Another great novel from Rickards - Rated 
Seven years ago Cody Williams was sent to prison for murdering a known but unproven rapist, but before this he has also kidnapped and most likely murdered seven young girls, which is also unable to be proved. Since this time three of the bodies have been found but now Williams is dying of cancer and only has weeks, at most, to live. The families of the missing girls want to know where their children were buried before Williams dies, but the only person that Williams will speak to is the lead investigator from the case, now former FBI agent turned private investigator, Alex Rourke. As Alex investigates the kidnappings he also has to face his darkest secrets again. And just as he thinks he is getting nowhere with Williams, he receives a video by email that could mean that one of the missing girls is still alive and being held captive and tortured now.
I first came across the Alex Rouke novels back in 2003 when I got John Rickards' first novel, Winter's End, from a book club, being it's book of the month. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it, so rushed out to buy the next novel, A Touch Of Ghosts the following year when it was released. Again, a brilliant novel, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on his third book in the series, 'The Darkness Inside'. I read this book in no time at all and was completely gripped from the opening chapter. I just can't believe how underrated and unknown Rickards is, as he is easily one of the best writers in the crime fiction genre at the moment.
I found this story to be very dark and much more gritty than the previous novels. The book begins with every other chapter skipping back to seven years ago to the original investigation, leading up to Alex's secret, which I found was a good way of letting you know exactly what happened in the original case. The story then goes a bit far-fetched a loses a lot of it's realism, but turns into an exciting and chaotic pursuit, with everybody seemingly after Alex.
Overall, although not as good as the first two books in the series, it is a fantastic read that fans of the series should love and newcomers to the Alex Rouke novels should be able to pick up and enjoy without having to read the other novels. If this is you're first John Rickards read though, I'd recommend Winter's End or A Touch of Ghosts first, as they are better, but The Darkness Inside is still a fantastic read for all crime fiction fans.
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