrated sections of the police department which leads to a hush, hush investigation involving a few policemen and outside investigators. This is an extremely good book with a powerful cast of characters and an excellent plot. If you haven't read David Lindsey, try this one.
July 19, 2007
Another Lindsey must read
May 20, 2008
There are many twists and turns in this book, keeps you guessing and pulling for the main character. The ending is surprising.
December 22, 2009
It was very long but not bad.
March 4, 2010
Corporate greed ferretted out by Houston CID - very good
April 12, 2010
Captain Marcus Graver, Chief of the Houston Police Department
Intelligence Unit, investigates the alleged suicide of one of his
investigators. Complicated, serpentine plot. Good story.
Intelligence Unit, investigates the alleged suicide of one of his
investigators. Complicated, serpentine plot. Good story.
July 6, 2010
Not as good as "Mercy"...
Want to read
December 31, 2010* Inherited from Mum's shelves.
October 14, 2019
Quite readable.
July 25, 2012
Overall an interesting plot, but there were plenty of moments when I thought the story would never pick up (especially at the beginning) even though it starts off with a newly discovered dead body.
March 22, 2013
A very intelligent and intricate story. A procedural crime investigation with all the necessary ingredients for a good thriller.
November 11, 2015
slow, lots of details, ultimately good.
August 9, 2016
A fast-paced thriller set in Houston. The complex spycraft and intrigue races to a climax that is realistic and therefore not completely tied up in a bow.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews