Midnight Hours

Mystery & Thrillers

By Vivian Zabel

Publisher : 4RV Publishing

ABOUT Vivian Zabel

Vivian Zabel
Vivian Zabel writes under the names Vivian Gilbert Zabel and V. Gilbert Zabel.She has six books, two collections with other authors, three juvenile books, and a mystery/suspense.Web sites for information about two books: Midnight Hours  and  Prairie Dog Cowboy 

Description

Midnight brings death on the internet. Preying on disabled men, she offers love but gives them a grave. One determined man stands in her way. Only one can win.  

An online "friend" kept her personal information secret. Even after we had "known" each other for several years and she called me Mom. Finally my vivid imagination took her secrecy and thought, "What if ..." Midnight was born.

The ChrisChat Reviews

http://www.freewebs.com/chrischatreviews/midnighthours.htm

 

Midnight Hours

Vivian Zabel

 

Publisher: 4RV Publishing LLC

http://4rvpublishingllc.com

 

Genre: Mystery/suspense

ISBN-13: 978-0-9797513-3-2

ISBN-10: 0-9797513-3-0

Pages: 228

Starting Price:  $27.99

 

4 out of 4 roses

 

Chats will never be the same.

 

Martin Rogers is a cop. Doesn’t matter he’s on sick leave; he’s still a cop. Doesn’t matter he’s regaining his legs after being shot; he’s still a cop. Doesn’t matter he’s fallen for an online poker playing female, he’s still suspicious; he’s still a cop.

 

There’s something about the lady, Midnight. She’s too good to be true. She’s mysterious and teasing. She’s only online at midnight. Her picture was found with a dead (murdered?) man. The face in the picture belongs to someone else.

 

Oh, yes, there’s something about the lady, Midnight.

 

And, there’s something about “Midnight Hours,” a serial murder mystery that left me wavering back and forth again and again over just who Midnight was.

 

Ms. Zabel’s story takes place over a course of months, seamlessly. The friendship between Martin and his fellow officers is the perfect compliment to the egotistical know-it-all consultant. The coolness of an officer under the gun and gentle strength of the new assistant district attorney are a perfec blend of female character qualities, and a good balance to the male dominated story.

 

“Midnight Hours” is a cat and mouse game that spellbound me in both its simplicity and its intricacy … and kept me up well past midnight reading it.  Well done!

 

~~ Christine I. Speakman

* * * * * *

A Review: Midnight Hours by Vivian Zabel.

Reviewed by Brian L Porter

 

            Police detective Martin Rogers is recovering from a shooting, working hard to regain the use of his legs. To fill in the long hours of inactivity, Rogers spends time in an internet chat room, playing cards with a regular group of surfers. That is until the witching hour, when he and the mysterious woman known only as Midnight connect via cyberspace and disappear into their own virtual world. Martin finds himself becoming more and more intrigued and enamoured by the elusive woman, who seems to find him strangely attractive despite his disability. When Midnight refuses to reveal any personal details about herself, despite Martin being openly honest with her, he begins to suspect that the woman he is falling for may not be all that she seems.

            Martin confides his concerns to two of his fellow detectives, and soon he and his colleagues are joined by Assistant District Attorney Lisa Harris as a web of previous suspicious deaths of disabled victims emerges, all of whom appear to have been in contact with the mysterious Midnight.

            A task force is set up to investigate the murders, and soon Martin, Lisa, and the team are involved in a case so complex, and so baffling, that they begin to feel as though they are chasing a shadow, a clever and resourceful criminal who they describe as being “like fog that disappears in bright light.”

            When police dispatcher Denise Woods is attacked and almost killed by the murderer, the police finally believe they are on the trail of Midnight, only to find yet more clouds of mystery as they attempt to penetrate the veil of the elusive killer.

What links Midnight with the name Norma Fields, and is Norma connected to the oddly named Norm Able? What connection does the reportedly dead sailor J.R Olson have with the case?

            Vivian Zabel has crafted a beautifully and hauntingly compelling crime drama that leads the reader down one blind alleyway after another as Martin Rogers attempts to unravel the mystery. The tension is wonderfully wracked up as the storyline builds towards its shattering conclusion. Without doubt, this is one for the crime fiction aficionados, a book that cries out to be read, and one which I found very hard to put down once I’d begun. The characters are believable, the underlying romance that builds between Martin and the beautiful Lisa is tenderly and realistically handled, and the fear that things could go disastrously wrong for the heroes of this tale, right up to the end, is so palpable one can almost reach out and touch it.

            A great read, tension personified, wonderfully written!

 

Brian L Porter

Author, A Study in Red – The Secret Journal of Jack the Ripper, Avenue of the Dead, Purple Death,  and the award-winning The Nemesis Cell.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Midnight Hours: A Can't Put Down Crime Story., November 8, 2008
By Nancy Famolari (Pennsylvania, USA) 
While recovering from an accident that confined him to a wheel chair, Police detective Martin Rogers finds an interest in life through an Internet connection with a lovely woman. Or is she what she seems? She has given Martin a reason for living, but when she sends a picture of herself that is a duplicate of one found in the pocket of a dead paraplegic, Martin and his police buddies wonder if she's given him a reason for dying.

The author makes you believe in the reality of her characters. Details of the investigation are true to life. The Oklahoma countryside is beautifully described and gives the novel a strong sense of place. The plot is filled with surprising, but thoroughly believable twists that keep the reader guessing up to and beyond the last page.

Zabel has created a fast moving plot with characters you come to care about, a satisfying romance, and suspense that keeps you reading. Readers of crime fiction will appreciate Zabel's latest novel and will be hoping for more. I love a good murder mystery. I recommend this one highly for readers who are looking for interesting and believable characters, a tension filled plot, and a realistic setting.

*************



 
5.0 out of 5 stars Midnight Hours is a Must-Read Crime Drama!, November 7, 2008
Midnight Hours by Vivian Gilbert Zabel is a book that anyone who enjoys crime dramas should read. Gilbert has written a tension-filled tale that leads the reader from one surprising twist of plot to another. There is no need for my reiterating the plot details as homicide lieutenant Martin Rogers seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding Midnight, a woman who preys on disabled men she meets through the Internet, since two previous reviewers have both done so. Instead, I will simply confirm what they have said about Zabel creating believable characters and a plot that grabs your interest from the start and carries you along spellbound until the dramatic conclusion. If you enjoy reading compelling, tension-packed crime fiction, then this is a must-read book for you. Zabel has written a winner with this book! I recommend this book most highly.