Darkside: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Good story, but with a long, slow middle
Review: "Darkside" is an interesting story, with likeable characters, a few surprising plot twists, a good measure of tension, and the attractive setting of the United States Naval Academy. Unfortunately, while the story gets off to a good start, it's weighed down by a long middle section in which little progress seems to be made in solving the murder mystery, which is, of course, the point of the story. Instead, this central part (about half the book, in fact) is full of character development (not in itself bad) and a lot of discussion of the hothouse environment of Academy life. For people like me who are interested in questions of military education, this section has certain rewards. However, for people who are mainly interested in a murder mystery regardless of setting, these 200 pages would probably be somewhat of a drag.

About page 300, though, the plot picks up its pace, and keeps charging ahead with action and revelation right up to the very last page. Readers interested in a fast-moving, dramatic showdown might even find it worthwhile to skim the book until chapter 12, and then dive in there in earnest. You'd miss some of the plot threads that get tied up in the end, but you'd skip all the slow parts too.

It's hard to tell whether the author is trying to make a political point about some of the people who are being admitted to the Academy these days. Without giving away much of the plot, I'll note that questions like "How could someone like this make it into Annapolis?" are raised, by the characters themselves, throughout the story. By intention or oversight, Deutermann seems to leave this question largely unanswered -- and indeed, makes it more pressing than ever given some of the final plot twists.

But that issue is no doubt secondary to the quality of the story itself. I did like several of the characters here, and thought the setting believable, the story plausible, and the action, tension, and pacing (at least in the final section) brisk. General mystery fans could probably enjoy this as much if it were 100 pages shorter, but those of us who like reading about military academies will find the whole thing worth the read.

Rating:
Summary: Fun story but the ending could have been better!
Review: Don't get me wrong I really enjoyed this story but I was just a little disappointed with the ending. Even so buy the book. You'll like it.

Rating:
Summary: not as good as his 'hunting season' but good enough
Review: kinda contrited a bit too long and too complicated with his too fantastic imagination. the tunnel scenes were great but ended up purposelessly and too long, too complicated. too much specific terms that needed to be specified in the first place. one thing is so sure, that is, the plotting, the dialogues, my god, are both top-notched and only great writers could have achieved so vividly, so seamlessly real. some parts of this book were bit too vague due to overdone and overkilled complications. the ending is not too good and kinda rushed a bit and maybe totally unnecessary for a final twist. doesn't need to turn the daughter into another monster or vampire candidate. the editor should have warned and suggested to deutermann such overkill or overdone ending would be totally unnecessary. as to 'the book of the year!' praise, well, that's another overkill, senor.

Rating:
Summary: "BOOK OF THE YEAR"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HIS BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5+
Review: P T DEUTERMANN has now est. himself as one of the best fiction
writers, in not only this country, but in the world today. His
new book DARKSIDE,will keep you up all night. I thought he could
not surpass HUNTING SEASON, but he has proved us all wrong.Its
not as if he has written only one or two good books,all his novels, are 5+, this author is the best kept secret in America.
but the word is getting out,as his last book HUNTING SEASON,was
a big seller.please tell your friends,if its mystery,thrills,
and suspense,and great writing,with solid characters,and superb
plotting, DARKSIDE, is one of a kind for this Christmas season.
i'm so sold i'm buying, a number of them for christmas gifts.
You can read the review from publishers weekly,if you want to know more about the story, i'm not giving away anything.
thanks P T DEUTERMANN!!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

Rating:
Summary: Plodding Intrigue
Review: Pete Deutermann is one of the few authors that I'll buy in hardback without even reading the dust jacket first - he's that good. His latest, Darkside, is one of his most gripping to date. I don't want to give away any of the story line so let's just say that one of the plot developments was wholly unexpected. It's a nice change to read a military who-done-it by someone who actually served in uniform and knows the environment, the slang, etc., although Deutermann has made his mark in writing great mysteries in non-military settings as well.

Rating:
Summary: DARKSIDE IS A TOUR de FORCE
Review: Several years ago I picked up an book on a remainder table called SCORPION OF THE SEA by an unknown author named P T Deutermann. By the time I was finished with that book I was wishing he'd write more! He has and every book just keeps getting better.

Deutermann writes around a military theme, but not necessarily all military stories. He has stayed away from the improbable scenarios and whizzo-high tech that other writers of like minded fiction have fallen into. His stories always feature solid characters, believable dialogue and compelling action. He has an uncanny ear for dialogue and excellant characterizations.

With DARDSIDE, he has surpassed himself, crafting a story that is multi-layered with the Naval Academy as a backdrop. The life of a midshipman comes to life on these pages, as well as a whole host of other characters.

Deutermann assumes his readers have enough working knowledge of the subject matter that he doesn't litter the narrative with asides to define and explain every military term or bit of jargon he uses, yet he doesn't overwhelm with it. If you never knew what a "bitter end" was, the story wouldn't suffer because of it.

Until this book, I thought EDGE OF HONOR was his masterpiece, now I would say it's a dead even tie, although he revisits a lot of the themes about Honor and Duty in this story.

Highly recommended, the best book of 2002 by far!

Rating:
Summary: Very readable, but the formulas are beginning to show
Review: The author of several excellent military-themed thrillers, Deutermann's strong suit by far is exploring the Byzantine world of service politics. His first novel, the excellent "Scorpion in the Sea", followed a destroyer skipper's growing suspicions that something is amiss in the otherwise placid waters of Florida's Atlantic coast. "Scorpion" was painted against a backdrop of shorebound politics and maneuvering, which no doubt had career officers nodding along knowingly, and established a recurrent theme in his novels: a determined investigator (with a beautiful and conveniently unattached female sidekick) who doggedly pursues the truth when the higher-ups have decided upon a "correct" answer. The determined investigator is usually hard-bitten but able, and on the outs with the brass for one thing or another - in other words, he has yet to come up with a protagonist that could not be convincingly played by Bruce Willis in the film version. In his latest, "Darkside", Deutermann returns to his own service's most politically-charged body and the home base of the naval Establishment, the U.S. Naval Academy. Novels by Academy grads tend to take on one of two forms: thinly-disguised autobiographies, or "the place has gone to hell" morality tales about how much tougher Academies were in the pre-Clinton era and how corrupt and atrophied they are today. Deutermann, however, combines his considerable narrative talents with his acute observation skills to people his Academy with thoroughly believable characters and surprisingly thoughtful ruminations about how, though the Academy has indeed changed since his day, it has not all been change for better or worse - simply evolutionary change. He displays as thorough an understanding of the 21st Century Academy's culture, and especially the midshipman mentality, as if he'd graduated yesterday, from the changes wrought by Washington's social engineering to the Brigade's somewhat schitzophrenic relationship with their equally intelligent but thoroughly counterculture next-door neighbors at St. John's College. Unlike most murder-mysteries, Deutermann seems to dislike keeping his perp out of the picture until the last chapter, which takes the edge somewhat out of the mystery, but the whodunit? angle is still considerable. The protagonist, security officer Jim Hall, fits his formula precisely, along with his Beautiful Sidekick, so readers might get more out of the novel if they haven't read his previous works. That being said, the novel is far from staid or predictable, and is a highly recommended read.

Rating:
Summary: Great story, lousy ending
Review: This story started off well. It was interesting and captivating most of the way through but got very slow in parts. The author's description of sexual things seemed a little bit like middle school mentality and made those sections akward. I enjoyed the book all the way until the ending started unfolding. All this build up, all this development and then a big let down. I would recommend reading the whole thing then going back just a bit and imagining your own ending.

Rating:
Summary: Darkside by P. T. Deutermann
Review: When a body falls from the roof of a six-story building and lands in a brick courtyard, there isn't going to be much left of the body. When Midshipman William Brian Dell takes a dive off of the roof of part of the United States Navel Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, not much of the body is left. But when what is left is clearly wearing women's panties the case becomes more than just a typical suicide. For about to graduate Midshipman Julie Markham her nightmare has begun. When Dell made his fatal plunge, he was wearing her panties and the powers that be want an explanation as to why.

The Academy's Administration known as the "Dark Side" (an uncomplimentary nickname reference to the Empire of the same name made cinematically famous) wants the case solved rapidly. Any death is a politically sensitive issue and with graduation just weeks away the case must be solved quickly. Murder does not happen ever, and a suicide is unacceptable because that would mean the selection process failed. No, the only correct answer is that it was an accident. Even if it was an accident, the panty question has to be answered and explained and if necessary, someone living has to be held accountable. Since he is dead and left no note and was wearing her panties, it is up to Julie to explain why he was wearing her panties. But she can't. And then small inconsistencies with Julie's statements appear and soon her father, Professor Ev Markham (former graduate of the academy) knowing how things will be perceived arranges for legal representation for his daughter. That does not sit well with the administration and the investigators because that is a civilian reaction and not one a military person should adopt. But Julie has not told the whole truth by a long stretch and slowly her case begins to weaken as the facts concerning her innocence come out.

At the same time, in a parallel story line, head of Security Jim Hall is dealing with someone that is playing havoc in the utility tunnels of the school. From spray-painting graffiti, to serious acts of vandalism and sabotage, to various attacks on people outside the school, someone is having a field day underground, coming and going as he or she pleases. When Jim pushes the issue and calls the person out, he or she responds by escalating the violence, which quickly results in a death. As the unknown individual begins to hunt Jim the underground battle turns personal with deadly consequences.

What should have been a good read with these two storylines quickly becomes a tedious reading exercise. A good 150 pages or so could have been excised from this 400-page novel, which would have been a considerable improvement. Much of the book is spent in long detailed character descriptions as well as long sections on the military honor code, civilian ignorance regarding all aspects of the military, and the like. And both investigations go absolutely nowhere for long sections in the book. The investigations produce no new clues, suspects or any momentum at all. It is only because a freakishly contrived situation that the novel finally breaks free in the last 100 pages.

And while those last 100 pages are better than the first 300 preceding it, they continue the same problems. The reader knows these characters virtually inside and out thanks to the long descriptions and constantly shifting third person point of views but no emotional connection is ever established. That could be because of the fact that the author uses at least six different points of view (including the italicized point of view of the psychopath) which quickly becomes annoying. Or it could be because these characters for all their extensive descriptions never come across more human that the italicized psychopath. They simply never become real people to care about one way or the other.

This lack of emotional connection and distantness of the work leaves the reader with a flat and for the most part absolutely boring book that became a tedious work to read. This is far from the enjoyment of some of his earlier novels such as "Sweepers" and more reflects the flat read of his first novel "Scorpion in the Sea." Since this author has shown consistently over the course of his career, a certain roller coaster ability in quality regarding his novels, it can be hoped that future ones will be worth reading.