Susan Miura

A deaf teenage girl waits in the alley behind her home, expecting to meet with a potential (first date the following night) boyfriend. By the end of a short first chapter she forced into a car, sedated, taken to a sleazy hotel, tied to a chair, and left wondering if she will contribute to the next update on sex-trafficking statistics.
So begins Signs in the Dark. Since it is a suspense novel, I will not reveal any more of the plot. However here are some of its characteristics:
The author extends compassion to both animals and people – even the bad guys. She realizes that our childhood and adult experiences can warp us. However she has a defined -- even binary – sense of good and evil. Evil is never excused or rationalized.
Each character's voice is distinct in cadence, vocabulary, and phrasing. The reader always knows who is talking.
Miura is able to play with the story's timeline without the reader getting lost. I am easily befuddled when novels are not strictly chronological, but could always keep track of the action in Signs in the Dark.
The mystery periodically unfolds throughout the novel. I get impatient when nothing is explained until the final chapter. Miura let me in on enough to entice me to continue reading.
The novel presents and embraces ethnic diversity with an easy grace. The ethnicity of the characters feels intrinsic to the plot, never forced.
It was a good read, with ample servings of romantic and familial love, friendship, fear, and action, enhanced with enough nature, science, and current events to keep it credible.… (mais)