Normally I consider myself a fan of hard boiled noir, but for some reason I just couldn't warm to this book.

It certainly wasn't the writing, which was solid and professional. It wasn't the narrative, which was everything you would expect a hard boiled noir narrative to be. I suppose it was mostly that the book was so relentlessly noir, with long sections consisting of nothing but spare dialogue, that at times it almost felt like it was meant to be a parody of hard boiled noir.

Maybe I'm just getting old and don't appreciate this kind of thing as much as I once did, but I simply couldn't connect with this book and never felt drawn into the narrative. Sorry.

Blind to the Midnight is the second in the Nick Ryan series. I hadn't read the first one but this book stands alone.
Nick is the baddest police officer in town and has an access to resources far outside the average person.

He is hired to solve the only murder that happened during 9-11 and is working on it until his aunt and uncle are murdered.

It is now up to him to solve the murder and stop the violence before he loses everything.

The book is exciting and fast paced. I rooted for Nick all the way and I loved the way that he is part devil and part angel.

I highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for the opportunity to read Blind to Midnight by Reed Farrel Coleman, who cannot possibly write even a single bad sentence. The man is a master. Nick Ryan is his latest of several unforgettable characters. If I can't convince you, read what Lee Child has to say -
“Thoughtful moral questions and a truly great new character in Nick Ryan. Coleman is a noir grandmaster, and I hope this series runs forever.”--Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author