Pitch Black: A black Cats Novel: (2010-07-16) 
Different reading. Not a bad story line but a little predictable. I enjoy a bit of a mystery with some romance thrown in and Leslie Parrish is a great writer. I have read all three of the books and enjoyed them.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: (2009-09-06) 
This is the second book of this series and it was really good. Leslie Parrish is a very good author whose characters are so well depicted that you think they are in a room with you. The dialogue is very entertaining and until the murderer is revealed, you just cannot guess. There is also a nice little twist that had my heart pounding. The romance is hot and I cannot wait to read the third book.

Pitch Black: (2009-08-31) 
Special Agent Alex Lambert has been transferred into the Black CAT unit, not because he wants to be there, but it's his last chance to continue as an agent after a bad investigation left his partner dead. Alex walks into a morning briefing on a case that suddenly brings his past case to the present. Will Alex have a chance to finally capture the murderer he has been investigating for several years?

Samantha Dalton runs a website devoted to debunking swindlers who trick victims online with schemes. She started her personal mission after a family member was destroyed by such a scheme. Sam runs a blog on her site and answers emails to anyone who asks for information or an opinion. This brings her to Alex's attention when an email is discovered on a murder victim's computer.

Sam and Alex meet when it appears that one of her recent followers has been murdered. Sam is shocked to find out that not only was he killed by the perpetrator of this email scheme, but that it is a pattern. More shocking to both Sam and Alex is when they discover that the murderer seems to be focusing on Sam. The question is why and just how closely is he following Sam? The tension is getting as hot as the relationship between Sam and Alex as the days go by. Plans are constructed by the team, but it might be too late for Sam to escape whatever the murderer has planned for her.

What to do when your life has been turned upside down unexpectedly? Pitch Black asks that question of both Samantha and Alex but for very different reasons. Samantha is determined that no one will be swindled again if she can help it. Alex has been transferred to the black sheep team as a chance to regain his career. I once again fell into the twisted plot that Ms. Parrish constructed with great suspense and characters you would love to have as friends. The actual murderer was a surprise to me as I had decided on someone with a totally different profession. I just know that when the murderer is unveiled, most readers will be surprised. On a side note, I was upset when one of my favorite characters was killed. I had hoped that the character would have a romance in the future. The pop and sizzle between Samantha and Alex combined with an intriguing suspense to make Pitch Black a must read for suspense lovers.

Jo
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Parrish is Fast Becoming a Favorite of Mine in this Genre!: (2009-08-26) 
Leslie Parrish does it again! She's given us the second installment of what I've heard is a Black CATs trilogy (though they're SO good, I can't help but hope they continue), and in keeping with the first, Fade to Black, she's knocked the romantic thriller genre on its butt with the well-paced, finely-crafted, and emotionally taut Pitch Black.

Alec Lambert is an FBI profiler who's a bit on the outs with the Bureau after a bust went bad and left an agent dead and put Lambert in the hospital with gunshot wounds. He's still on some emotionally shaky ground, doubting his own abilities as he starts his latest assignment working for Wyatt Blackstone's Cyber Action Team (CAT). Unfortunately for a pair of teen boys, best of friends to the very very end and victims of an old nemesis of Alec's, Lambert has to hit the ground running on his very first day with the team in a race against time and cyberspace to catch their killer, the notorious Professor. That ground leads Alec straight to Samantha Dalton, divorcee and near recluse, and definitely a woman with a mission against all things cybercrime. She was the last one to have any contact with one of the victims, and her world is about to blow apart when she realizes she may not just hold the key, she may actually BE the key to the Professor's capture. If she lives through it.

As I was with Fade to Black, I was extremely impressed with the mature development of the relationship between the romantic leads, Alec and Sam. It's such a delight to see a relationship that has both sparks flying AND realistic progression given the surrounding story line. To me, this aspect really sets Parrish's books head and shoulders above many many others I've read. And there's so much depth given to each character, deftly and subtly woven into the plot instead of seeming at odds with it. Such a treat to read.

A caution, though, as Parrish has another unique skill that doesn't lead to the warm fuzzies. Her skill at bringing the reader right into victims' experiences gives us a disturbing insight that sets her apart from others I've read in the genre. It's also, I feel, what brings true darkness and horror into her books. They're not particularly gory - in fact, Fade to Black in particular could've been and wasn't - but they do touch a deep chord and leave no room for doubting a human monster's capacity for depraved cruelty. Not by languishing in the mind of the killer, but by humanizing the victims and familiarizing us with them even as they die.

It's dark stuff at times, and may not be for all readers. I have a pretty much love/hate relationship with it, myself, actually - LOVE it on an intellectual level, but it resonates a sorrow deep enough in me that I can still feel it days later.

All in all, I HIGHLY recommend Leslie Parrish's Fade to Black and Pitch Black. I did like Fade to Black just a wee bit more, as Sheriff Stacey Rhodes and Agent Dean Taggert are two of my all-time favorite characters in this genre, and there was one part of Pitch Black where Sam's actions struck me as almost stereotypical-victimish, doing something she should've known better than to do, though I do understand HER reasons for doing them. Still, that doesn't detract too much from my enthusiastic enjoyment of this book and the ongoing trilogy.

4.5 Stars and a definite must read!

terrific FBI police procedural romantic suspense: (2009-08-08) 
FBI profiler Alec Lambert nearly died during the Professor serial killer undercover operation that turned deadly. She was exiled for the lethal failure as someone has to take the hit within the bureau and she agreed with the assessment that her unit has failed to catch this serial killer for years.

However, instead of her career dying with the blotched Professor case, Wyatt Blackstone brings Alec onto his BLACK Cats FBI cyber crime unit. Her first assignment on her new squad: the Professor serial killer who has stayed current on technology and now uses the Internet to find and lure his victims into his deadly web. Alec's partner is reclusive scam expert Samantha Dalton who is the agency's best bet to identify the Professor. As Alec pursues the killer and his partner, the Professor pursues Alec's partner targeting Sam as a victim while Sam struggles with her attraction to her partner and her fascination with the Professor who has fisted on making her his next valedictorian.

The sequel to FADE TO BLACK is a terrific FBI police procedural romantic suspense starring two broken winged heroes and a brilliant diabolical villain with a heart that's cold The story line is fast-paced from the onset with its failed operation until the finish as the killer seems to constantly trump the Feds. Although serial killers have become a staple (see Untraceable) fans will enjoy the second Black CATs thriller.

Harriet Klausner