Night Crimes
Judith Woolcock Colombo
(Reviewer - Carolyn Howard-Johnson)
2001 AmErica House
ISBN: 158851174X

Lara Bello, a Jamaican-American artist, is convinced someone is following her, watching her every move.

Guest Reviewer Carolyn Howard-Johnson writes:

Night Crimes is as much about love as it is about insanity, as much about psychology as it is about crime. It's also about soul, self-expression & art.

That makes it a lot more than a tense thriller for a lonely night. Still, although no one gets cannibalized in Night Crimes, in terms of pure terror, this is a novel that will give The Silence of the Lambs a run for its money.

Judith Woolcock Colombo not only writes us into the heads of a sweet-souled cop, an artistically edgy mother & wife but also into the very minds of a killer psycho or two. Well, OK. More than two. One is an artist, the other a poet; both love their victims. As readers we get to compare their motives, their reasoning, their modus operandi. We come to respect their talents & their humanity, we are angered by their lapses in reasoning, their uncontrolled insanity.

My favorite villain -- if you can call him that -- is an observer of the night. He is a poet, though he may not be aware of this talent (He views himself as God's instrument for death). Still, he treats us to simple poetic descriptions of his world: “...The moon paints patterns on the water's surface...” He is a bard with an intimate knowledge of death: “...The desire for death cannot be a passing whim. It is an unreturnable gift...” He knows death up close, can feel it, express it, smell it. If you are curious, you'll want to experience death a different way, the way he sees it & tells it.

More from Judith Woolcock Colombo: The Fablesinger

Judith Woolcock Colombo has reviewed Carolyn Howard-Johnson's memoir Harkening
(11/23/03)

Carolyn
2004©Carolyn Howard-Johnson
A RebeccasReads.Com Associate Reviewer

Associate Reviewer Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the award-winning author of This Is The Place, & her book of creative nonfiction, The Harkening: A Collection Of Stories Remembered, has won three awards.

She has signed a contract with Star Publish for the upcoming release of her new how-to book The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't. www.starpublish.com.

She writes about Utah's culture, tolerance & other subjects. Her fiction, nonfiction & poems have appeared in national magazines, anthologies & review journals. She has appeared on TV & radio stations nationwide.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an instructor for UCLA's Writers' Program. She loves to travel & has studied writing at Cambridge University, United Kingdom; Herzen University, St. Petersburg, Russia, & Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, as well as UCLA & the University of Southern California.

Her editorial contributions include:
No One Book Pleases Everyone
Publisher Raises the Ire of its Authors
A Rant About Arrogance.

Her website is:www.carolynhowardjohnson.com