Review: Fast Falls the Night (Bell Elkins #6) by Julia Keller

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (Aug. 22 2017)
• Sold by: Macmillan CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B01MYDNKF0

Book Description

In the next powerful mystery from Julia Keller, a murder investigation leads West Virginia prosecuting attorney Bell Elkins to the shattering truth about her own past.

The first drug overdose comes just after midnight, when a young woman dies on the dirty floor of a gas station bathroom. To the people of Acker’s Gap, it is just another tragedy. It is sad—but depressingly familiar.

But then there is another overdose. And another. And another.

Prosecutor Bell Elkins soon realizes that her Appalachian hometown is facing its grimmest challenge yet: an unprecedented number of heroin overdoses from a batch tainted with a lethal tranquilizer. While the clock ticks and the bodies fall, Bell and her colleagues desperately track the source of the deadly drug—and engage in fierce debates over the wisdom of expending precious resources to save the lives of self-destructive addicts.

Based on a real-life event, Fast Falls the Night takes place in a single 24-hour period, unfurling against the backdrop of a shattering personal revelation that will change Bell’s life forever.

About the Author

Julia was born and raised in Huntington, West Virginia. She graduated from Marshall University, then later earned a doctoral degree in English Literature at Ohio State University.

She was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University and has taught at Princeton and Ohio State Universities, and the University of Notre Dame. She is a guest essayist on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on PBS and has been a contributor on CNN and NBC Nightly News. In 2005, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing.

Julia lives in a high-rise in Chicago and a stone cottage on a lake in rural Ohio.

My Review

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
I need Thy presence every passing hour;
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Fast Falls the Night is the sixth Bell Elkins novel by Julia Keller. You'll understand why I have included the hymn lyrics when you read the book!  This is a fabulous series and I have read every book. Fast Falls the Night is an excellent addition to the series. The reader is left with some cliffhangers at the end. So now I am dying for the next book!

Fast Falls the Night blazes through a 24 hour period in Acker's Gap, West Virginia. Heroin has become the drug of choice for the opioid addicted people of Appalachia and when it is cut with carfentanil then the overdoses and deaths begin. I am from Vancouver where this is also a massive daily problem so I am very familiar with the deadly carfentanil. Just like the day after Welfare Wednesday in Vancouver, drug overdoses are happening one after another. With the county strapped for funds, even Bell is helping with the crisis.

Fast Falls the Night is quite the ride for readers. And there is a big bombshell at the end. Author Keller does an amazing job of fairly and accurately portraying the people involved in the drug crisis. She has heart but is also realistic.

I love this series. I highly recommend Fast Falls the Night.