Nightmare by Stephen Leather

This is the story of Jack Nightingale, a private detective haunted by events that happened two years ago when he was still a policeman. As a police negotiator he was called out to try and stop a nine year old from jumping off a balcony. She was being abused by her father and her mother knew but did nothing to stop it. She jumped and now two years later he thinks she is trying to contact him from the beyond....

This is the third Jack Nightingale story, and it follows on from the first two. I think you would need to read the first two as this relies heavily on events from previous stories. That being said this was a very cleverly written paranormal thriller. There were elements of devil worship, black magic and spiritualism all set to the backdrop of Jack trying to solve a murder. I loved this, it has to be said. It was fast paced and hard to put down. The characters were well rounded and totally believable. The author had clearly done his homework with regards to the Satanism aspects of the story and it showed. There were a few twists and turns on the way to a good ending.

All in all a very good thriller that I urge readers to try along with Nightfall and Midnight, books one and two in a very taut and thrilling trilogy.