Nightfall (Nightingale Book 1)

“You’re going to hell, Jack Nightingale.”These are the words that ended Jack Nightingale’s career as a police negotiator. Now a struggling private detective, the chilling words return with a vengeance when Jack inherits a mansion with a priceless library—and a terrifying warning from a man who claims to be his father.Nightingale quickly learns his soul was sold at birth and a devil will come to claim it on his thirty-third birthday, which is just three short weeks away. It’s a hard pill to swallow. He doesn’t believe in Hell and probably doesn’t believe in Heaven either. But when people close to him start to die horribly, he is led to the inescapable conclusion that real evil may be at work. And if he doesn’t find a way out, he’ll be damned for eternity.Dripping with brooding intensity, unrelenting suspense, and surprising wit, United Kingdom thriller master Stephen Leather’s first book in the Nightingale series is a riveting, heart-stopping mystery with extraordinary range and power.

From Booklist

"Jack Nightingale, a British cop turned private investigator, is dumbfounded when he learns, all at once, that he was adopted when he was a newborn; that his real father has recently died, leaving Jack his deserted mansion; and, oh yes, that his real father sold Jack’s soul to a devil (not the devil, just a devil) when Jack was a baby, and soon someone or something will come to collect. Leather approaches this fantastic story as though it were a traditional private-eye thriller. At first, Jack is skeptical—well, who wouldn’t be?—but as he checks out the mansion and looks into the history of the man who claimed to have been his real father, he begins to believe (of course, the inexplicable deaths of people close to him are also pretty good signs that something is afoot). This is a very good genre-bending novel. Leather’s choice to write it as if it were a straight thriller seems entirely appropriate, grounding the story in reality and making the fantasy-horror elements that much more frightening. Quite popular in Britain, Leather is relatively unknown on these shores. That deserves to change, and if this novel finds its audience—Graham Masterton fans should love it—his profile stands to be boosted dramatically." — David Pitt

From AudioFile

About the Author

Stephen Leather is one of the UK’s most successful thriller writers. He was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. Before that, he was employed as a biochemist for ICI, shovelled limestone in a quarry, worked as a baker, a petrol pump attendant, a barman, and worked for the Inland Revenue. He began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London’s Burning, The Knock and the BBC’s Murder in Mind series. The Stretch and The Bombmaker were filmed for TV. His ebooks have spent more than six months on the UK Kindle Top 100 and for several months he had four titles in the UK Kindle Top 10. You can find out more from his website, www.stephenleather.com.

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