Author:
Corey McCullough is an independent copy editor, proofreader, ghostwriter, and author. He lives in western Pennsylvania with his amazing wife Vanessa and their two beautiful daughters. His favorite pastimes are reading, writing, playing video games, spending time with his best friend (Vanessa), and, most of all, being a dad.

Night lasts for days on the planet Jannix, and when the sun goes down over a city brimming with corruption and organized crime, no one can be certain they will see another dawn. Retired police detective Jack Tarelli has turned to the bottle to cope with these long nights ever since the unsolved murder of his wife, but when he's called to the home of an enigmatic starship tycoon just hours after a high-profile homicide, he knows his longest night yet has just begun.

Led on a chase deep into the shadows of a city that never wakes, the hard-nosed and uncompromising Jack finds himself on the trail of a killer whose true motives shrouded. Was it revenge for an interplanetary business deal gone wrong? Or something more personal?

As connections to Jack's own bloody past rise to the surface, it becomes clear that this is more than a search for answers. It's a race against time. And the body count is going to rise long before the sun.

A Knife in the Dark is a gritty tech noir story combining elements of "used future" science fiction and film noir in a fast-paced, futuristic thriller.

A Knife in the Dark

I consider consulting the bartender, but one look at the queue of thirsty drinkers in the way changes my mind. I decide to case the joint instead. The music becomes even louder as I shuffle through the parlor and into a dance hall. The band must be somewhere close by, but the lighting is too dim, and I can't see much through the crowd.


A young guy spins in mid-dance and bounces off me so hard it nearly knocks him off his feet. The kid turns around, sleeves rolled up, looking sore and ready to sock whoever ruined his good time. He takes one look at me-big, scratched up, the vein in my forehead probably bulging-and he scurries off.


Deeper in the club, I find a lighted corridor and follow it to a side room where things are more my speed. There's a roulette wheel near the entrance and table games set up across the room. The guests in here are better-dressed and grimmer-looking than the dancers out there with the band. They gamble and sip drinks delivered to them on platters.


Chapter 23: A Father's Love