Terry Weaver’s A Long Night Cry is the third book in the Eli Ridge Novels series. Eli Ridge is a detective with the Houston PD and carries a burden on his shoulders. Three teenage girls have gone missing, including the daughter of Ted Cronin, a rich CEO and Senator. The case is assigned to Thaddeus Preck and Eli Ridge, which makes no sense since Ridge and Preck are homicide investigators and this is a missing person case. There is nothing they can do because the US Senator is still in office and he insists that they lead the investigation. Eli makes decisions that put his job at risk and endanger his loved ones when he and Preck are instructed to focus solely on the senator's daughter.

A Long Night Cry is fast-paced, and Terry Weaver took me on a high-speed roller coaster of events and emotions. I barely had a chance to catch my breath. It was a page-turner, and the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat. With all the twists and turns, I never knew what to expect next. The events were descriptive and easy to visualize. The characters were superbly developed and robust. They were genuine and relatable, and it was easy to like them. Ridge reminded me of a neighbor everyone is talking about, and Hannah is a person everyone wants to be friends with. The story is brilliantly written and can be read as a standalone. The ending was fitting after all the drama that Ridge and Preck experienced.

A Long Night Cry by Terry Weaver is a traditional hard-boiled detective mystery with punch and heart. The compelling storyline concerns two detectives, Eli Ridge and Thaddeus Preck, who are trying to locate three teenage girls that have gone missing. One of them is the daughter of a U.S. senator and billionaire CEO. Although the detectives want to locate all the girls, they are told to concentrate on finding the senator's daughter. Why? This leads Eli to a crossroads where he places himself and his loved ones in danger. A man can only stand so much. He presses on to rescue the girls, and it becomes a race against time.

Weaver has crafted an intriguing mystery with realistic role players that you care for and want to read more about, and you can in two other books by this writer. Eli is a well-drawn character. He has a good heart and a dark side that is unveiled to perfection by the author. As you read, you can feel his burdens. He lives by a code that often rubs the top brass up the wrong way. He has PTSD issues, which creatively speaking adds interest. Weaver isn't shy about making his protagonists pulsate with raw, real emotions and life issues. It raises the stakes, which is what you look for in a thriller like this. The author's personable style and attention to detail will draw you into the story. Besides the plot and characters, the pace is spot-on, the dialogue is dynamic, and the overall feel is gritty and cutting-edge. If you want a character-driven crime drama that isn't afraid to visit the dark side, then A Long Night Cry by Terry Weaver is a must-read.

There seemed to be no time to rest for homicide Detective Eli Ridge of the Houston PD, nor for his senior partner Detective Thaddeus Preck. The duo had just solved a famous crime dubbed the Jigsaw Killer case when they were assigned a new investigation involving the disappearance of a Senator’s daughter and two other girls. Nothing about their latest case added up. Apart from apparent interference with the investigation by higher-ranked officials, the families of the victims seemed tainted with lies. It turned out that the DEA was also involved. The fact that a convicted crime boss, who shared an agonizing history with Eli's parents, had cheated justice and was about to be released did not make things any easier for Eli. Faced with the pressure of helping his mother keep a crime lord behind bars, and in a bid to solve the kidnapping mystery, Eli was obliged to tread a dangerous path. He put his life and career on the line, and the safety of his loved ones, as he uncovered something bigger than a mere kidnapping. Get yourself Terry Weaver’s A Long Night Cry: An Eli Ridge Novel to discover more.

If you are looking for a spine-chilling, fast-paced, crime thriller laced with a gripping tale of money, power, blackmail, secrets, deceit, a deadly love affair, and drug trafficking, then Terry Weaver’s A Long Night Cry is just what you should be looking for. Weaver spins a tangled web of mystery around the intriguing plot, providing the storyline with ingenious plot twists and edge-of-the-seat suspense. The evocative descriptions had me roaming all over Houston. One moment I was lost in an opulent mansion in Houston's wealthiest estates. The next moment I would be staring in horror as Eli and his girlfriend were attacked in the cold city streets. The well-crafted emotions and qualities of the role players are boldly portrayed. Eli is an intrepid, confrontational, instinctive, and shrewd rookie detective who needs the wise and experienced hand of Preck to keep him in check. They are a dynamic duo you simply can’t get enough of. This is a magnificent piece of work and I loved it. I can’t wait to lay my hands on the other installments in this exciting series.

A Long Night Cry by Terry Weaver is the third in the Eli Ridge series. Ridge and his partner Preck have a new case. They need to find three teenage girls who are missing and one of them is the daughter of US Senator Ted Cronin. Their orders are to forget the other two girls and focus all their efforts on Cronin’s daughter, but Eli isn’t prepared to do that. He believes all the girls should be afforded the same consideration, but his decision could spell the end of his career. Not only that, but it could put his family in the line of fire. He’s only a young detective; this case could destroy him mentally and physically, but he’s prepared to give it his all. The race is on to find out what happened to the missing girls, and paper over the cracks from his dark side.

A Long Night Cry by Terry Weaver is part of a series. I haven’t read the others, but I felt I gathered enough detail to understand the characters, although I would always recommend reading a series in order. This is a real page-turner, and it will draw you in right from the start. Set in Texas, the descriptions leave you feeling as though you were there. The primary protagonist experiences a great deal in this story. There are personal disasters and obstacles from higher up the chain to overcome, all leading him to the edge. There are plenty of twists and turns and lots of action in a tale that is full of suspense and gives you great insight into police work at its best or worst, depending on how you look at it. All the characters were excellent; real people with flaws and easy to relate to. This is one book you won’t put down – it will keep you hooked all the way through.