The Darkness of Evil

The Darkness of Evil
A Karen Vail Novel: Alan Jacobson

Within the pages of this novel you will encounter a serial killer so evil so dangerous that as you witness the murders and enter the rooms where the bodies are found you will learn that some usually kill more than one person. You will learn that the person is abnormal and at times has some strange psychological gratification with the murders and definitely sets a timeline taking a short break between murders. The man who you will be Roscoe Lee Marcks is power hunger, egotistic, charming when necessary, manipulative and in this case was abused as a child and subjected to torments that he carries over to others. Roscoe Lee Marcks is a cold-blooded murderer that you the reader will meet up close and personal but first let’s set the scenes. Jasmine Marcks is being interviewed on television promoting her book recounting the murders committed by her father Roscoe Lee Marcks. She elaborates how she went to the authorities and how the discounted what she claimed happened and before he is sentenced for fourteen murders and called the Blood Lines Killer, she ends with claiming that it took a while to accept what he had done but this is where the story takes on a different turn and where the events will take you the reader inside more murder scenes, more deaths and added in someone is burning down homes in rural areas. Just how do these two connect you won’t believe but author Alan Jacobson weaves a web of lies, deceits, betrayals and murder as he takes you inside the mind of a serial killer in this new outstanding blockbuster novel: The Darkness of Evil. Enter FBI Profiler Karen Vail who is tenacious, straightforward, on the mark and quite astute. But, these traits help to a point but sometimes even the smartest profilers go off on tangents in the wrong direction. Roscoe Lee Marcks is angry and wants to take it out on Jasmine for writing a book about his murders and him. He will stop at nothing until he gets even with her. But, first he has to enlist the aid of some of his prison friends and one lonely nurse in order to escape, which is finally does. An escape well executed and a guard blindsided as Marcks actually takes a huge beating, allows transport to think he is seriously injured and manages to escape. As Jasmine and Karen bond in a unique way her new unit boss, DiCarlo claims she is babysitting her and from the start they do not mesh. When a taskforce is formed and egos are finally checked and dealt with the team needs to come together to catch this diabolical killer. With Erik Curtis the original detective who questioned Jasmine when her mother was found dead, to Lewis Hurdle and his team from Capital Regional Fugitive Task Force enters the picture and things take on a different or more tense turn as Vail learns the new protocol and things get more difficult with more than one group at the helm.

With tracking devices and the highest quality technical instruments Vail and the Taskforce were going after Marcks full force. But, something about the fires set off an alarm in her head and when speaking with Art Rooney, she hoped he could find the accelerant that caused the fire. But, time is not of the essence and several more fires were set and lives were lost as someone is trying to set them in the wrong direction. While Jasmine seems to want to hide her whereabouts and Vail is communicating what she knows about her father, Marcks seems to be getting closer to finding her but first more victims will fall. Protecting Jasmine is Karen’s primary focus but doing this might send her in a direction that will change the course of events as Jasmine seems to be playing a hide and seek game with the authorities and wants no one to know where she is. How can she be protected if no one can contact her even though she is hiding from her father?

Contacting one of Marcks’s buddies and learning some information from him they realize that he might not have the brightest light bulb on the block but recounting the first murder when Marcks was fourteen and who was involved we learn about another link. His first murder was involuntary manslaughter and strangely enough the only witness turns out to be a guard at Potter where he was placed named Lance Kubiak. A kid named Eddie was killed when a gun went off and wounded Vincent Stuckey claiming that Marcks killed him in self -defense. Marcks then kills a man in front of his wife and daughter showing no remorse. But, when the body is found it is mutilated the same way as the others as something about Marcks is revealed and might help find him. As we hear Karen interview Kubiak’s involvement in Roscoe’s escape, the end of his career and his involvement with another man involved named Gaines. But, on page 208 Karen goes off on him lambasting him until he might finally open up and tell her the truth about Eddie Simmons and his death and what really happened forty years ago and his involvement with Marcks as one of his inmates.

The hunt is on in full force and the end results you won’t believe but first Marcks learns everything about Karen and knows just about her every move, where she lives and how she works and more. Going to the library he brought up articles about Karen, his case and information about his arrest. He found out about Erik Curtis the detective on the case saying that they could not have captured him without Karen’s profile. But, sometimes all roads lead in the wrong direction and just why does he consider her a thorn in his side and what does he intend to do about it? Ramos, Curtis and Vail entered a building followed by Hurdle, Walters , Morrison and Tarkoff but where was the suspect?

Things spiral even more out of control and when the final pieces come together author Alan Jacobson sends readers hunting for the truth about the killer and a surprise ending you won’t see coming.

As we get to know Jasmine better and her relationship with her father we see a pattern forming and begin to understand why they are at each other’s throats and why Marcks wants to take her out. The book is what is coming between them and the right to express what she claims happens is part of the basis for why he is hunting her. But, when someone close to Karen is the next victim she and Robbie her fiancé race the clock, enlist her entire taskforce, swat team and every officer available before another person falls victim to a serial killer. The research into accelerants and fires is extensive as the author shares why a specific accelerant can and was used to subdue victims and how easily attainable it is. The ending will keep you on the edge of your seat and the final outcome will determine just how good Vail’s team is, just out good someone can outsmart a killer and if at the end of the trail who will live and who will be another victim of THE DARKNESS OF EVIL?