The narrator, Max Steiner, known as Mack, is a police detective in an unnamed Ohio city. He is sitting in a restaurant with his long-time friend and fellow cop, Bank Arbaugh, when a call comes in alerting all officers to the abduction of a twelve-year-old girl, Tamara Shipley. This call triggers memories of their past because seven years earlier Bank's daughter, Jamie, had been abducted and only her softball bat and cap were ever found.

In parallel narratives, Mack traces the progress of the second investigation and recalls the events of his and Bank's history and the earlier abduction. (Alternating between the two time periods is simplified with the present-day narrative written in the present tense, the earlier in past tense.)

Their friendship began when they were in fourth grade. The new kid in school, the half-Lutheran, half-Jewish Max had been subject to anti-Semitic taunting by other students. Bank, who even as a child was big and tough, came to his defense. The two had become fast friends and, in essence, brothers – a friendship that had led the college-educated Mack to follow Bank onto the police force. This friendship became strained when Jamie disappeared and Bank's solitary nighttime patrols distanced him from his wife, his friends, and fellow cops.

Now, however, they are teamed together to investigate Tamara's disappearance. The two crimes have a striking similarly and are eventually connected when a fingerprint on Tamara's bike is identified as belonging to the same person as that of a fingerprint found on Jamie's bat. The investigation will lead them to suspected pedophilia, teenaged prostitution, and violent street gangs. It will strain Mack's relationship with his own teenaged daughter.

Because of its complexity, outlining the book's plot is not easy to do. Not only do the two mysteries unfold simultaneously, a significant part of the story is the examination of the relationships between Mack and Bank and their family members. The plot is finally crafted with the many pieces eventually coming together in unexpected ways. When the mystery behind Jamie's disappearance is finally revealed, there is still another surprise twist.

The frequent nighttime setting of the action reflects the decidedly dark overtones of the story, but the characters and their relationships are the ultimate source of the overtones. It's the author's skill in developing Mack and Bank that gives the story such power. Their adult – and sometimes destructive – relationship is explained by the bond formed in childhood. Much of the action in the story evolves from this relationship, and the story's impact depends on it.

Holden's previous two novels (The River Sorrow and The Last Sanctuary) have been well received. Four Corners of Night is bound to attract new readers. I strongly recommend it.

--Lesley Dunlap