A new novel from Australian author Candice Fox has become a must-read event for me. Recent pairings with James Patterson have given her work much-deserved recognition, and now she has become a domestic sensation as well.

GATHERING DARK is unlike anything Fox has written by herself. Instead of her usual Australia setting, we are placed right in the middle of Los Angeles for a gritty crime novel that bears all the earmarks of true noir writing. The chapters bounce back and forth between two characters’ points of view. Dr. Blair Harbour was once a wealthy and successful pediatric surgeon but now finds herself as a down-on-her-luck ex-con trying to put her life back together. Detective Jessica Sanchez is responsible for initially putting Blair behind bars and now is dealing with an extremely uncomfortable situation. The family of a victim whose killer she apprehended gifted her with a multi-million-dollar mansion, which has made her a pariah around her colleagues and the officers in her precinct.

"Candice Fox, who clearly is not out of her element writing about the dark side of L.A., has more than a few tricks up her sleeve to keep the plot pumping along right through to the staggering finale."

The story opens with an attempted robbery at a gas station where Blair is nearly shot. Jessica also is not having an easy time at the start of the book when she must take down a perp who is hopped up on something to make him seem zombie-like, and she even gets bit. Her partner and another colleague refuse to lift a finger to assist her. It is obvious that Blair and Jessica are destined to be reunited, but the circumstances will be a big surprise to all involved, especially to Jessica.

Blair is determined to help a former cellmate, a woman with the handle “Sneak,” try to locate her daughter, Dayly Lawlor, who she fears is in mortal danger. It turns out that Dayly’s father is notorious serial killer John Fishwick, who is on death row. We see throughout the novel the written correspondence between Dayly and Fishwick. It gets increasingly creepy and potentially dangerous, especially when he may have a secret stash that Dayly may want to locate.

Not knowing where else to turn, Blair shows up one night at Jessica’s front door. No one is more surprised than Jessica, who anticipates an act of revenge and then finds out it is a plea for help. Once Jessica is brought up to speed and learns of the possible influence of Fishwick, she cannot say no. Her own situation at work will make it unlikely that she receives backup, so any assistance she provides is going to come on her own time as a solo act.

GATHERING DARK is full of unsavory characters --- those on the streets of L.A. and the dirty cops who police the area. It reads like a modern-day Raymond Chandler novel and features the unlikely teaming of a convicted ex-con, a grifter thief, a vicious gang lord and a disillusioned cop. Their inevitable showdown with Sneak’s missing daughter and Fishwick’s legacy keeps the proceedings tense throughout. Candice Fox, who clearly is not out of her element writing about the dark side of L.A., has more than a few tricks up her sleeve to keep the plot pumping along right through to the staggering finale.