Rating: 
Summary: My first experience with Thomas H. Cook
Review: but hopefully not my last! This is perhaps the most haunting book I have ever read. At times the agony seems too great to continue, but the need to know is stronger. By the time I finished this book, I was exhausted.
Rating: 
Summary: Tedious and lurid
Review: Fifty years ago, the peaceful artist's community of Riverwood was shattered by the murder of young Faye Harrison. The killer was never caught. In the present Paul Graves, a famous writer of detective stories, is called by one of the residents to give Faye's dying mother a plausible explanation of what happened to her daughter. It does not have to be a true one, as long as it is believable.
But Graves is a haunted man who has seen his older sister brutally murdered years ago, and his books all feature the namesake of the man who killed her, as well as plumbing the depths of darkness within the human mind. Gloomy and tormented by his memories, he is determined to find out the truth about what happened to Faye, even if it means confronting his own demons.
This is a book not for the faint-hearted. In the short space allotted to him to probe the depths of a killer's mind, Cook manages to pack about every ignomity done by man to (wo)man, with the possible exception of rape (only alluded at). But this display of gruesomeness grows tedious and seems to serve no interest other than to shock the reader. What a pity. The initial premise was quite original, but the story lapses into a detective-cum-psychological thriller that not only features irritating 'revelations' by convenient witnesses (the policeman in charge of the case fifty years back not only has a son, but the man is willing to help two perfect strangers as they rifle through his papers and cast dispersion on his father's honesty) but also a rather bland dénouement.
The ending was supposed to be a surprise,I surmise. But Graves' role in his sister's death was obvious from the beginning, and the final explanation of how Faye was killed leaves something to be desired (to be honest, I thought this kind of resolution was a no-go in detective stories; I mean this is cheating). And the language grows a little too florid, even if I understand that it is partly due to Paul's taste for melodrama.
Avoid.
Rating:
Summary: Horrible Child Cruelty--Too hard to read
Review: First, I have to say that "Breakheart Hill" is one of my favorite books. I buy copies whenever I see them so that I have them on hand to give to friends. So I expected great things from our boy Cook.But Instruments of the Night left me cold. The most difficult part of the book was the way-overboard extremes of graphic sadism, violence and cruelty (think James Ellroy). The writing is, as usual, masterful, but in addition to the disturbing gruesomeness, I found the end confusing (I've read hundreds of mysteries, and this is probably the only one that I just didn't "get"). I assumed all along who Sykes was, and think the ending confirmed my supposition. But who killed Faye? I'm still not sure. Perhaps I had too many expectations going in, but I found the book more frustrating and nasty than enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: This book was incredible!
Review: I loved this book...I read it in the library of a cruise ship, and I couldn't put it down until I finished it. Now that I'm home, I'm going to buy a copy so my dad can read it. This book was psychologically disturbing, but written masterfully. The twist at the end was incredible! The murder of Faye was less realistic, but discovering the truth about the murder of Graves' sister...wow. I think I was depressed for about two days after finishing this book...but it was a good kind of depressed as I mulled over the psychological reality of this book, and compared it with my own experiences. It was also just a really good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfect Book for Mystery Lovers!
Review: I really enjoyed reading Cook's Instruments of Night. I, being the mystery reader I am, thought that this book posessed all of the qualities a good mystery book should have. Suspense, horror, chills, good detective work, etc. The twists and turns in this book were unbelieveable! It seemed like once you had gotten your mind set on one thing, another thing would present itself, changing your whole perspective. The ending was amazing finding out who Sykes was and how Faye really died. This was the first book that I read of Cook's and will definitely not be my last.
Rating:
Summary: Another Cook masterpiece
Review: Instruments of Night is not written in a stylish prose like Breakheart Hill, but this makes it none the less desriptive. Some reviewers have described the level of sadism or violence to be too high. I am sorry for them. Cook uses small vague descriptions of violence, and makes the reader use their imagination to create the scene. He sets the stage, and your mind directs the play without effort. It was only after some retrospect that I came to realize that I was the one who conjured up the deatiled horrors that Cook hints at. That is exactly how books should be written. They should ease the reader into the book, as if they were an invisible participant, not imagining how the scenes looked, but "knowing" how it happened. I liked this book very much after I finished it, but after several minutes of replaying it inside my mind, I find that I like it even more, mostly for the reasons I mentioned above. This book is not perfect. There are a couple of mistakes that are very secondary to the machinations of the plot, and can be forgiven very easily. I will not tell you what they are, because most likely you will never notice them. The one other thing that seems out of place, is that when the main character, Graves, receives assistance from another writer in solving the mystery, it is hard to tell who, of the two, is the mystery writer. Read this book. It is short, only 296 pages, and can be read in a few hours time. If you don't like it, well then you only wasted a few hours. I actually read this book when I became bogged down in another book I was reading. It was a suprisingly good 'time-out.'
Rating:
Summary: Quiet but powerful
Review: This book is breathtaking. It is a quiet mystery - no car chases, captures, narrow escapes, etc, but the writing is beautiful and lyrical, and the mystery is powerful - the author deftly weaves the horrible events from Graves' childhood with the mystery he is exploring, and fills the book with intriguing suspects, twists and turns, and surprises. Underneath this is a powerful thread - Graves' guilt, which both destroyed his life and allowed his success as a writer, and the horrors of the Nazis, which crept into the quiet world of Ravenwood. ***WARNING - SPOILER AHEAD*** Graves tears at the reader's heart - he was a good, hardworking teenager who was confronted with horrors that were too large for him to handle and made a choice based upon these, but he cannot see that as a teenager he was not to blame for the choices, and should not carry a lifetime of guilt for them. At first I was very angry about the ending, but when I reread it carefully I realized I misunderstood it, and the ending is actually perfect - a chance for Graves' redemption and forgiveness. Overall, this book is dark and very moving.
Rating: 
Summary: This darkness is too deep for both writer and reader
Review: Thomas H. Cook's other novels--I've read all I can--offer a tragic but ultimately humane vision of human fallibility, remorse, and reparation through love and decency. Usually, his main characters are suffering greatly from a wrong in which they somehow participated, through naivete, misunderstanding, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even outright wrongdoing. This novel is no exception, but unfortunately the darkness of past experience is not just too much for the main character in the novel, it's too much for Cook himself. His usual excellence is eclipsed. Literally, something is blocking the light that keeps shining in the world, no matter what evil is done there. There's a truth in what Cook creates--a person who has seen and experienced the horror that haunts the main character, aptly named Graves, is unlikely to be able to recover. Suicidal thinking and self destructive isolation are truly and honestly the frequent resort of people who have been so inhumanly traumatized. What's worrying about this book is that Graves and Cook himself start to seem indistinguishable. Graves's past, his fictional creations, and the case he's working on merge into a single story--and through accidents of writing, Cook seems to reveal that he is merging with all of it himself. At one point Graves INCORRECTLY quotes Tolstoy's famous saying: "Happy families are all alike. Unhappy families are each unhappy in their own way," by saying: "All families are unhappy,..." Whose mistake is that? I'm afraid it is Cook's mistake, one that reveals him in so dark a frame of mind that his memory is distorted, his vision as dark and negative as his character's. Clearly his purpose in writing this meditation on a downward spiral was not the putative MAIN plot, which is weak, and reuses plot devices Cook has used more skilfully before. He really intends to get right to the bottom with Graves. It's always a temptation in reading him to feel a confusion between narrator and author, to wonder who really WAS that lost girl with the dark hair and what really WAS the irretrievable moment for which he can't atone. This time, those sources of anguish seem to have overwhelmed the artist's ability to get distance from his own work, or to give us any air or light. I, for one, hope that the novel's last line "Never, no. Never." will be true, and that Mr. Cook will not surrender, and WILL return many more times, with the incandescence of his beautiful prose, to cast the light of simple decency on whatever darkness haunts his characters--or him.
Rating:
Summary: Cook can write!!!!!
Review: To those initiates lucky enough to have discovered Thomas H. Cook, it is no surprise that he has won an Edgar, it is more of a surprise that he has not won more. Cook tends to write novels that focus on the inner workings of characters (and the demons they face) as they work on solving a mystery, the original crimes have usually taken place in the past and are still somehow linked to the present. Cook weaves his narratives so well that you never know what is coming - he leads you where he wants and suddenly the twists and turns set in and by the end of the book, you never know what hit you! Instruments of Night is much like his other novels in that the main character, Paul Graves, is helping to discover the truth about a mystery of the past. Graves is an author who writes a series about a killer named Kessler, his lackey Sykes and the detective that is always in pursuit Slovak, which is set in old New York. Graves is invited up to Riverwood, an artist's retreat, by the owner Alison Davies to look into a murder that happened 30 years earlier. Davies is looking for closure and as Graves, with the help of the other summer guest Eleanor Stern, delves deeper into murder of young Faye he also must look deep within himself to keep his own demons at bay. Graves must face his past, the death of his parents and the gruesome murder of his sister Gwen, in order to create a plausible story about Faye's death and complete the task that Davies has put before him. Cook does what he does best in Instruments - he keeps the reader on the edge of their seat and keeps them guessing. I thought I had it all figured out and then WHAMO!!!! A new twist and turn, then I thought I had it wrapped up again and BLAM!!!! Out of no where - I was stunned! This is what makes Thomas Cook one of the best writers out there. You always know that there are twists and turns but the endings never cease to amaze - and they are always so realistic. He also has Graves imagine different stories throughout the book - and even tho most of them are short - they are so well drawn that the reader can't imagine another possibility. I highly recommend Cook and Instruments of Night.
Rating:
Summary: Cook can write!!!!!
Review: To those initiates lucky enough to have discovered Thomas H. Cook, it is no surprise that he has won an Edgar, it is more of a surprise that he has not won more. Cook tends to write novels that focus on the inner workings of characters (and the demons they face) as they work on solving a mystery, the original crimes have usually taken place in the past and are still somehow linked to the present. Cook weaves his narratives so well that you never know what is coming - he leads you where he wants and suddenly the twists and turns set in and by the end of the book, you never know what hit you! Instruments of Night is much like his other novels in that the main character, Paul Graves, is helping to discover the truth about a mystery of the past. Graves is an author who writes a series about a killer named Kessler, his lackey Sykes and the detective that is always in pursuit Slovak, which is set in old New York. Graves is invited up to Riverwood, an artist's retreat, by the owner Alison Davies to look into a murder that happened 30 years earlier. Davies is looking for closure and as Graves, with the help of the other summer guest Eleanor Stern, delves deeper into murder of young Faye he also must look deep within himself to keep his own demons at bay. Graves must face his past, the death of his parents and the gruesome murder of his sister Gwen, in order to create a plausible story about Faye's death and complete the task that Davies has put before him. Cook does what he does best in Instruments - he keeps the reader on the edge of their seat and keeps them guessing. I thought I had it all figured out and then WHAMO!!!! A new twist and turn, then I thought I had it wrapped up again and BLAM!!!! Out of no where - I was stunned! This is what makes Thomas Cook one of the best writers out there. You always know that there are twists and turns but the endings never cease to amaze - and they are always so realistic. He also has Graves imagine different stories throughout the book - and even tho most of them are short - they are so well drawn that the reader can't imagine another possibility. I highly recommend Cook and Instruments of Night.
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