The Darkest Glare by Chip Jacobs

Release: March 9th, 2021
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Rare Bird Books
Source: Suzyapproved Book Tours
Find it at Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N.

Late-seventies, Los Angeles was rampant with killers and shady characters. But all the go-getters at Space Matters saw was a possibility. Richard Kasparov was handsome and charismatic. His younger associate, Jerry Schneiderman, was brilliant and nerdy. When the pair hired a veteran contractor to oversee construction, the space planning firm they operated out of a hip mansion in LA’s Miracle Mile district appeared poised to transform the boundless skyline into their jackpot.

However after the promising team imploded, the orderly lines on their blueprints succumbed to treachery and secrets. To get even, one of the ex-partners launched a murder-for-profit corporation. Among other peculiar sorts, he used a bantam-sized epileptic with a deadeye shot and a cross-dressing sidekick. The hapless criminals required a comical number of attempts to execute their first target. Once they did, on a rainy night in the San Fernando Valley, the surviving founder of Space Matters was thrown into a pressure cooker existence out of a Coen Brothers movie. Threatened for money he didn’t have, he donned a disguise. Then he survived a heart-pounding encounter at the La Brea Tar Pits and relied on an ex-Israeli mercenary for protection. In the end, he had to outfox a glowering murderer while asking if you can ever really know anyone in a town where dirty deals send men to their graves.

In The Darkest Glare, Chip Jacobs recounts a spectacular, noir-ish, true-crime saga from one of the deadliest eras in American history. You’ll never gaze out windows into the dark again.

About the Author:

Chip Jacobs is an award-winning author and journalist. Arroyo’s novel about Pasadena, California’s mysterious Colorado Street Bridge, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller, CrimeReads most anticipated book. His other books include Strange As It Seems: The Impossible Life of Gordon Zahler, the bestselling Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution, and its sequel about China, The People’s Republic of Chemicals, the latter two with William J. Kelly. His writing and subjects have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily News, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Marketplace, Slate, C-SPAN, LA Weekly, CNN, etc. Jacobs, a graduate of the University of Southern California, is at work on his follow-up novel and several non-fiction projects..

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The Darkest Glare Review:

“The Darkest Glare” is not the kind of book I usually read, but it still held my interest, and I liked reading it. It is a gripping crime novel that takes you to the 1970s of power, betrayal, and revenge.

I did not have any knowledge of the events before reading the story. The author did a lot of research while writing the book. Moreover, I liked his writing style. He paces the story very nicely. At times, the pace is insanely fast, where if you blink, you probably miss something important. A lot happens in each paragraph, and the story gets better in the second half. The courtroom scenes were intense, and I enjoyed reading the events that transpired. There are also suspenseful moments, like when they raid Luis’s house or what happens to Richard. Reading this book gave me chills at times, and I am glad I did not grow up in L.A. during this era. On a side note, I also liked how the author included transcripts of the district attorney records to make this book more authentic.

Similarly, the author builds the characters nicely. Jerry Schneiderman is a complex character, and it was interesting to see how the events in the story changed his life. Howard creeped me out because of how he conducted his activities. At the same time, I could relate to some of the things he did because of what Richard had done. Moreover, I liked the background the author provided to the characters and their families. For instance, we get to see what transpired in Paige and Tammy’s lives towards the end of the book.

Overall, “The Darkest Glare” is an exciting crime novel, and I enjoyed reading it.