Chris Jordan (1)Besprekingen

I was at once intrigued and beguiled by the bubbling point of view of administrative assistant Alice Crane, who basically narrates the entire story for us with tongue-in-cheek humor. Naomi Nantz, private investigator extraordinaire, has put together a team of retired law enforcement, attorneys, and hackers, not to mention their live-in cordon-bleu chef, to review and resolve those crimes that lesser human beings cannot handle.
In this case, the team is brought in by world famous child rescuer and former FBI agent, Randall Shane to help solve the murder of a MIT professor whose five-year-old musical child prodigy has been kidnapped and for whom Shane has been set up for the disappearance by murky unknown shadow-government agent-types.
When Shane is kidnapped from what was supposed to be the impregnable walls of the Nantz offices, the team takes it personally and sets out to sleuth the truth, rescue Shane, and find the missing child. In a web of deceit that leads to upper levels of government conspiracy to the Chinese triads, we are whiplashed through a fast-paced thriller and left with a well wrapped satisfying package.
The Alice Crane point of view throughout, especially when the action takes place out of her immediate view, becomes awkward. I thought the incessant babbling of the female view point a little heavy-handed, but this was before I found out that Chris Jordan is a Nome de plume for Rodman Philbrick, a man writing as a woman, and then I realized he over-dramatized the female role which affects the style. Another irritating habit is that each character exhibits the same sense of humor as the author (and narrator) which produces only a skin deep character evaluation. Elmore Leonard’s rule of writing Rule #10 should be applied, ‘try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.’ The book has a fine plot, effective outline, and is a scintillating thriller, but would benefit from being effectively edited.

I was at once intrigued and beguiled by the bubbling point of view of administrative assistant Alice Crane, who basically narrates the entire story for us with tongue-in-cheek humor. Naomi Nantz, private investigator extraordinaire, has put together a team of retired law enforcement, attorneys, and hackers, not to mention their live-in cordon-bleu chef, to review and resolve those crimes that lesser human beings cannot handle.
In this case, the team is brought in by world famous child rescuer and former FBI agent, Randall Shane to help solve the murder of a MIT professor whose five-year-old musical child prodigy has been kidnapped and for whom Shane has been set up for the disappearance by murky unknown shadow-government agent-types.
When Shane is kidnapped from what was supposed to be the impregnable walls of the Nantz offices, the team takes it personally and sets out to sleuth the truth, rescue Shane, and find the missing child. In a web of deceit that leads to upper levels of government conspiracy to the Chinese triads, we are whiplashed through a fast-paced thriller and left with a well wrapped satisfying package.
The Alice Crane point of view throughout, especially when the action takes place out of her immediate view, becomes awkward. I thought the incessant babbling of the female view point a little heavy-handed, but this was before I found out that Chris Jordan is a Nome de plume for Rodman Philbrick, a man writing as a woman, and then I realized he over-dramatized the female role which affects the style. Another irritating habit is that each character exhibits the same sense of humor as the author (and narrator) which produces only a skin deep character evaluation. Elmore Leonard’s rule of writing Rule #10 should be applied, ‘try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.’ The book has a fine plot, effective outline, and is a scintillating thriller, but would benefit from being effectively edited.

Take one missing, possibly abducted child, one deceased research physicist, one missing Chinese national, one top secret, government-sponsored research project, and one secret possibly black ops force and find the common denominator. All are key components in Measure of Darkness by Chris Jordan.

Measure of Darkness is a suspense thriller centering on the missing, possibly abducted child of the now-deceased research physicist. Dr. Joseph Keener hired renowned child finder Randall Shane to locate his missing son, Joey. The only problem is Shane is wanted for the murder of Dr. Keener. Shane turns to a local private firm to assist him in the search for the missing child. It looks like a routine case until some unknown black ops type force enters the firm's Back Bay headquarters and abducts Shane. The head of this firm is Naomi Nantz, a skillful investigator and coordinator. Ms. Nantz is assisted by Alice Crane - the secretary, Mrs. Beasley - the chef (cook is too plebeian a term for her gastronomic delights), Teddy Boyle - resident computer guy, and Jack Delancey - chief investigator and former FBI agent.

As the team attempts to prove that Shane is innocent and find Joey, they reveal layer after layer of intrigue. Dr. Keener's co-workers and students apparently were not aware that he had a child. There is no record of the child and it appears that his mother is a Chinese national that is also missing. Not a problem, except that Dr. Keener's research company was working on a top-secret, government-sponsored research project. Is it possible that Dr. Keener was killed by a foreign government? Was Joey kidnaped to help keep Dr. Keener in line? Just when the team thinks they have a grasp on the situation more dead bodies appear. If dead bodies aren't bad enough, there are apparent ties to a federal case from Jack's past. There are too many things occurring for these to be coincidental.

Measure of Darkness provides a great premise as a suspense thriller. There are numerous twists and turns in the plot to keep the reader involved, but parts of the plot seem mired in the secretive black ops/government conspiracy theme. Although this theme may seem farfetched, it works. Naomi Nantz seems to be a combination of Hercule Poirot sans the mustache and accent and Columbo sans the wrinkled trench coat. Although she isn't a field-agent per se, she does quite well at being able to step back and see the big picture. The narrative is told from the point of view of Alice, and I think that this helps to keep the story grounded as Alice isn't wealthy or a genius but simply a hard-working, intelligent young woman that has survived hardships. If you're in the market for a fast-paced suspense thriller that is also a quick read, then Measure of Darkness may be just the book for you.½

I wasn't aware when I chose this title to review that Measure of Darkness is a spinoff of sorts from Chris Jordan's series (Taken, Trapped and Torn) featuring Randall Shane, an ex FBI agent who has become a child recovery expert. In the previous novels I believe Shane has had brief contact with a member of Naomi Nantz's investigators but while Shane has a crucial role to play in this story it focuses on the team of privately funded investigators.
Funded by the mysterious Benefactor and managed by the efficient and brilliant Naomi Nantz, the private investigation firm includes an ex cop, a young computer whiz kid and Alice, who gave up her receptionist duties in a dentists office to become Nantz's personal assistant after her bigamist husband bled her dry of her life savings. Randall Shane is in the midst of a case to find a missing boy when his client is murdered and turns to Naomi for assistance. Before he can share too many details though Shane is kidnapped by a shadowy group of operatives and subjected to days of torture. In his absence Nantz and her team try to pick up the threads of his investigation to find the missing boy while puzzling out the events that led to the murder of his father and Shane's abduction. It's a tangle of military secrets, perverted patriotism, research funds further complicated by a sociopathic mercenary and an uncooperative FBI which the team need to unravel in order to shed light on the case.
I really enjoyed the complexity of the plot of Measure of Darkness. The novel subtly weaves misdirects and suspects in the fabric of the story that has you considering your assumptions at every turn. The action is punctuated by thoughtful periods of investigation. It is a little slow in places as the team ruminate on the clues (or lack of thereof) available but if you persist the pace picks up and the final denouement is very satisfying.
Measure of Darkness is narrated by Alice, Naomi Nantz's assistant and in the third person through alternate chapters. It's a unusual method but was surprisingly successful for me. I think perhaps because I enjoyed the characters a lot, the team are comprised of some quirky though very clever people, ably supported by a gourmet housekeeper. I find I can easily visualize the group as they discuss cases in formal wear over dinner. I also thought the other characters, even the autistic professor that we never actually meet, are individual and interesting.
Measure of Darkness is a slight quirky suspense mystery with an intriguing cast and clever plot. I think it has broad appeal for both genders who enjoy a challenging mystery.

5 STARS
It was a well plotted book, with a whole team set in place to work behind the scenes to help when authorities can't. I don't know if their have been books before with this group but I can see where many more can come from it. I will read more from Chris Jordan if I get the chance.
A little boy named Joey who is 5 year old genuis with music is kidnapped. His father is a genuis in his field but socially does not work well with others. He has been murdered and the chief suspect is his own P.I. Randall Shane former FBI agent. When his wife and daughter were killed in car wreck he left the FBI and started to find missing kids. 70% of his work is for free.
Shane knew he was being framed when he found the dead body and his gun was missing. He called friend Jack Delancey who was working for Naomi Nantz.
Naomi lives in a mansion and remembers everything she reads. She is in charge but we never know who their backer is that provides the mansion and the money and connections to get things done. Alice Crane is recording secretary and chief factotum. She is the voice of the story. Mrs. Beasley is the cook of considerable talent. Teddy Boyle is computer guru between 16-21 age. Dane is their lawyer who vets all the cases first except this one. Jack although has room in mansion he does not live their only stays when he is working in the area. Dane has place a few blocks away and the rest live in.
So Jack brings his friend Shane into the mansion in the trunk of the car and he is explaining about the frame of murder he is sure to be arrested on and about Joey being kidnapped when their is explosion and wall of office is blown men in milatary black on ropes from helicopter scoop in and in two minutes has Shane shot with dart and leave without a word.
So their first thing is to find out about Joey and rescue him. Find Shane and rescue him and find out if he is innocent. Find the murderer of Joseph Keener, MIT Collage professor and scientist. Who is running the black Ops that crashed into the mansion and took Shane.
Because Joseph is shy and doesn't interact much no one really knows he has a son. That the son is missing.
Their are a lot of facts and information that they dig out to find the answers to the questions that they have. Lot of spy stuff, lots of different agencies. lot of action and not a romance in sight which is different for me from Harlequin. Their is torture of Shane and others. Lot of good guys and gals. Their is also more bad and greedy people. Not all the ends are nicely tied up which is what happens in the real world but the ending does not disapoint. Did not want to put the book down and it was a problem at 425 pages had to a few times.
Hope their are many more cases with Naomi and friends.
I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review from Netgalley.

Slow but good. The book took a while to get started but once it got started I could not put it down. I really that more books are forth coming.

A really good american Mystery

Amother's worse nightmare is having a child taken, the fear, the unreality of it all comes crashing through in this book½

I had a very hard time putting this down. It was a very suspense-filled mystery. The twist on kidnapping--the kidnapper moving in with the victim's family was interesting as was the secondary plotline about the kidnapper's wife. Well done!

Good thriller centering on the abduction of a teenage girl. Nothing special but worth the effort.

Just didn't grab me at all. Skipped to the end.