A Third Is Darkness (BlackJack Book Three) by Murray Bailey

 

A Third is Darkness (BlackJack Book Three) by Murray Bailey.

Published 3rd November 2023 by Three Daggers.

From the cover of the book:

Judge not the man...

Charles Balcombe cannot control his alter ego.

BlackJack is killing for fun and DI Munro knows his partnership with Balcombe can’t continue.

While Balcombe seeks help, Munro is asked to work for the Hong Kong governor’s aide-de-camp. He seems to be sidelined as Garrett resumes his hunt for the Squeezed-heart murderer. But people have secrets and the more Munro investigates, the murkier they seem.

When people start dying and with Balcombe’s help, Munro tries to get to the bottom of a conspiracy of silence.

Will he find the truth? Will Garrett catch his killer? Will Balcombe learn the truth about himself?

As the psychoanalyst told him: a third of the mind is darkness. If you dig too deep, be prepared. You won’t like what you find there.

***********

Charles Balcombe is in trouble. His alter ego, BlackJack, is out of control. BlackJack's increasingly reckless killing sprees in the criminal underbelly of Hong Kong are threatening to destroy the fragile arrangement that Balcombe has established with DI Munro. Persuaded to seek help, Balcombe begins visiting psychotherapist Georgina Swift, and Munro hopes it will be enough to keep BlackJack contained, for Garrett is once again on the track of the Squeezed-Heart murderer, and Balcombe is still his number one suspect.

With his fingers firmly crossed, Munro calls on Balcombe's considerable investigative talents to assist with a hush-hush case searching for the missing daughter of the Hong Kong governor's aide-de-camp. Under no illusions that progress will be hampered by a desire to maintain appearances, even Munro and Balcombe are shocked at the scale of the conspiracy of silence they uncover.

In this excellent third instalment of the BlackJack series, Murray Bailey builds nicely on the groundwork of the previous books to plunge into the melting pot of 1950s colonial Hong Kong like never before... and to delve intriguingly into the mind of a killer. Note: You do need to have the previous books, Once a Killer and Second to Sin, before this one. 

This is a story all about the need to contain dark secrets, and Bailey slickly weaves this theme throughout a tricky investigation that has Balcombe and Munro working together once more in their unconventional partnership, and in Balcombe's attempts to stop himself being overwhelmed by the monster within. Both Balcombe and Munro hit crisis points in this book, and must choose their paths with care. Munro's career continues to be on the line, as the pesky Garrett breathes down his neck in his desire to bring the Squeezed-Heart murderer to justice, and he is given the impossible task of getting to the truth of disturbing goings on at the very top of Hong Kong society - all while dealing with his own heartbreak and guilt. Meanwhile, Balcombe finally admits the time has come to open up about his inner demon, before he is lost forever to the darkness that is consuming him, which has him confronting his debauched lifestyle... and his illuminating repressed memories.

Bailey goes all out to blend their parallel battles for survival into a story that gets beneath the glossy surface of 1950s Hong Kong, exposing the inequalities and injustices, the entitlement and the corruption, the glamour and the grittiness, that make up the mass of contradictions at the heart of the colony. He has such a knack of immersing his readers in time and place, while contriving a crime story that fits like a glove into its setting, and this book is no exception. As I have come to expect from Bailey, there are all the thrills, spills and suave moves from the classic Bond playbook; luscious vibes of noir detective fiction that pit gangsters against morally grey 'good guys'; and the authentic punch of storylines that speak volumes about an author who understands the history he is writing about. This book also brings an extra touch of sparkle with a tongue-in-cheek Hollywood thread to the story, that has Balcombe acting as a stand-in for Clarke Gable no less. 

In many ways, this is Baliey's most complex book to date, with layered themes that complement the crime elements. The plotlines twist and turn in menacing style, carrying you towards a very exciting (and somewhat enigmatic) climax that has you rooting for Balcombe completely, despite all his troubling history.

What does all this mean for the future of BlackJack? I am not sure, but I sincerely hope this will not be his last literary outing...

A Third is Darkness is available to buy now in paperback and ebook.

Thank you to Murray Bailey for sending me a copy of this book, in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Murray Bailey Is the author of Amazon bestseller Map of the Dead, the first of the series based on his interest in Egyptology. His main series however is the Ash Carter thrillers, inspired by his father's experience in the Royal Military Police in Singapore in the early 1950s.

Murray is well traveled, having worked in the US, South America and a number of European countries throughout his career as a management consultant. However he also managed to find the time to edit books, contribute to articles and act as a part-time magazine editor.

Murray lives on the south coast of England with his family and a dog called Teddy.