Savage but the insight provided into Viet Nam PTSD and the sex slave trade were interesting. He is a very good story teller AND writer. That is rare!
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This book starts right off looking like a high-voltage suspenseful read, even though the first scene takes place in a jam-packed suburban mall a couple of days before Christmas. Plucky off-beat protagonist Kit, a college student, has been persuaded by her consumerist roommate Irina to brave the holiday shopping crowd. A weird incident involving someone Kit calls Pervy Man ensues. He separates the two women and Irina disappears. Kit looks for her in vain. While she's looking, someone snatches her. Kit's taken away and held for nefarious purposes, along with a number of other women.

Meanwhile, Kit's father is losing it. Kit's uncle Rick Brant is required to step up and take charge of the situation. Pulling Kit's dad along, reluctantly, Brant investigates. And guess who they end up talking to first? Irina. The roommate. WTF? Something smells fishy. Irina herself, maybe? (Ha ha.)

Brant, a strong but suffering Vietnam war vet who suffers nightmarish memories of his time as a "Tunnel Rat" (checking for booby trapped tunnels), is more of a father to Kit than her own dad, the almost comically pathetic Ralph. Brant must also deal with other ghosts from his past, including Zimmerman, a police lieutenant on the case who has hated Brant since back in the day.

Add into the mix a beautiful female sergeant named Colgrave assigned to work the case, who wants to believe Brant, but who takes her orders from Zimmerman, who happens to be her ex-lover (how awkward).

Meanwhile, is Kit sitting by idly waiting to be rescued? No! She's planning her escape, even though the odds seem almost insurmountable.

Read the entire review at http://thebookgrrl.blogspot.com/2011/01/savage-nights-lives-up-to-its-name.html ( )