Half Man, Half Sickle Book

I found, "Darkside", a compelling suspense thriller set at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Published in 2002, "Darkside", refers to what the midshipmen call the Academy's administration. NCIS and local Annapolis police are called to the Naval Academy when a student either jumped or was pushed off a roof. The initial guess is that Midshipman fourth class William Dell committed suicide. The fourth class student known as a Plebe was doing poorly as his first year in Academy was coming to a close. Quickly it is discovered that Dell was wearing women's panties when he died. The panties belonged to Midshipman first class Julie Markham. Markham a star on the women's swim team is just weeks from becoming an Ensign. Julie is the daughter of Academy Professor Everett Markam who is also a graduate of the Naval Academy. Before long Julie is facing the intense questioning of NCIS agents Banner, and Walter Thompson. Acting as a liaison between NCIS and the Academy is Academy security chief Jim Hall. Hall is not a cop and has no powers of police is more of a face around than anything. Hall a former graduate and Marine lost his career early on in a snafu while on deployment. Hall and Banner are pretty sure Julie had nothing to do with Dell's suicide/ murder but know she's obviously hiding important facts about Dell's life at the Academy. Meanwhile the administration wants this affair to be classified as an accident and quickly swept under the rug. With so little time until graduation the brass doesn't want a suicide scandal let alone a possible murder to give the Academy a black eye. However the detectives soon figure out there are dark elements that attached to the Academy at play that cross over into the town of Annapolis. Underneath the city of Annapolis as well as under the Academy are miles of 200 year old tunnels. These dangerous tunnels which are always a threat to collapse have attracted a group of young people who use the tunnels for some type ritualistic behavior associated with the "Goth" lifestyle. Above ground Professor Markam defies his administration when he hires local hired gun defense lawyer Liz DeWinter. Both the NCIS and administration want to bury Julie since she hired Liz. Jim Hall has to act as a go between DeWinter and Banner to keep this case moving forward. Hall has definite eyes for Special Agent Banner. Banner knows how to use her female attributes to her advantage during investigations. When NCIS Special Agent Thompson gets hurt during the investigation the pressure to sweep this case under the rug intensifies. Eventually it becomes pretty obvious in time that Plebe William Dell did not go willingly off that roof. In a somewhat slow moving plot that certainly takes it's time developing, "Darkside", is another yarn by author P.T. Duetermann that is extremely wordy. Duetermann loves to spin words at a blistering pace to create some marathon reading books. At just over 520 pages paperback, "Darkside", is a really good story but is sincerely way too long. Although I really like the story it took me some long reads to get through this one. Four stars out of a possible five stars for, "Darkside". I found the budding relationship between Jim Hall and Special Agent Banner to be one of the sub plots I really got a kick out of. Jim has to work very hard for Banner to allow him to know her first name. So if you have a lot of free time to really get lost for a long period time, "Darkside", is for you. Check it out.