The Crow: Clash By Night

Crow Rating: 4 Crows

Author: Chet Williamson

Published: July 1998 (335 pages)

Book Overview
A novel written by Chet Williamson. The story follows Amy Carlisle. An owner of a daycare center, she and some of the children she cared for are murdered after a bomb is planted in the center. The murderers are a militia group whose target is a Senator that is supposed to visit the facility. At the last minute the Senator cancels his visit, but its too late to disarm the bomb planted to kill him. Amy returns to seek revenge, not only for her, but also for the children who were killed with her. To add even more pain, Amy finds out that her husband has moved on in his life, having married her best friend that survived the blast. Even though he has moved on, the memory, pain, and love for Amy have not gone away and he struggles with continuing life with his new wife while still being in love with Amy.

Personal Thoughts
Williamson does an excellent job giving the reader a lot of information about each character. At over 300 pages, it is the longest novel of the three summer volumes. The character development is excellent. Leaving you with the feeling that you really know the motivation of all the characters and know where they are going. My only disappointment was the use of a policeman to befriend Amy. The policeman story line has the feel of "been there done that". Other than that, I felt the novel was fresh and very up to date, having a militia responsible for the bombing and murder of Amy and the children. The Irony mask from the comics and movie is not used until near the end of the story. But like the other novels, the avatar mostly wears emotional scars rather than a mask. Adapting a page from today's headlines helps to add more emotion to the story since we can all relate, in some way, to the pain of the bombing in Oklahoma City. The ending was truly unexpected and originally done. Once I hit the halfway point of the novel, I was unable to put it down. The story keeps you wanting more and the ending is truly satisfying.

Special Note: This novel can also be found in a compilation book entitled "Murder of Crows". It compiles "Quoth The Crow", "Lazarus Heart" and "Clash By Night" into one volume. It is very hard to find and usually can only be found on eBay

Where to find this book
This novel is out of print. You can, however, find it though retailers who have access to warehouses that may contain out of print items (Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Walden's, Hastings). You can also try Amazon.Com. They can conduct a search for out of print items. Another online place is eBay online auctions. Just go to www.ebay.com and do a search on "The Crow" from the book section.