New Review: Laurie McBain’s DARK BEFORE THE RISING SUN – 3rd in the Dominick Trilogy a Great Story and a Fitting Ending!

For those of you who read and loved McBain’s Moonstruck Madness, as I did, and want to read the others in the Dominick trilogy, this is the 3^rd and it is just as good. This last one begins in 1770 as Rhea Claire and Dante return to England from the Caribbean. Rhea wants to see her family and Dante, having found the treasure, now has the means to reclaim his family estate.

Aware he seduced the young innocent on that faraway Caribbean shore (Rhea was 17 and he was twice her age), upon his return to London, though they are married, Dante is worried he won’t be able to hold Rhea’s love, and he is experiencing trepidation knowing he must face Rhea’s father, the powerful Duke of Camareigh. But that is not all he will have to face. There are smugglers who have engaged in murder, including the murder of the young cutter captain who was the brother of Dante’s friend, Sir Morgan Lloyd, who have despoiled Dante’s ancestral home, Merdraco.

There are many threads in this story as Rhea’s and Dante’s love is tested by an old flame who would like to have Dante, and Dante’s enemies would see him dead. More a sweet love story than the first books, the descriptions are vivid and detailed with rich dialog capturing the period and personality of the characters, whether Scottish, Irish, poor man or high born—or the cat, Jamaica. Well written and an exciting ending to this great trilogy.

While you can read it as a “stand alone,” I recommend you read all three, as they comprise one incredibly worthy story of the Dominicks.

The Dominick trilogy:

·         Moonstruck Madness (1977) Sabrina and Lucien

·         Chance The Winds Of Fortune (1980) their daughter, Rhea and Dante

·         Dark Before The Rising Sun (1982) Rhea and Dante (cont’d.)