Evelyn Barrett has a new baby and a new job as a police consultant. She helped the police solve the murder of her young daughter and is now trying to move on with her life since she can no longer work as a lawyer. Hands of Darkness by Heather James Kregel Publications February 2014 Hands of Darkness by Heather James was a good book but I had a hard time getting involved in the story. Evelyn Barrett can no longer practice law so she has taken a job as a police consultant and will be working with Detective Thatcher. She worked with him to help solve the kidnapping and murder of her young daughter. At the beginning of the book she is almost at the end of her pregnancy and has the baby before the middle of the story. Working as a police consultant allows her to be at home with her newborn son and to work only hours that are convenient. At least that was the way it was supposed to be. The first case she works on involves a very sadistic serial rapist and murderer who is very methodical in his killings. He leaves absolutely nothing at the scene that would lead to his identity so Thatcher and Evelyn have a very tough job in bringing him to justice. The case becomes very personal for Evelyn when her good friend Jen is raped but somehow manages to survives. The author did an excellent job in the development of the characters. I had a problem liking the main character for she had so many quirks in her personality that simply rubbed me the wrong way. The description of scenes, especially ones that involved a dead body, were so real that I felt as if I were a witness to what was happening. I love a good police drama, even with murder thrown into the mix, but this story just seemed almost too dark for my taste. The villain was so evil that I cringed every time I read what he was thinking and doing. Evelyn seemed to be a devout Christian but it seemed that a great deal of the time, the devil controlled her tongue. And it bothered me that she would get a bee in her bonnet and strike out alone and not tell Thatcher what she was going to do. That trait finally got her into a lot of trouble and danger. I was a little disappointed with the ending but I guess it was the only way the story could end. In spite of the darkness of the story, there was a time or two that I actually laughed at whatever was happening or being said. I gave the book a four star rating because I could not honestly say that I loved the book and give it five stars. I would recommend this book only if you are really into dark murder mysteries with a murderer that seems to have a soul that is pure evil.