The Deep Dark Descending Paperback – October 3, 2017

5 Heart Stopping & Thrilling Stars! This is Allen Eskens at his Absolute Best.Now this is a book that gave me heart palpations. It also gave me chills and not just because of the frigid temperatures in Minnesota, where the book takes place.Max Rupert is a man consumed with one thing and one thing only. Finding out who killed his wife, Jenni. It happened five year ago and he hasn’t been able to let it go. It was previously deemed an accident by the police and although Max Rupert is a cop, he was not a part of the investigation. Recently however, he found out that it was not an accident, after all. And now Max wants justice.. or vengeance. Call it what you want.In “Deep Dark Descending” by Allen Eskens, Max Rupert is a man hell bent on seeking revenge against his wife’s killers, no matter what the cost. Max’s anger, despair and torment are felt deeply within these pages. Every moment of his angst becomes your angst. I have been with Max since the beginning, since he first appeared in Esken’s The Life We Bury and to be honest, I feel like I know him. And to know Max, is to love him. How can you not love a man who loves his wife so desperately, even though she has been deceased for 5 years? Even though he wants restitution for her death.As a cop, Max has always had strong morals, integrity and a solid sense of self. As a man, he is now at odds with the cop he has always been. And now that has been given information that leads to his wife’s killer, all bets are off. He discovers that there is a fine line between justice and vengeance and for Max, those lines have become completely blurred.What Esken’s pulls off here was nothing short of utter brilliance. My emotions were all over the place: one minute, I had a hard time breathing, my palms were sweaty and my stomach was knotted up and the next, my chest was tight and my fists were clenched and I felt the urge to yell out loud.I’ll tell you this, (in case it isn’t obvious), my concern for Max knows no bounds. I love him. It’s that simple. I want him to overcome his pain and sorrow and I want him to find peace, but I can’t say whether or not he was able to do so. That, my friends is for you all to find out for yourselves.You must read “Deep Dark Descending” and the other books in this series. While this book has been billed as a “Standalone” – I highly suggest that you read all of the books in this series as they are they are MUST READS! Allen Eskens is a masterful storyteller whose books draw you in. They are character driven psychological thrillers that keep you on your toes.This was a Traveling Sister Read for me. It included: Brenda, Norma, Kaceey, Diane, JanB and PorshaJo. The discussions we had over this novel were absolutely incredible and it was a testament Esken’s range as an author, as to the feelings he pulled out of each of us.Thank you to Edelweiss, Jill Maxick and Prometheus Books for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.Published on Edelweiss, Goodreads, Twitter and Amazon on 10.9.17.

This was a good book, but I found myself wishing that he would just get on with it. It is very much a slow burn, but a good read.

So glad to have found this author. Have read four of his books so far and looking forward to starting the next. Highly recommend.

To draw me into his story and characters. I read Saving Emma first. Then I read The Life We Bury. I have read all books in order up to this one. I highly recommend reading all books in order. Eskens is a top notch writer. AAA+++

I love the author and that's the reason I stuck with the story, but the reader is so very robotic. He got a bit better, but was so very monotone that I found my mind wondering and had to really focus to stay with the story. He sounds like a heavy smoker, which meant that I had to turn the book up to not miss any details. The best was when he'd change characters, which helped greatly. The story was amazing as one would expect from this writer.

I’m a big fan of Eskens. He is a rare author who can craft a story with rich, intriguing characters without going on and on. His stories are clever and engaging. This one was somewhat dark, but Max’s situation needed it. Well done, Max.

Allen Eskens just keeps getting better.I read genre, especially the mystery thriller. And I read literary fiction. Eskens's latest serves respectably as both.While the character of Max Rupert became increasingly important in Eskens's previous three works, the study of this police detective, clearly from this work ethical, moral, and dedicated, holds the reader grippingly throughout its relatively short span. The narrative is disturbing because quickly the reader comes to understand the deep-seated conflict Rupert faces - yes, there is a right way and a wrong way to do go about police business. And, yes, we've seen the experienced police operative driven to work off-the-books by the circumstances of the political bureaucracy that big-city police work has become. But Rupert's motivations lie deeper, more personal. And the best among us, I suspect, might quickly succumb to the dark sides of our souls given the stakes Rupert faces.Eskens facillitates his double narrative, the present of the novel and the immediate back story beginning a few days earlier, through use of verb tense and clear chapter labels. While certain aspects of suspense (will Rupert catch his wife's killer?) may be voided by the opening narrative, this writer maintains elements of the story's suspense simply by withholding information from the present narrative until the back story narrative catches up. And even then, the true suspense of the novel remains unresolved until the very end - how will Detective Max Rupert resolve the professional/personal conflict he faces?If our era is at least in part defined by our frustration at the slow wheels of justice, if a decent person can imagine a situation where the temptation to throw professional standards to the wind in the face of horrendous personal pain, if a reader can value a narrative in which the psychology of a good man under overwhelming pressure remains the focus, THE DEEP DARK DESCENDING (nice alliteration, by the way) should stand as one of our time's most important tales. But more than merely profound, Eskens's fable unwinds as unbridled entertainment.

I’m liking everything I have read by ESKENS!❤️Wish I had discovered him sooner. This is the sixth for me.❤️