The Night Market

TEST

Jonathan Moore’s The Night Market is the third novel in the author’s loosely connected trilogy that takes place in the San Francisco of the near future. The author’s website indicates that the novels can be read as standalones, and I took him at his word, diving into The Night Market without even glancing at the previous two, and I didn’t have any trouble following the story. But a plot that is easily followed doesn’t necessarily equal an enjoyable novel, and this one is proof of that.

Late on a Thursday evening, Inspector Ross Carver is called to one of San Francisco’s few remaining luxury homes to investigate a suspicious death. He’s initially expecting something standard, perhaps a murder or even a suicide, so he’s utterly flabbergasted when he finds a man lying on the floor covered in a mysterious, fowl-smelling substance that seems to be eating through his skin. Ross is an experienced investigator, but this is unlike anything he’s ever seen or heard of, and he’s at a loss as to how to deal with it. But before he can figure out how to begin looking into exactly what happened, a group of six FBI agents bursts into the house and hustles him out. They refuse to answer any of his questions, and force him into a decontamination chamber of sorts. He’s forced to drink something that sends him into a series of convulsions, and is finally shocked into a state of unconsciousness.

The next thing he knows, he’s coming to in his own apartment and Mia, a neighbor he doesn’t know all that well, is sitting by his bedside reading aloud to him. Ross is understandably confused, and asks Mia to explain what happened. She tells him that she saw a group of men carrying him into the apartment, but claims to know very little aside from that. After more questioning, she finally reveals that the unknown men told her Ross had been poisoned, but refused to say anything else. It’s now Sunday night, and Mia has been by his side for the past three days.

Something about the story Mia tells him doesn’t quite ring true for Ross, but he’s having trouble putting his finger on exactly what feels off about it. His memories of the previous days are foggy at best, and a call to his long-time partner doesn’t do much to improve things – so Ross embarks on a covert investigation in hopes of uncovering the truth about what actually happened to him, all the while attempting to sort out his feelings for Mia. Is she someone he can rely on, or does she know more than she’s letting on about the mess Ross’s life has become?

I’m normally a fan of dystopian-themed novels, but The Night Market just didn’t work for me. First off, I found it overly graphic. Mr. Moore doesn’t hold anything back in his descriptions of all manner of chilling things. Remember what I said about a substance that can eat through someone’s skin? Well, I read way more about what that might look like than was strictly necessary, and it made me feel quite sick to my stomach. I know not everyone will be bothered by these descriptions, but I found them very problematic.

I also struggled to fully embrace the world Mr. Moore has created. It’s a world that bears some resemblance to the world we’re currently living in, but it also has some unexplained differences as well. Unfortunately, the reasons for those differences are never fully explained. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that I didn’t read the previous two books in this series, but if these novels are marketed as stories that stand well on their own, I think the author needs to do a better job explaining the world in which his characters live.

Ross is a likable enough character, but he’s not all that different from other hard-working, ethical cops who inhabit the pages of so many of today’s crime novels. I liked his determination to uncover the truth and to make the villains pay for their wrongdoings, but I never really felt like I fully knew him as a person. I wanted to understand his motivations and his back story, but the author didn’t devote a lot of time to fleshing out his character. In a way, he was more of a caricature, two-dimensional and flat.

The story contains a romantic storyline, but it wasn’t very believable. The first three quarters of the book are filled with Ross’s suspicions about Mia and the possibility of her involvement in some very big, very bad government conspiracies. The reader is supposed to believe that Ross has been developing feelings for her all along, despite his inability to fully trust her, but I wasn’t able to buy that. Sure, I’ve read a ton of romances between characters who are unable to trust one another for a variety of reasons, but the authors of those books create compelling scenarios in which love blossoms in spite of the lack of trust. Unfortunately, Mr. Moore isn’t very skilled at writing this kind of story, and I found myself wishing the romance angle had been left out of the book altogether.

Sadly, The Night Market isn’t a book I can recommend. It had a great deal of potential, but I found myself struggling to finish it. It’s fast-paced with quite a bit of action, but I just didn’t find it all that interesting.

Buy it at: A/BN/iB/K

Reviewed by Shannon Dyer

Grade: D

Book Type: Mystery

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date: 14/01/18

Publication Date: 01/2018

Review Tags: 

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

I'm Shannon from Michigan. I've been an avid reader all my life. I adore romance, psychological fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and the occasional memoir. I share my home with my life partner, two dogs, and a very feisty feline.

guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments