Rating: 
Summary: A very worthy Edgar winner
Review: One of the year's most polished debuts concerns a retired Philadelphia police officer, Max Freeman. Freeman was responsible for gunning down a black youth during a robbery attempt. In spite of the fact that he was almost killed, he lives with the guilt and retires from the police force. He decides to flee civilization and travels to the Florida Everglades where he purchases a desolate house in the midst of the swamp. One day, as he canoes along the waterway, he discovers the body of a missing child who was abducted from home. It appears a serial killer is on the loose kidnapping and killing children in the new developments bordering the Everglades. Of course, with his unstable past, suspicion is initially thrown on Max who finds he getting closer and closer to the crimes. He must solve them himself or he might very well go down for the murders. In reading a first novel such as THE BLUE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, one is immediately struck by the strong sure style of writing that is quite reminiscent of an individual who makes a living using language. Jonathon King is a journalist and has been for over twenty years. It almost isn't fair to compare the beauty of these smooth flowing passages to other debut authors who do not write for a living. King may remind the reader of another journalist who decided to pursue a writing career through the crime fiction genre, Michael Connelly. Yes, he is that good. The description of the locale lends it a great deal of immediacy. The characters are true to life and their dialogue quite natural. However, the most important thing is Mr. King knows how to tell a compelling story and does so without very much filler material. The book is the length it must be-no shorter and no longer. The reader must truly appreciate that. This is one of the best debuts I have read so far this year.
Rating:
Summary: A very worthy Edgar winner
Review: One of the year's most polished debuts concerns a retired Philadelphia police officer, Max Freeman. Freeman was responsible for gunning down a black youth during a robbery attempt. In spite of the fact that he was almost killed, he lives with the guilt and retires from the police force. He decides to flee civilization and travels to the Florida Everglades where he purchases a desolate house in the midst of the swamp. One day, as he canoes along the waterway, he discovers the body of a missing child who was abducted from home. It appears a serial killer is on the loose kidnapping and killing children in the new developments bordering the Everglades. Of course, with his unstable past, suspicion is initially thrown on Max who finds he getting closer and closer to the crimes. He must solve them himself or he might very well go down for the murders. In reading a first novel such as THE BLUE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT, one is immediately struck by the strong sure style of writing that is quite reminiscent of an individual who makes a living using language. Jonathon King is a journalist and has been for over twenty years. It almost isn't fair to compare the beauty of these smooth flowing passages to other debut authors who do not write for a living. King may remind the reader of another journalist who decided to pursue a writing career through the crime fiction genre, Michael Connelly. Yes, he is that good. The description of the locale lends it a great deal of immediacy. The characters are true to life and their dialogue quite natural. However, the most important thing is Mr. King knows how to tell a compelling story and does so without very much filler material. The book is the length it must be-no shorter and no longer. The reader must truly appreciate that. This is one of the best debuts I have read so far this year.
Rating:
Summary: taut, fast-paced debut
Review: The Blue Edge of Midnight has it all. This taut, fast-paced debut is certain to put Jonathon King on high on the crime series favorite lists. This is one of those thrillers where time just flies by and pages turn effortlessly. Max Freeman is an ex-cop from the gritty streets of Philadelphia. Caught in a life-or-death shootout, his career ended at the same moment a bullet from his service weapon ended the life of a twelve-year-old suspect. Taking a lump-sum payment to leave the force, Max lives to the life of a hermit in an isolated shack in the middle of the Florida Everglades. He's made himself so far removed from people that he must paddle his canoe through canals and streams to get to the nearest civilization - an Everglades ranger station. But Max's world is turned upside-down as he finds the corpse of a child on his river. The demons he's beaten back return to push Max to find the killer(s). King is a master at mixing and matching the high-tech world of helicopters and GPS systems with good old boy Florida gator poachers. The book keeps you guessing 'till the end and is filled with just the right amount of twists and turns. Jonathon King is a new novelist to watch. He earned a "starred review" from Publishers Weekly for this book, which should get him noticed.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: This book kept me guessing right until the end! If you like a mystery with twists and turns, then you will enjoy this one.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: This book kept me guessing right until the end! If you like a mystery with twists and turns, then you will enjoy this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good first novel.........
Review: This is an excellent mystery--fast paced and thoughtful. Very well written with no glitches (except for overuse of the word "grind"). Characters are well-drawn, especially the protagonist and his lawyer/friend Billy. Very polished for a first time author. As far as the previous review's comment about the barred owl--it seemed obvious to me that it was a fake owl call made by the bad guy. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Strong start
Review: This series is well written and one hopes GPS doesn't become a crutch in all the books. Great hopes for the future.
Rating:
Summary: the blue edge of A Darkness More Than Night
Review: This was a good first novel, but as the coincidental findings of dead bodies and conspiracies against Max Freeman pile up, it goes downhill fast. I picked King's book up at a signing he shared with Michael Connelly, so the reference to Bosch didn't really surprise me. But adding an out of place owl to the everglades was contrived, and made me wonder if he was seeking approval from his buddy MC. Unlike MC's, "A Darkness More Than Night," the owl added nothing to the story except confusion. His vivid descriptions of the everglades take you to a place most people will never see, but he's got some work to do if he wants to be in Connelly's league.
Rating: 
Summary: Writer with Promise, Needs to Become a Story Teller.
Review: Top reporting with crisp, clear writing mark this pretty good debut effort by Jonathan King. Luckily, he has an Edgar nomination for best first effort, but his story telling is too weak to deserve acclaim.The Edgar notice requires that we take a far more critical look at this good but far from prize winning novel. Hero Max Free-Man discovers a girls body in the swamp, becomes a suspect in some serial kilings, resolves his conflicts with the mean old police, figgers out the truth while others flounder, yearns for the blond detective, and neatly resolves all the relationships. He was a mediocre cop in Philadelphia who now has money and freedom, so he lives alone in the Glades in a cabin without electricity, friends, or access. He killed a 12-year-old boy, got a bullet through the neck, and suffered a divorce back home. But there is little to help us connect his big city failures with his current swamp life and the story that unfolds. Why do the bad guys relate to him? He has the worlds smartest money-making big city lawyer as a friend, while he travels around via a canoe and a blue pickup truck. Oh, we learn that evil lurks in the hearts of men living deep in the Glades. We find there is a lot of resentment for developers, tourists, and the encroachment of civilization. We find that living along in an unpainted house on a mound in a swamp is complicated. But we don't get much of a feel for the four or five dead little girls, or their killer(s), or why it relates to the Glades.
Blue Edge of Midnight feels exactly like it is... a story by a reporter from Philadelphia who has moved to Florida to learn about the Western Everglades. He reports about the birds, fish, trees and rain. We learn about unfinished highways and the environmental damage of railroads. He just leaves us with little understanding for the Glades or the people who live there. We see but do not feel. King numbs us with one more child serial killer book, bores us with your regular backwoods characters in conflict with the encroachment of the city people, and insults us with cliche law and order types. But he does it with reporting that is neat and clean with clear descriptions. The pacing is just what you find in the Philadelphia Daily News. You just want a lot more. King left out the human element and forgot to offer a believable story. His characters have been described before by hundreds of average writers. The menace, evil, and perverse motivation are standard TV fare. The characters are not enlivened with humor or insight. King is clearly just learning about the Glades, so we get a contrived look at swamps, Cypress, sweat, snakes and scenery. Not much is compelling enough to keep our nose in the book. You can easily put this book down for a good night's sleep. Still, this writer has promise. We do learn a lot and see an interesting part of the world from a new perspective. King needs to make the big move from journalism who, what, where, when, and how. Perhaps he can learn to write how people feel and think, anger, fear, frustration, and what else motivates them. He might add some humor and anger mixed in with some complex human relationships and create a story we want to know more about. When he gets the people part down, he might just go right up there with Burke, Coban, Crais, Connelly, Hall and Lehane. He might someday even deserve an Edgar.
Rating:
Summary: On The "Edge" Of Greatness
Review: While James Lee Burke writes very atmosphericly about Louisiana, Jonathon King writes less so, but just enough so, about the Everglades of Florida. His descriptions are just right to create the proper image and mood in the reader's mind. The story moves along well and engages the reader in a mystery that bodes well for an ongoing series.
What started to confuse me was the author's use of owls to create a mood a few times: "...the moon broke through a gap in the clouds...a barred owl let out a double set of notes. HOO. HOO. It was the first time I'd heard that species on the river." Me too. There's even a reference to a painting by 17th century Flemish painter Hieronymous Bosch on the wall of the hero's lawyer. I thought for a minute I was re-reading Michael Connelly's "A Darkness More Than Night". But the use of owls doesn't go anywhere after a few trys and doesn't contribute to the story or it's mood as I thought might happen.
The best line is about a woman, described like a femme fatale, drinking a glass of wine: "She was oddly standing on one foot, her other brought up behind her like one of those 1950s movie starlets during a kiss. I guess she liked her wine."
Good writing and a good start to a new series with this first novel. I look forward to a sequel with just a few rough "edges" smoothed out.
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