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 think we're past formalities now, Jack. Yvonne will do. May I come in?"


I step out from behind the door, into the light. With the adrenaline of the moment gone, this simple act pains me so much that I drop to the floor. I plop down on my oversized bottom and just sit there.


Yvonne enters the room. Her hair is tied back, and she's wearing a hardshell-plated, synthetic protective suit-the kind people wear for riding skybikes. She reaches for the light switch.


"Don't," I say. "Please. Leave it off. My head."


I can barely even look at the light of the doorway. It feels like a pressure washer is stripping paint off the inside of my skull. Mercifully, Yvonne leaves the light off and shuts the door behind her. In the half-glow of electronic displays throughout the room-didn't notice those until now-I can see the silhouette of her body as she approaches. She kneels down but keeps her distance.


Chapter 30: Forever Young (Part 2)