They call it pulling the trigger. Not by a killer in the night, but by a judge on the bench.
"Gore not only puts a face on the difficulties of serving justice but also illustrates their immensity" - Publishers Weekly
Twenty years ago, Judge Ray McMullin proved to the people of San Francisco he could pull that trigger by sentencing Israel Dominguez to death for a gangland murder. But it meant suppressing his own doubts about whether the punishment really did fit the crime.
As the execution date nears, the conscience-wracked judge confesses his unease to former homicide detective Harlan Donnally on a riverbank in far Northern California. And after immersing himself in the Norteño and Sureño gang wars that left trails of bullets and blood crisscrossing the state and in the betrayals of both cops and crooks alike, Donnally is forced to question not only whether the penalty was undeserved, but the conviction itself.
Soon those doubts and questions double back, for in the aging judge's panic, in his lapses of memory and in his confusions, Donnally begins to wonder whether he's chasing facts of the case or just phantoms of a failing mind. But there's no turning back, for the edge of night is fast closing in on Dominguez, on McMullin, and on Donnally himself.
"A provocative legal thriller . . . Steven Gore, with a background as private investigator, has a keen insight into the American criminal justice system." - The Daily Review
"This is an incredible story. . . . A tale that is many tales in one, there are times that the action will yank you into the story, but will also keep you there with heart-wrenching character emotion. A long ago crime must be solved, a dead man must die only if guilty, and Harlan must watch the ones he cares for fight a disease that he can't stop." - Suspense Magazine
"This is my second Steven Gore novel but won't be my last. His hero, Harlan Donnally, is a cerebral former cop with a highly developed sense of right and wrong. Add in a pinch of action and danger and you have a satisfying read with a great story and characters who actually think about important issues." -Views from the Countryside
"It managed to keep me guessing throughout the entire book. Not to mention the way everything seemed interconnected: like a ripple effect caused by a single action. I loved every minute of it!" - Bell, Book & Candle
I find myself thinking about this book, and the concepts of justice that Gore presents here. Long after the plot twists have been lost in the foggy mists of my memory, I am still left thinking about the big issues of justice, right and wrong, and balancing the needs of all in a civil society. That in itself is a worthy achievement. - Reviewing the Evidence
"Steeped in explosive issues and Gore's approach indicates he isn't shying away from blasting one or two off in the course of this plot. Whether you've read either of the previous two Harlan Donnally's or not, you'll want to pick up Night is the Hunter. Gore offers a tremendous amount to consider in timely, rich and controversial themes. Excellent fodder for book discussion groups. This one's a must for crime fans. - Jen's Book Thoughts
A Note from the Author
Night is the Hunter isn't for every reader, not even every crime fiction reader, for it is a challenging book. Like the Harlan Donnally and Graham Gage novels before it, I wanted it to both reflect the actual world of crime and justice and to contribute to the public debates that will determine what kind of people we'll be, what kind of society we'll have.
For these reasons, the book demanded much from me and demands much from the reader.
From me, it demanded realism. Not the realism of the television crime drama, but of the rough ground where I spent my investigative career; a realism that respects the practical and moral logic of life on that landscape; a realism that risks violating genre readers' expectations; and, most importantly, the realism of judges, lawyers, investigators, victims and even the accused, all of whom must think and act even as the meanings of what they have witnessed, done and suffered multiply or dissolve.
From readers it demands a willingness to master certain legal concepts, rules of evidence, criminal procedures, and investigative techniques, for it is by means of these that they will understand the characters as they think with those concepts, submit to those rules and procedures, and employ those techniques. Even more, it demands a willingness to deal with complications, not merely of story and plot, but of fact and law. None of this is easy. I have seen real-world practitioners lose their way in these sorts of complications and in the ethical conflicts that arise from them. I've even seen some break under the strain. But this too must be seen if fiction is to reflect the real.
What I offer readers in exchange for their willingness to engage in this manner with the characters and their struggles are hard-won perspectives on the lives of those seeking justice, on the breadth of the law of murder, on prosecutorial ethics, on judicial obligations, on the practice of capital punishment and the psychological burdens borne by who participate in it. And I offer something else that comes in the form of a theme that ties all this into the lives of readers themselves: the everyday tragedy of mothers, fathers, spouses and friends suffering with memory loss while endeavoring to live meaningful and responsible lives.
Since Night is the Hunter is a novel, it will rise and fall as a novel. The plot has to move forward, the characters, both the good and the evil, have to captivate, pages have to turn, reading lights have to remain lit and e-readers must glow late into the night. Perhaps some readers will have to lose some sleep, as I did.
Steven Gore
