Penzler Pick, March 2002: This is the first entry in what I hope will be a series by journalist Jonathon King, who has written for the Philadelphia Daily News and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The story features Max Freeman, who was a cop in Philadelphia until he shot and killed a 12-year-old boy who was helping to rob a convenience store. Max was shot in the neck himself and now he keeps away from most people, living in a cabin in the backwaters of South Florida.

While canoeing on the river near his home, Max spies a bundle floating near the shore which turns out to be a dead child wrapped in a sheet. Max's first reaction is that the nightmare he thought he left behind has caught up with him. Pulling the bundle into his canoe, Max paddles downstream to the ranger station where he is met by the head ranger together with three detectives--almost as if they were waiting for him.

Billy Manchester, a lawyer and friend to Max, tells him that the body of the girl he found is the third in a series of abductions that is terrifying South Florida communities. Because of his training as a cop, Max wants to help out with the investigation, but his offer of help is rebuffed by local law enforcement. He discovers that the killer is leaving global positioning system addresses with the bodies, which is why there was a team of detectives at the ranger station--they were on their way up-river to where they knew a body would be when Max brought it in.

Max himself is now a suspect and, when he returns to his cabin to discover that a GPS unit has been planted, he knows he is going to get involved anyway. If he doesn't find the murderer, the police are going to charge him. His search takes him deep into the Everglades, off the beaten track into communities closed to outsiders and hostile to questions.

King gives a vivid portrayal of a Florida still not exploited by developers and also treats us to a wonderful cast of characters--Max and Billy especially, but also to some folks who have hardly been touched by the modern world. --Otto Penzler

From Publishers Weekly
With his first novel, King jumps into James W. Hall territory and lands firmly on his feet. Ex-Philadelphia cop Max Freeman, haunted by his killing of an adolescent robber, has retreated to an isolated cabin in the Florida Everglades. When he discovers the body of a kidnapped youngster, the victim of a serial killer, Freeman becomes a suspect who can clear his name only by finding the murderer. Although this is an often-used plot device, the author's stylish prose and insider's knowledge of the sinuous, dangerous Everglades give the gimmick a fresh twist. Especially fine are the passages showing the different faces of Florida as Freeman travels between his austere cabin and the plush penthouse apartment of his Palm Beach lawyer, Billy Manchester. A scene in which Freeman seeks out a group of furtive Everglades natives in their natural habitat reeks with atmosphere. In fact, King uses descriptions of places and environment to reveal character and attitude, much as Hall, James Lee Burke and Robert B. Parker do, if not as smoothly as those established masters. While fans of Carl Hiaasen's black humor or Lawrence Shames's wacky characters may not find this novel to their taste, most readers should hail Freeman as an appealing addition to the already large roster of independent-minded Florida investigators. Skillful writing, original characters and evocative settings initiate a welcome new series. (Apr. 1)Forecast: With a prominent blurb from Michael Connelly, this crime debut by a feature writer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel should get off to a strong start. Based on his ruggedly masculine author photo, King would seem a natural for the TV talk show circuit.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Once a street-savvy Philadelphia cop, Max Freeman now spends his time canoeing in the Everglades where he uses the physical exertion of paddling to battle the nightmares he carries with him. His last active duty involved the accidental killing of a 12-year-old who was helping to rob a convenience store, and he still suffers from psychological wounds. When he finds a child's body on one of his nightly canoe trips, he becomes a suspect. Questioned by local police, he learns that this murder is one of a series recently committed close to his area and he begins the long, complex task of tracking down the perpetrator. King paints a vivid picture of the Everglades, intense enough to conjure up the hum of mosquitoes before they bite. Scenes come clearly to mind as he describes the heat, ever-present moisture, thunderstorms, and reptiles. The sense of place and the memorable main characters carry the plot without major doses of intense violence or language.Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VACopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Just when you thought the Florida Everglades couldn't possibly sustain another detective, along comes Max Freeman in this fiction debut by King. About a year and a half before the start of the story, Max had moved to the swamps of southern Florida from Philadelphia to forget. A career cop until he shot a very young, armed black convenience-store robber, Max happens on the dead body of a child as he makes his obsessive rounds of the Everglades. Because this is the third such murder in the insular community recently, Max comes under suspicion himself and, in self-defense, starts investigating. Included among the suspects are the hunters and trappers, who are hurting from encroaching development; longtime residents, who detest the new arrivals; and environmentalists, who are regarded as loonies anyway. However, even such hot-button topics as serial murder and environmentalism can't keep this vessel afloat under the weight of the morose, obsessive, and totally humorless Max. An optional purchase in an already crowded field. Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MOCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Nick Sullivan expertly portrays former Philly cop Max Freeman, who is wrenched from his hermetic life in the Florida Everglades when he finds the body of a kidnapped child. Max's tortured past is portrayed through flashbacks as he goes up against the Florida wilderness and bizarre backwoods characters while trying to stop another child from being murdered and searching for who is trying to frame him. Max's conflicted character is captured in Sullivan's muscular reading of this Edgar Award-winning novel. Even characters' parenthetical comments are distinct from their regular speech. D.T.H. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
In this gripping first novel by longtime crime reporter King, a Philadelphia cop finds himself reading the swamp the same way he used to read the street. Max Freeman thrived as a street cop for years, but he had his life knocked out from under him the night a robbery turned sour, and he shot and killed one of the robbers, a 12-year-old kid. Freeman quit the force, moving as far away from his memories as he could, to an abandoned research base on the edge of the Florida Everglades. On one of his nocturnal canoe trips, Freeman stumbles upon the body of a five-year-old child wrapped in sailcloth. He learns that this strange discovery fits into a string of child abductions from Palm Beach homes. Freeman, now a suspect, must sink his lethargy to clear his name. A fine fit of setting with action. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
On a night that will haunt him forever, ex-cop Max Freeman killed a twelve-year-old child in self-defense in a Philadelphia shootout. Since then, he has lived on the edge of the Florida Everglades, where he answers to no one but the demons gnawing at his conscience. But when he finds a corpse of a child along a riverbank, he's pulled back into the twisted maze of law and order-as a murder suspect.

Download Description
"National Bestselling Author of the Edgar Award winner for Best First Novel The Blue Edge of Midnight. Tormented by the demons of his past, ex-cop Max Freeman rarely ventures beyond his secluded shack deep in the Florida Everglades. But he can't ignore the recent string of suspicious deaths of elderly, poor women that the police have been unable, or unwilling, to investigate. When his best friend urges him to get involved and act like the cop he's trying to forget he was, Max must confront the dangers of the city streets-and the unexpected shadows of his own past."

ANNOTATION

Winner of the 2003 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Featuring ex-cop Max Freeman, The Blue Edge of Midnight marks the debut of a powerful new crime series.

Max Freeman's old life ended on a night that will haunt him forever. The night he killed a twelve-year-old child in self-defense in a Philadelphia shootout. The night he stopped being a cop. Now he lives an existence of solitary confinement on the edge of the Florida Everglades, where he answers to no one but the demons that eat away at his conscience.

Until the night he finds the corpse of a child beside an ancient river. The night Max Freeman's past explodes into the present.

Suddenly, Freeman is thrust into the center of the search for a killer responsible for a string of grisly slayings that is baffling both local authorities and the F.B.I. Distrusted as an outsider by the longtime residents of the Glades and pulled into the case as suspect by the police, Freeman must walk a tenuous tightrope of distrust on both sides of the law. When another child goes missing, all eyes turn to Freeman-and the ex-cop, driven by his old habits and the memories of that long-ago Philadelphia midnight, knows that he has no choice but to hunt down the seemingly unstoppable murderer himself.

An electrifying story of crime, punishment, and one man's personal redemption played out against a backdrop of wild natural beauty in conflict with the modern urban world, The Blue Edge of Midnight heralds the arrival of a stunning new voice in contemporary crime fiction.

Author Biography: Jonathon King, a journalist for 20 years, began his career at the Philadelphia Daily News. He has covered crime and criminal courts and is now a national award-winning news feature writer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The Blue Edge of Midnight is his first novel.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

With his first novel, King jumps into James W. Hall territory and lands firmly on his feet. Ex-Philadelphia cop Max Freeman, haunted by his killing of an adolescent robber, has retreated to an isolated cabin in the Florida Everglades. When he discovers the body of a kidnapped youngster, the victim of a serial killer, Freeman becomes a suspect who can clear his name only by finding the murderer. Although this is an often-used plot device, the author's stylish prose and insider's knowledge of the sinuous, dangerous Everglades give the gimmick a fresh twist. Especially fine are the passages showing the different faces of Florida as Freeman travels between his austere cabin and the plush penthouse apartment of his Palm Beach lawyer, Billy Manchester. A scene in which Freeman seeks out a group of furtive Everglades natives in their natural habitat reeks with atmosphere. In fact, King uses descriptions of places and environment to reveal character and attitude, much as Hall, James Lee Burke and Robert B. Parker do, if not as smoothly as those established masters. While fans of Carl Hiaasen's black humor or Lawrence Shames's wacky characters may not find this novel to their taste, most readers should hail Freeman as an appealing addition to the already large roster of independent-minded Florida investigators. Skillful writing, original characters and evocative settings initiate a welcome new series. (Apr. 1) Forecast: With a prominent blurb from Michael Connelly, this crime debut by a feature writer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel should get off to a strong start. Based on his ruggedly masculine author photo, King would seem a natural for the TV talk show circuit. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Just when you thought the Florida Everglades couldn't possibly sustain another detective, along comes Max Freeman in this fiction debut by King. About a year and a half before the start of the story, Max had moved to the swamps of southern Florida from Philadelphia to forget. A career cop until he shot a very young, armed black convenience-store robber, Max happens on the dead body of a child as he makes his obsessive rounds of the Everglades. Because this is the third such murder in the insular community recently, Max comes under suspicion himself and, in self-defense, starts investigating. Included among the suspects are the hunters and trappers, who are hurting from encroaching development; longtime residents, who detest the new arrivals; and environmentalists, who are regarded as loonies anyway. However, even such hot-button topics as serial murder and environmentalism can't keep this vessel afloat under the weight of the morose, obsessive, and totally humorless Max. An optional purchase in an already crowded field. Bob Lunn, Kansas City P.L., MO Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Once a street-savvy Philadelphia cop, Max Freeman now spends his time canoeing in the Everglades where he uses the physical exertion of paddling to battle the nightmares he carries with him. His last active duty involved the accidental killing of a 12-year-old who was helping to rob a convenience store, and he still suffers from psychological wounds. When he finds a child's body on one of his nightly canoe trips, he becomes a suspect. Questioned by local police, he learns that this murder is one of a series recently committed close to his area and he begins the long, complex task of tracking down the perpetrator. King paints a vivid picture of the Everglades, intense enough to conjure up the hum of mosquitoes before they bite. Scenes come clearly to mind as he describes the heat, ever-present moisture, thunderstorms, and reptiles. The sense of place and the memorable main characters carry the plot without major doses of intense violence or language.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews