Night of the Long Knives by Tyler Jones
Earthling Publications (December 2024)
Reviewed by Dave Simms
Another Earthling Publications book, another head-spinning tale that combines several genres and spits out a brutal novel that lingers like a scar on the soul.
Tyler Jones is already known as a smart writer, able to weave together the best and worst of society, along with heavy themes, while never letting them weigh down the pages. In Night of the Long Knives, he combines a thriller with grief horror (which has become a massive trope in the genre lately), true crime, and the supernatural. That’s a lot to blend, but Jones nails it. This reviewer is not a fan of hard-hitting grief in fiction at all — life’s too depressing as it is! However, it works here without smothering the reader in that sadness and loss.
Andy Ferris loses his wife and daughter in a tragic and horrific accident that slogs him with guilt and devastation. To cope, he begins to film videos of odd and unsolved crimes around the country, sensing a common thread which connects the evil and heartbreak in senseless deaths. Through the people he meets, the puzzle pieces begin to slide together, the clues creeping closer, but remaining just out of reach.
One day, a wealthy collector tasks him with finding a strange relic. The man’s library is full of deadly, yet fascinating items he claims hold special meaning, possibly unique characteristics that explain his obsession.
Ferris tumbles down a barbed rabbit hole in search of this item while still aching for the answers to his family’s deaths. A serial killer sits at the center of the conspiracy that Andy uncovers but there is another level to the narrative. The evils of the objects and crimes eat away at his reality, his sanity, as he struggles to find the answers that give his life a sliver of purpose.
Night of the Long Knives harkens back to a Kolchak, X-Files, or Sinister vibe, which is a very good thing. It keeps the grief from swallowing Ferris whole while allowing his quest to remain focused. The further he delves into these events and the origins of the object he’s tasked to recover, the more everything begins to unravel. Despite him realizing all of this, he needs the answers. He craves some purpose for the random acts of brutality that stole everything from him.
It’s rare that a novel lingers this long in the reader’s psyche. Night of the Long Knives kills it. A late entry into the year’s best books.
Highly recommended.
