Thomas Laird

Child of the Night Thomas Laird

Child of the Night is a crime novel about Jack the Ripper. The famous murderer of women in White Chapel escapes capture in England and manages to sail to America at the end of the 19th Century. He makes his way to Chicago, Illinois, and begins a medical practice there.

He has a son who becomes a medical doctor. The son manages to refrain from continuing his father's murderous ways. Jack's heir produces twins, both male, who follow their progenitor's medical career-but they've inherited the blood lust from their grandfather, and both carve up a series of prostitutes in Chicago in the modern day.

Michael Parisi is a Chicago homicide investigator who becomes involved in the cases of the murdered prostitutes. Michael is a third generation homicide detective, the son of Jimmy Parisi and grandson of Jake Parisi, both legends of the Chicago Police Department. He's a veteran of the Army Rangers and did two tours in Afghanistan. He knows something about killing.

Michael finds his way toward one of the twins and discovers later that they are a pair of homicidal maniacs.

He begins to close in on the more savage of the two, but he finds evidence to pursue the brother with only one murder to his name. That twin flees to Florida, gets involved with a female hitchhiker he becomes romantically involved with.

The other twin now has a grudge against Michael Parisi and plots his revenge against the detective. He begins by terrorizing Michael's wife, also a homicide detective. Jack the Ripper's grandson tries to execute Parisi on the top of Willis Tower (Sears Tower).