Stacy Green's THE NIGHT HE DIED Review

Wrong place. Wrong time. And everything to lose.
Running for his life …
Cage Foster discovers a body in one of New Orleans’s most mysterious cemeteries. His partner recognizes the victim—she investigated him for the disappearance of his girlfriend months ago and suspects suicide. Cage isn’t buying it—the evidence and the cause of death tell a different story.

Running out of time …
Within days, others start to disappear. Cage is certain everything is tied to one of New Orleans’s most powerful Mardi Gras Krewes, but with Fat Tuesday just days away, city officials demand Cage drop the investigation. Up against the city’s rich and powerful who financially fuel a corrupted legal system, Cage only has two allies: A clairvoyant and a woman with a past so dark and damaged, he’s afraid to trust her.

The killer will do anything to keep from being exposed, and Cage’s luck has finally run out, because this is The Night He Died. (Synopsis from Amazon)


My thoughts...4.5 stars

It's been a while since I caught up with Cage Foster and he's been seriously busy. Now in New Orleans, he's been assigned to help the police force improve their record. In THE NIGHT HE DIED Cage is asked to help some college students who've found a dying man at a popular voodoo tree. Things escalate quickly from that point, in large part because Cage is Cage and he's determined to get to the truth; no matter how it shakes & rattles the status quo.

 This is Book 2 and it maintains the high standards I've come to associate with Ms. Green's tightly woven and complex stories. It's easy to read as a stand alone, but I'm one of those readers who want to be in on it from the get go and "feels" the loss of prior books. There're some characters I'd like to have met before the events chronicled in THE NIGHT HE DIED.

 Another aspect of Ms. Green's books I enjoy is always learning something interesting specific to the location & it's customs/culture or history. Since this is New Orleans where the otherworldy permeates the very air you breathe there's more than a passing mention of such things, but it isn't pushy, more questioning. Well done no matter which side of "things that go bump in the night" or different religions you're on.

 If I had to choose one word for THE NIGHT HE DIED it would be satisfying. Solid mystery, complex, flawed, and interesting characters, the story builds on the past and stays true to my expectations. If you aren't reading the Cage Foster mysteries you should be. I received an ARC from the author for my honest opinion. All views expressed are my own.