Course of Action

by David Darling

Eighteen years after four-year-old Angela Taylor was kidnapped, Detective Noah Hunter receives information that the girl may be alive. The cold case is reopened, but someone would rather see the police detective dead than publicly reveal what happened all those years ago.

Dodging government agents and hired contractors, a small-town police officer pits himself against those responsible. But powerful people are interested in the outcome, controlling the narrative—something he could not imagine.

This time Noah will solve the case, no matter the cost.

383 pages, ebook

First published May 31, 2022

About the author

Author of the Noah Hunter series, Edge of Time, Edge of Eternity, Serve in the Shadows: Recruitment, and Grim Measures.

David grew up in a small-town east of Toronto, Canada. He has had many interests throughout the years including the military, martial arts, playing guitar, reading, and in his own mind, he is quite the excellent fisherman. David is married and has one daughter and misses his chocolate lab daily.


Feel free to write to David Darling at:

author.david.darling@gmail.com

Reviews

[Mark Elliott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Course of Action, book three of the Noah Hunter series is captivating! Each Noah Hunter book just keeps getting better. Pacing, character development and plot all meld seamlessly with the action and drama making it hard to put down. If you are a fan of the Police/Mystery thriller (or just thrillers in general), then the Noah Hunter series is one you must read!

[Jeff Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third book in the series, and it just keeps getting better. Another riveting entry into the world of Noah Hunter. Going to keep it spoiler free…but it’s the best in the series!

[Thrillers R Us · Rating 5 out of 5]

Named for painter Hieronymus Bosch, the fictional LAPD police detective Harry Bosch has plied his trade under the recently vocalized 'Everyone counts or nobody counts' mantra since THE BLACK ECHO in 1992. Parallelling the same insights into the earthly existence of the human race, its desires, angst, and depravities as a Los Angeles police detective, Hieronymus Bosch excelled in his extravagant depiction of religious ideas, most famously 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' around 1500, done as a triptych, a three part sectional work. The three books by David Darling featuring Arrow Point Police Detective Noah Hunter are as different from one another as can be, forming a literary cop thriller sectional, but revealing the hell that is the human condition, primarily focused around a fictional city in Wyoming.

Scratching the outer limit marker of a successful law enforcement career, Noah Hunter is nowhere near or ready to pull the pin. In fact, the seasoned detective's been plagued by that one case for eighteen years. Every cop's got one. An inattentive mother, a missing child. It was just one mistake, one moment. For Noah Hunter it's been a lifetime in hell. Unlike the same name character of BEVERLY HILLS 90210, this Noah Hunter is loyal, faithful, and especially duty-bound. Fresh out of the POLICE ACADEMY, Noah Hunter's first case was unsolved and thence put on ice. The abduction of a four year old girl haunts him still, now eighteen years later, sitting just below the surface, clawing at his conscience, begging not to be forgotten. Just as the good lord works in mysterious ways, new evidence finds its way to Arrow Point PD and this cold case is heating up.

Gravitating as a segue to the bigger picture, something lurks in the shadows; a secondary executive branch in the US government--the real DEEP STATE created by Truman via EO. Going full Mulder/Scully, COURSE OF ACTION proffers that this came about due to things best kept secret at Roswell, NM. Needless to say, this is something that warrants being protected at all costs. Thus, Noah's saddled with a case blighted by enormous consequences, as there are Feds all over the case faster than someone can cite 'National Security'. The focus, however, remains the same: find that missing child from eighteen years ago. Despite all the tech advances to benefit law enforcement in the last two decades, it all still comes down to old-fashioned police work.

Chased by more than four government alphabet soup agencies and at least 100 agents/officers, the hunter has become the hunted. Following leads all over the country, Noah is all in, trying to find who masterminded the kidnapping all that time ago. All over the Eastern Seaboard and then some, Hunter finds himself in DC, the Carolinas, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Colorado, and back. For an almost twenty year department vet, the miles no longer drop off or float by, especially with a contract hit team that answers to an entity simply named 'Mother' on his tail. Aside from this very Hitchcockian of notions, there's also the main bad guy who repeatedly uses a gesture made famous by characters in THE STING. Since Hooker or Gondorff would've been way too easy, the charlatan making Noah Hunter's tribulations difficult goes by Walter Scott. Dropping the title of nobility and bequeathed fiefdoms, the Scottish namesake was a poet and novelist, most famous for THE LADY OF THE LAKE poem, and perhaps appearing as a bridge to noir great Raymond Chandler, mack daddy and founder of hard-boiled detective fiction, who penned THE LADY IN THE LAKE.

Before donning life jackets and looking for clues in any lake, the crew'd be better off with Kevlar-- a modern day assault on a police station that brings back nightmares of THE TERMINATOR throws the investigation into chaos, but Noah Hunter's here to stay. Steeped in procedural detail and solid case work, COURSE OF ACTION is one cop's journey to redemption and peace of mind for the victim's parents. When the going gets tough, or when those in charge do their best to shut things down, the tough get going. Stay the course with Noah Hunter in a quest for justice, accountability, and retribution, for Noah Hunter's COURSE OF ACTION is always the road less traveled.

[Ricki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Det Noah Hunter is a small town police detective whose first case was the kidnapping of a 4 year old girl. Now eighteen years later, someone drops off evidence that she is still alive.

A government conspiracy sends Noah from Colorado to Virginia to N. Carolina to Florida. In each state he is targeted for death by factions in the same government.

An interesting theory of a second parallel govt that no one knows about and Noah blows wide open.
It's a quick read.

[SteVen Hendricks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review – Course of Action – David Darling
In Canadian Author David Darling’s third book in the Noah Hunter crime series, Darling just keeps getting better and better in his storytelling. “Course of Action” is the best in the series, and this is a really good read! Eighteen years after a four-year-old toddler is kidnapped, Detective Noah Hunter receives information that the little girl may still be alive. The cold case is reopened, but someone very powerful does not want police Detective Hunter to uncover what happened all those years ago. Hunter ultimately goes after those responsible and they in turn go after him. This suspenseful police/crime thriller is very captivating! The story pacing, character development and plot all blend effortlessly together with the action and drama. And main character Noah Hunter’s character is one the reader can only cheer for. Darling knocked it ‘out-of-the-park’ with this police/mystery/crime thriller! Another riveting crime narrative that keeps the reader engaged and wanting more in future books. A great read by a really good ‘Indie’ author! Special thank you to author David Darling for an Advance Copy of Course of Action.