JDCMustReadBooks

By Jenny Milchman
ISBN: 9780553394818
Publisher: Random House- Ballantine
Publication Date: 6/30/2015
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars

A special thank you to Random House- Ballantine and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Jenny Milchman returns following Ruin Falls and Cover of Snow with another psychological suspense thriller AS NIGHT FALLS a prison break, a psychologist, a past, hidden family secrets, and a family home invasion, with twists and turns you do not see coming.

Sandy Tremont, has a successful career as a psychotherapist, at Wedeskyull community Hospital. She has a nice home, husband-Ben who loves the great outdoors, and not so nice teenage daughter-Ivy, and dog, Mac. When her grandfather died he left her a healthy inheritance and her husband built them a dreams home, in a remote area which offered privacy and seclusion.

Located near an old Adirondack camp, Sandy was fine with the isolation, as she worked part time; however, when she was home she could put problems to bed, and enjoy the solitude and beautiful surroundings. Ivy the teenage daughter had been engaging in the typical teens stuff lately with her usual drama.

Sandy has a dark secret. This was not her childhood name. This all changed after the age of fifteen. A secret which her family is unaware of, until the night she has to face her worst nightmare.

One snowy winter night, two escaped convicts invade their home, wanting supplies and directions to Canada. It is snowing and the intruders are trapped with Sandy and her family. The worst possible, thing happens, when Sandy recognizes Nick, the sociopath, her brother!

Of course, Ben and Ivy know nothing about her past; however, Nick is not stable and it takes all Sandy’s training to deal with the unstable personality in order to protect her own life and family.

Flashing back and forth, we learn of Nick’s childhood to adulthood, and his twenty-four years of incarceration. There hadn’t been a successful prison break since 1961, but Nick had a plan. He and Harlan had been cell mates and he slowly worked on a plan.

The suspense builds slowly as we learn about Sandy’s past, a mother, a father, a brother, why Nick was sent to prison and how the two connect for a chilling tale (with some torture, horror, and good twists). Nick is one evil guy, a psycho-nut and the mother; well you will have to read it. Even though it had some interesting parts, keeping you on the edge; however, not a cast of really likable, or strong characters.