Darkness First

A McCabe and Savage Thriller, Book 3

By: James Hayman

Narrated by: Stephen Mendel

Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

The mutilated body of a young woman. The town doctor lying comatose in the road. And 150 tablets of Canadian OxyContin. This is the havoc that a merciless killer has wreaked on a sleepy Maine seaport.

As detectives Maggie Savage and Michael McCabe investigate, they realize the man they are after does not exist. Nobody knows his real name. Nobody has seen his face. But everybody fears his blade.

The only one who may know the murderer's true identity is an 11-year-old girl - who has vanished into thin air.

Taut, twisting, and starring two unforgettable heroes, Darkness First will thrill fans of John Sandford and C. J. Box.

©2013 James Hayman (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

pronunciation

I really liked the story! Living in Maine made it even more enjoyable. The only issue I had was the pronunciation of Machias. It's actually pronounced like it's spelled. The ch is not like in Michael. Just saying...

McCabe and Savage Thrillers

Plot. Police procedural series based in Providence, Rhode Island. The cases are who-done-it murder mysteries with twists, some obvious, some surprising.

Liked. Clever plots, no explicit sex, no offensive language. These are murder mysteries, and some scenes are a bit grizzly but nothing gratuitous. There are five novels as of this writing, giving a nice long listen of nearly 50 hours. But, each book has a beginning-middle-end. Start with The Cutting for character continuity.

Not so hot. Narration is a bit stilted and unnatural, but listenable. No trouble discerning who is speaking to whom. Bumped the speed to 1.5.

Written by James Hayman and narrated by Stephen Mendel. All novels in the area of 10 hours of listening in unabridged audiobook format, released from 2015 through 2017 by HarperAudio.

He gets better and better...

I usually love debut novels. It is the novel the author has been dreaming of writing a great portion of their lives. Some authors get better as they go (i.e. John Hart) and I feel it is the same with James Hayman. After being on a mystery/police procedural binge, this series is among my favorites. Can't wait to move on to the next book, and that is a good judgement of how much a series/author is acclaimed.

excellent writer

This was a very good book as usual by an excellent writer. And good Audio

Held my attention

Tired ending! But... but... enough imagination tickling that it held me to last. This is the sort of average who daunt that I wish was the average. Meaning? Well I listen to these to be entertained... or seriously distracted... while ploughing through the minutia of life. You know, the mindless chores. So I look for books that will make me want to mow lawns, do dishes, drive through gridlock... like that. Do stuff that breaks away pieces of time to listen to an escapist mystery story.

James Hayman is the almost perfect writer of these things. He's a commercial writer who creates forgettable yet compelling little stories an d Darkness first is exactly one of those.McCabe and Savage are more like instruments than characters... Instruments that Hayman plays with the excellent collaboration of Stephen Mendel's reading.

I'm guessing that like me, you'll guess the bad guy's identity early on but so what? The dishes will still get clean with the least effort.

Darkness First

What did you love best about Darkness First?

The viciousness of the enemy. I know that sounds terrible but if you're going to have a good thriller, then you really shouldn't skimp on the "Gore!"

What did you like best about this story?

All of the different "side" stories going on. Plus I like the fact that he wrote this book and made Savage the main character.

What about Stephen Mendel’s performance did you like?

Soothing voice, not grating or irritating on the nerves.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Vicious!!!

Any additional comments?

Good book, was surprised. I didn't think I would really like it since it didn't concentrate on McCabe. However, I was wrong I enjoyed Savage's character a lot.

Best novel in a great detective series!

Darkness First is Book 3 in the 4 novel Mike McCabe and Maggie Savage detective thriller series. I read the series out of order (4,2,1,3). All 4 of the novels are great listens but Book 3 is best followed closely by Book 2. The other novels in the series are set in Portland Maine, but Darkness First is set in the small town in extreme northeastern Maine where Maggie Savage grew up and where her 74 year old dad is still sheriff. The McCabe and Savage series is probably the best detective series I have ever read or listened to.

Narration of all 4 novels in the series is by Stephen Mendel. Mendel does a great job.

I highly recommend this series. I expect to listen to it again.

A Savage Thriller, McCabe only did cameo

What did you love best about Darkness First?

storyline was good, but you know that whomever they suspect usually is wrong until the very end

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

no but was good

Which character – as performed by Stephen Mendel – was your favorite?

Good job on McCabe when he did appear, does male characters much better than the female

Any additional comments?

Wish they were upfront on the description that this is a Savage story and that McCabe does just a cameo. I prefer McCabe's character to Savage.

McCabe & Savage is worth a listen...

Any additional comments?

First I want to say what an excellent performance Stephen Mendel gives with these books. I will certainly look for more books with him as the narrator.

This is the third in the McCabe/Savage series and I think each one gets better and the characters are fleshed out a little more then in the previous.

This book was really good with a complex plot that kept me on the edge wondering just who would escape with their lives.
Pregnant girl goes into local doctor's office, refuses to give her real name, suspicious doctor wants to help girl, doctor snoops in backpack, girl catches doctor, girl leaves doctor's office in a hurry, girl gets murdered and doctor is almost killed but instead ends up comatose in hospital, one of the main protagonist's (Maggie Savage) brother is framed. This is how this book opens - Wow, I need a breather. The killer is known only by an alias, yet known by his true identity in the community by many. It's up to McCabe and Savage to solve the case and the crimes committed by this individual.

Really good series, I recommend all three so far!


If you found this review helpful please indicate so.

Thank You.

I liked this book!

Would you listen to Darkness First again? Why?

I don't listen to books again; however, I really liked this book. The grisly murder didn't bother me because it was such a small part of the book. The sex scenes could have been left out because they added nothing to the book. I don't know why authors think they need to add the gratuitous sex scenes.

What about Stephen Mendel’s performance did you like?

Mendel's performance between characters was seamless and believable.