Dark Side of the Moon

Laura Cardinal #2

by J. Carson Black

Have you ever seen true evil? I mean, looked it in the face and recognized it for what it is? I have. And you know what? It’s a face like any other.

Thus begins DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, the second book in the Laura Cardinal series. When two newlyweds are found murdered at an Arizona campground, Arizona Department of Public Safety detective Laura Cardinal is enlisted to investigate. Laura Cardinal has made a specialty of troubleshooting serious crimes in small towns. Teamed with a partner who is working her last nerve, and visited by the ghost of her mentor, homicide cop Frank Entwistle, Laura’s already walking an emotional tightrope. The lies she uncovers create a chilling portrait of the dark side of love. And when she discovers one victim’s ties to an underground organization, she is plunged into a high-stakes conspiracy played out against the unforgiving backdrop of the Mojave Desert—where there are no second chances.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Suspense, Ebooks

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 3, 2006

Reviews

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A police procedural in Arizona - Laura Cardinal continues to be an interesting lead character, investigating the brutal shooting of a young couple married in Vegas earlier that day, with developments relating to one of the suspects taking the investigation into a whole new conspiracy

[Autumn Chambers · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had potential but I feel like it tried to do too much at once. It was really descriptive and a slow build but then the end was completely rushed. A little disappointed. (2.8)

[Black Butterfly · Rating 1 out of 5]

RATHER SLOW WITH VERY UNLIKABLE CHARACTERS I COULD NOT CONNECT TO ANYBODY. THERE WAS SOMETHING SO SAD AND MORBID ABOUT ALL THE CAST OF CHARACTERS THEY DEPRESSED ME. THE STORY LINE KEPT YOU TRYING TO FIGURE OUT JUST WTF WAS GOING ON BUT THAT WASN'T A BAD THING. I LIKE IT WHEN I CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHO DONE WHAT. I JUST DIDN'T LIKE ANYONE IN THE STORY AT ALL THEY ALL NEEDED PROFESSIONAL HELP BIG TIME. CALLING DR PHIL, HELP!;{

[Ilsa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, not great. The main character was well drawn, but the secondary characters less so. Hard to feel invested in the outcome. But the ending was good enough that I'm reconsidering my decision to abandon the series. I want ro find out what happens next with Laura Cardinal.

[Phyllis · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are too many extraneous characters in this book, and not enough character development of the main, recurring characters. The main murder case is given less attention than a nuclear waste side show. Loose ends are not tied up.

[Charles Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This part of the series was not as good as the first book. I tried to keep an open mind but after awhile i just became uninterested on who did what. I wanted just to finish.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first J. Carson Black book. It started out like a normal crime fiction - two newly weds are shot inside their tent. Det. Laura Cardinal comes in to solve the case. The book has plenty of action and sub plots - a case of Munchausen by proxy, an eco terrorism group stealing nuclear waste, a case of a drowned boy who was out on a lake with his teacher in the middle of the night. At least the book is fast paced.

One thing I didn’t like is how they sorted out the murder. I found the whole “best friend sleeping with Mum and then murdering him in the location they used to meet” was a story that seemed to come out of nowhere. Also how it got solved (partial footprint) and then to have a murder suicide to wrap it up. That story line took a back seat to the eco terror one.

The other thing I had a hard time following were the constant references to an earlier case that you needed to have read an earlier book (which I didn’t). Also the ghost and her relationship problems were a bit out of sync with the rest of the story. Maybe those would make more sense if I read the earlier book.

[Tina Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional writing!

This was a great story that had Laura bent in many ways. The characters were well presented, and each told their own story that became woven into a masterpiece of a criminal mystery thriller.

[Bella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed.

Thoroughly enjoyed the previous book that start s in Bisbee. This one starts with a tragedy and then veers off to a crazy plot that comes out of left field. Try keeping the names straight! I like a good well put together book. Not this one.

[Debbie Mcnally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book plenty of twist and turns.

[Melony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, frighteningly realistic in this post 9/11 era.

[Trudy J. Shattls · Rating 2 out of 5]

Boring!

Not exciting. Long and drawn out with too many insignificant details. Too many suspects and towards the end, too many agents and detectives are named.

[Peggy A Johns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great lead character!

Love Laura Cardinal! Tough, but flawed lady who gets the job done! These series (I love continual characters) of books are great! Good storyline always...

[Lynn Vaughan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lynnie

Good book, twist and turns, you think you got it and puff, it goes in a total different way.

Great main characters, and interesting facts that come out . On to the next.

[deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

good story, but too much plodding - would have benefited from some serious tightening up

[Judy Churchill · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are very dark stories. It makes you wonder how law enforcement lives with the images day after day.

[Charles E. Kochan Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

I have been a fan a long time and Ms. Black has a fantastic writing style and brilliant plot development. I hope she write for a very long time !

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detective Laura Cardinal with the Department of Public Safety investigates a murder with her new partner Richie Lockhart at Cataract Lake Park where newlyweds Dan Yates and Kellee Taylor were found shot to death while camping on their honeymoon. There are many suspicious characters in this suspenseful tale set in the Mojave Desert: Shana Yates, Dan Yates' twin sister, whose boyfriend Bobby Burdette is tied to an underground organization, Earth Warriors, along with Kellee Taylor's father, Jack Taylor a.k.a. John Traywick; Jamie Cottle, who had a crush on Kellee and whose own brother had drowned in Cataract Lake; and the Wingate's of Unicorn Farm, Detective Josh Wingate, Dan Yates' best friend who found the newlyweds, his mother Barbara Wingate, and her grandaughter Erin to name a few. I liked this book, an interesting police procedural multilayered with several subplots: pedophilia, statutory rape, Munchausen by proxy, high-stakes consiracy, and jealosy which strayed a bit too far from the original plot at times although it all came together in the end, would recommend to those who like crime fiction. Laura Cardinal was a likeable protagonist, but I didn't really get a feel for her character in this book. Perhaps if I had read Darkness on the Edge of Town, J. Carson Black's first novel introducing Laura Cardinal, I would have had a better understanding of her troubled past, and then maybe her ocular headaches, her distant boyfriend Tom Lightfoot, and her ghostly former mentor Frank Entwistle would have made more sense.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like these books, but I'm going to have to start keeping a pad and pen handy. With every book, Laura is working with a new partner and just when they start to grow on you, the book ends and she has a new partner in the next one. I would like for her mentor to help her get it all together. Was glad she finally went to the doctor and is planning to get counseling, which she should have done after the first book. I do wish the books would explain a few things a little bit better, both from her distant past which is always referred to and you are left to kinda figure out what you "think" happened, and also from the recent cases.

It would be ok if the books started out with just a new story line, but because things are mentioned from the past I need more.

I was disappointed in the outcome of her relationship with Tom, but I guess it was expected.

If you read these books, be aware that there are numerous trails to follow and sometimes you wonder "now where does this fit in?" But I still like them, I think because I'm always rooting for Laura to solve the case and get all her personal issues dealt with.

I'm not talking about the story itself because there is too much to say and I would give something away. So read and make your own decisions.

[David Freas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was about on a part with the other two books in the series, and my comments on them carry over to this one.

The story seems to jump ahead in spots as if Black knew how her characters got from point A to point B, but forgot to tell us.

The revelation of the bad guy seemed to come out of nowhere. There were no clues throughout the book to this point that might point to the guilty one, although this time, I had a suspicion who it was.

I read the third book in this series before I read this one and some of the things mentioned there left me a bit at sea. I hoped this book might clear some of them up but I may have to go back and re-read that third book to see if I’m right.

The story itself was interesting – a newlywed couple shotgunned to death in their tent. Is their murder an act of revenge, jealousy, or does it have something to do with the act an ecoterror group is planning? That Laura Cardinal, the main character, was involved in trying to solve both the murder and the ecoterrorist plot is a realistic portrayal of real police work. There’s never only one open case on an officer’s plate.

J. Carson Black remains on my ‘to read’ list but still only in a fallback position.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent murder mystery with a bit of a thriller element. It starts off a little slow, but picks up as Laura Cardinal meets more characters and suspects. I'm not much into mysteries, but I bought this because the author is a fellow Arizona resident and the setting is in Arizona, primarily the small mountain town of Williams. The author throws in enough details that it's clear she knows her setting, which is always nice. I've read some novels in which an author clearly didn't know the setting, and that's really annoying.

My main complaint, which prevented the novel from getting 4 stars, is that the protagonist plays only a small role in the pivotal events of the novel's climax. She's more of a spectator than an actor, which weakened the excitement.

The mystery itself is pretty interesting and the inevitable twist at the end is okay, but what makes the novel stand out for me is the depth of character. The secondary characters are all three-dimensional and fully reazlied, which makes them and the novel that much more interesting.

[Courtneyp860 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros: this book was easy to pick up and read when you are short on time as it is very easy to jump right back into. A comparison would be when reading Game of Thrones I had to invest a full hour to get back into the spot where I left off and the storyline. There were moments that this book had great intensity although I felt that they were fleeting.

Cons: as I finish this book I feel like there were so many things left on answered that I wanted to know more about. The relationship with Tom? What happened there? I also found myself completely forgetting about the main murder in this book once they started to focus on Bobby Burdette and the earth warriors. There's also a third story going on that never really gets developed which is the story of the boy at the lake and his teacher. Did something to really happen there that was unsavory? This book was good but it definitely could've been great.

[Elizabeth Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This started out as brilliantly as the Laura Cardinal series book I read before, and I enjoyed it tremendously until the point where the CIA et al came into the picture. For me, the changing viewpoints dissipated the tension and the plot got so complex, with so many law enforcement bodies involved that I had trouble following it. Once Laura got back the story, it was fine. I also guessed the whodunnit early on, very much by a process of elimination and at the end did not feel enough clues were planted for that guess to be legitimate.

But this won't stop me reading J Carson Black again. I love her style and the way she gets into the character's emotional life grabs me completely. Also love that ghost!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the opening chapter. It had me hooked from the beginning. The descriptions of the small desert town were great. The main character, Laura, was interesting and likable. My only complaint was I didn't like her relationship with her boyfriend. The times when she went back home to see him broke up the flow of the book. The central mystery of the story was good. It took me awhile to see the whole picture, but once I did, the pieces all fit together. The bad guy was strangely compelling, and I enjoyed reading his chapters too. He came across as a real person, not just as some 2 dimensional character. I haven't read book 1 of this series, but after reading this, I would like to read more.

[Joan Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "Ripped from the Headlines" Plot

When Dark Side of the Moon opens, Laura's world is undergoing change -- change she doesn't want, doesn't understand, and doesn't know how to stop. Laura and her insecurities are balanced by her aptitude for her job. In a "ripped from the headlines" story, Laura faces what everyone fears since 9/11.

By book's end, you'll be surprised and saddened, for the other characters and for Laura. You'll also be thoroughly hooked into buying the other books in the series.

Senseless tragedy and cunning evil characterizes this second book in the Laura Cardinal Series, and it will keep you turning the pages.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly enjoyable read that mixed a bit of murder with conspiracy.
Two people are killed at a camping site and the investigator digs into this and goes more broadly discovering things that have been hidden for some time locally in the course of her investigation.
Apparently, in a previous book, which I haven't read, Laura went through some rather disturbing things and this is affecting her as a person and as an officer.
There's the ghost of her former mentor that pops up every so often, but he really doesn't seem to serve a purpose, so I don't know really why he's there, even as a manifestation of her subconscious.

[Diana Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riveting and gripping until the very end!

More of Laura Cardinal for those who have already read Cry Wolf, an excellent thriller in the Deadly Dozen boxed set!! Laura and her partner are faced with a brutal murder of a newly married couple that somehow feels personal with the rage exhibited! Searching for a killer, sifting through possible suspects, Laura becomes more human and real as we glimpse the myriad of emotions she goes through and the thoughts and feelings she shares while on the hunt!!

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good solid mystery that kept me engaged right to the end. I'll definitely stick with the series. But it was like the editor quit working after the first 2/3 of the manuscript. Syntactical, punctuation, and factual errors in the final third cost it a rating star. As an example, the Gulf of Mexico is not visible at any point while driving from Phoenix to Rocky Point on the Mexican coast of the Sea of Cortez.

[Dan Beaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my second J. Carson Black novel, and while it was not quite as good as the first, it was better than most mysteries. Perhaps a few too bread crumbs to follow, but still leaving a sense of whodunit from the lack of information. Worth reading, but start with Darkness on the Edge of Town (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19...) if you have not already read that book.

[Martyn Halm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the slow start and the dragging pace with the police procedural scenes, this story turned out pretty good as it neared its ending. I guessed the ultimate culprit of the murder early in the book, and the subplot about the nuclear waste was a bit overwrought, but it did a fine job of distracting from the straightforward murder case. The psychological parts and intimate scenes are well-crafted and the characters were all three-dimensional and believable.
Recommended!