Two Nights: A Novel

Two Nights: Kathy ReichsSometimes your past can affect your present when things in life cause you to feel isolated and alone. Sunday Night, a name she created for herself is not one to live with the masses but on an island off the South Carolina coast. Most of the time she is reflecting on her life and what has gone wrong. Reliving her past causes her pain and when having the choice between jail time or the armed forces she enlisted with the urging and help of Perry Beau Beaumonde a policeman. The marines then a job with the PD department in Charleston she was hurt during an accidental shooting of an armed man bringing her to the attention of Opaline Drucker a rich and well connected older woman who has a special job for Sunday to find her 15 year old granddaughter named Stella. Thinking she might be the victim of a cult she went missing during a bombing of a Hebrew school that claimed the lives of her brother and mother. The family was not Jewish so the link to them is still unclear. The story is told by Sunday in the first person as events unfold. She is sharp and has been hired to find Stella and Drucker’s funds are limitless but from the start we realize that Sunday has a touch of paranoia. First rate hotels, information from the police that handled the case, questioning skills that are astute and quite on point, Sunday sets up motion detectors in her room at the Ritz and creates other accounts and moves into other hotels in order to await the results of internet accounts on many social medias that she created. She is smart and astute and hears from the bombers and avoids one trap that is set for her. The author brilliantly lets us hear the victim who has been sequestered by this cult and tells about her fear, her love for this man and the fact that the testing comes daily and the pain she endures at his whim. The story could have been ripped right out of the headlines as there are many young people that fall prey to these cults thinking they will have all their needs cared for but never realizing the underlying threats they hold on them as we hear the voice of the girl who wants to escape but who this girl is has yet to be revealed as we do not know if Stella is alive. The bombing at the school was it t kill Jewish schoolchildren or something else we have yet to learn? Getting attacked at her hotel she winds up killing the assailant but when questioned by the police they seem skeptical about her story. A text message warning her to meet at 12 midnight or something would happen to Stella sends her off on another mission even though her shoulder is bandaged and she was shot. At this location she finds another man a monk and the end result he’s arrested, she does some recon in a young girl’s apartment hoping to hack into her accounts and learn more. At the same time we once again hear from the person hoping to escape the cult and enjoy the fresh air but she knows if caught the punishment will be stiff. Belonging to a cult they would change your name and the author shares that Sunday was born on a Sunday in August and when we meet her brother his name is August hence the month he was born. When you meet her she is listening to a Neil Diamond song and created her own name and background.Sunday moves around a lot and has enlisted the help of August Aka Gus her brother who is now part of her team. With Clagg and Clapps allowing her to see the video from the bombing of the school, she is able to get a time frame on the deaths. 43 minutes would change the lives of some and others would die. The author continues to include short, cryptic chapters told by the victim of this cult relating her testing, torture and mind control of her own thoughts hoping to rid herself of the tunnel she is in without any doors, light or comforts. She is clearly trying to convince herself that she’s not afraid and will survive.Jasmine Kerr and her accomplice Bronco are on the move even after Sunday broke into her apartment, her laptop and used some of the information to get a better handle on her but she wound up doing surveillance, finding out where they went and once again covering her tracks by moving into different hotels at the same time without one solid place. But, not everything goes as planned as she is attacked by two thugs, taken in a car but hopefully Gus will come to her aid. Every step of the way someone seems to be on her trail but so far after over a week no sign of Sunday so will Opaline continue to have her on her payroll?Moving around a lot and then getting some graphic photos leads Sunday and Gus to finding Jasmine in a secure position but trying to question her to no avail. Her accomplice Bronco seems to be out there but where? The photos are graphic and the end result she learns about the other victims of the bombing and one that makes her wonder if Stella is even alive as the author once again shares the voice of the victim, the torture and the fear knowing this time the Leader might end her life. But, who is this person that we cannot see but hear: Sunday or Stella?With the help of her brother and Kerr in her custody the ungodly truth behind the bombing comes to light and the names of those behind it told. Someone heading the Jihad for Jesus movement is manipulating bronco and the link is hiding in plain sight as bombs are planted before a big horserace at Churchill Downs but will they be stopped and can all of them be defused before thousands are killed. Their motive: Kill all Muslims and the end result would be carnage worse than the school bombing. Informing the police and working with several teams, Sunday and Gus race the clock hoping to stop what someone started but will they be able to? O’Rourke and his partner Gomez allowed her to work with them to a point sharing everything about the school bombing, Stella’s disappearance, continuing with Bronco, Landon, Crozier and the other suspects plus working with Capps and her theory about the bombs and where she thought they were placed. An ending quite explosive as on Kathy Reichs can deliver as all the players and suspects come into place, something happens and some will live while others might never be the same as Sunday endangers her life in order to hopefully save another. Guilt ridden about her past brought her to try to rectify that in the present. Will she save Stella? What did Drucker know that she kept from her all along? The final chapters reveal it all the ending will shock readers as who was behind this carnage, who wanted to take more lives and who is the person speaking to us about her own tortures, failures and why the past sometimes needs to stay buried and the future remains in question. Sunday and Gus Night are two strong yet different characters that deal with adversity in different ways. She is impulsive, quick on the draw, resourceful and knows how to command attention while Gus is not quite her opposite but gets it done without any fanfare. Author Kathy Reichs created two great new characters that I hope she brings back for me because Sunday still has so much to deal with from her past that it will be great to see her grow in the present. One thing is for sure you don’t want to cross the TWO NIGHTS!

Well, I read this book in one sitting. It's exciting and there's lots of action, but also lots of violence.I wish there was more depth to each of the characters, it's difficult to figure out what their prior experiences/lives were, and how they turned into the people we meet. They talk rather flippantly, not in a way that real people talk. The story, while maintaining interest, is also quite unbelievable and unrealistic.I am a big fan of Temperance Brennan, and I prefer the writing style in those books to this one; the Temperance books are much more realistic, and the stories flows much better for me. I also like the technical aspects of those tales, but that is completely lacking in Two Nights.So, Two Nights is an ok read, but, for me, it lacks the sophistication and the in depth familiarity the author has of the forensics field.I don't know if there are planned sequels, it would be interesting to learn more about the Two Nights characters.

Two Nights by Kathy Reichs is a good read. It is fast moving from coast to coast and between. Sunday Night, yes that is our heroin in this new book, was in law enforcement until injuries forced her out. Night is hired by a very wealthy lady to find who had bomb her grandson's school in Chicago and why! Thus begins an hunt into the why and where have these bomber have fled. Once you begin reading, you can hardly put it down. Night has a twin brother who is helping her find these killers. There are so many surprises in her investigation, she wonders why she is so inclined to keep going even after the lady that hired her now fires her. Please note that I have read every book Reichs has written and I have never been disappointed. Rated G, over eighteen. Very little strong language and no sexual activities. DP. Castro Valley, CA.

Sunnis and August Knight are twins born to a mother who had been indoctrinated into a cult. They obviously had different fathers since appearance was so black and white. Yet, they are very close and had been raised by a good man after their "family" committed mass suicide.Sunnis had a rough childhood, horror filled combat in the military and then injured and put on disability as a police woman.Now she lives Aline on an isolated island. When called upon, she works as a private investigator.This story is complex, shows her strengths as a PI and involved finding a child that had been kidnapped by the JJ cult. Thus, many of her unsettled memories of her childhood rise to the surface. The book is well written, keeps the writers attention so that one desires another book with a mystery for her (and Gus) to solve with some guidance from their adopted dad.

I bought this book because I am a long-time fan of Kathy Reichs, although only ever having read her Temperance Brennan novels I was totally unsure what to expect with this one. After having bought it I made the mistake of reading a few of the reviews and immediately wondered whether I had made a big mistake. However, once I got into the story, I realised that I was again reading a carefully written and lovingly created novel which was 100% up to the standard that I would expect from such an experienced and fantastic author.The story itself was so totally different to the Brennan novels that it was good to realise that the author has more strings to her bow and I was immediately dragged in to the life of Sunday Night and her twin brother Gus. Sunday is commissioned, against her initial better judgement, by a wealthy old lady who is desperate to find her missing granddaughter after a bomb blast at a Jewish school which killed the girl’s mother and brother. Stella has not been seen since the blast and no-one knows whether she is dead or alive. All the way through the story the chapters are interspersed with intriguing passages which, to begin with, are a little meaningless but eventually they start to make sense.Without going into too much detail so as not to spoil it for those who have not read it, events take many twists and turns and in places we have frustration, excitement and amusement. As is normally the case in this author’s novels, the ending comes fast and furious, but everything is tied up nicely without any loose ends. The final chapter is somewhat touching, and it did leave me wanting to learn more about this character that I have just spent such a long time with, but sadly I am not aware of any plans to develop this into a series which is a great shame but all good things clearly must come to an end.

Having read the Temperance series I was interested to read something different by her. Sunday Night is a woman with a past, now living in isolation, all she wanted was a quiet life. However after a bombing at a Jewish school resulting in fatalities and a missing girl, she is hired to find the bombers.From page 1 you knew Sunday was damaged, and as you read more of her story is revealed. She is head strong who found it hard to trust and does not take to authority figures. I liked her, Sunday she was one of those people who got the job done and didn’t care how she went about doing it. With her uniform background, she was definitely up for the job. I found at the start she was a bit disjointed and it seemed that she had not got a clue and was winging it a bit. But this made her feel more real. However as soon as Gus joined her, it seemed to click and you felt that they would get the job done.I felt that it started a bit slow but soon picked up pace as more information was found. With Sunday being so paranoid there was a lot of fine detail put into her style and habits and you knew exactly what she was doing. Information about the terrorists were drip fed throughout at the story and this made you want to carry on reading as you wanted to find out whether Sunday found the missing teenager. The author had a way of leading you in a different direction and the scenes in italics was not about who I thought they wereFor a 1st in which I hope will be a new series this was a good start and I hope there will be more of Sunday Night

I really enjoyed this book. As a reader who has read all of Reichs's Temperance Brennan series, this is the first one of hers that I have read not to involve TB. The lead character was really interesting and very well written, the supporting ones only added to the story also. There are two storylines written here, none in present time and one from a memory and the memory one totally threw me, I would never have figured this one out till the big reveal. Hope Kathy writes more involving this character.

I've struggled to get gripped by this book, but have read 41% and so far have failed! It's a bad sign that I've checked the reviews. Actually I think it's nonsensical and stretches ones credibility, which would be fine if it was interesting, but I'm afraid it's not. Without giving anything away, the Ritz Carlton hotel in Chicago must be the most tolerant hotel in the world!

The subject of forensic anthropology makes this novel more than a whodunnit. The writing style is unfettered and interesting enough to hold my attention through the night which is how long it took me to read it. Nice twist at the end but not enough to make me feel that I should have been sleeping with my head instead.