So for protection, Duncan turns to his friend Detective Blackburn and Blackburn's young protégé Shane Nightingale.  We were first introduced to Blackburn and Nightingale in Flacco's first novel, The Last Nightingale.  Now nine years older (Shane was nine in the 1906 setting of The Last Nightingale) the young man plays a significant role in the adventure that threatens not only The Panama-Pacific International Exhibition that is dramatic backdrop to the story, but Blackburn's young family as well.  

We are also reintroduced to the precocious Vignette Nightingale - ten-years-old in The Last Nightingale - now nineteen.  Flacco is particularly drawn to Vignette.  "She is my homage to Huck Finn. As a young girl, as an orphan with absolutely no backup behind her, as a sexually abused child, and as a runaway, she is a symbol of ultimate helplessness against the extremely rough and dangerous backdrop of the story's setting.  I love her firecracker-y, take-no-prisoners personality. I love the fact that she will lie, cheat or steal with absolutely no compunction from a stranger, but is instantly willing to defend someone she loves, even at risk to her life. She is my statement of hope that the essential goodness of the human spirit can find a way to persevere and triumph even in the most outrageous of circumstances."

But in Flacco's character-rich story, it's difficult to single out his favorite. "As for this particular trio, (Blackburn and the two Nightingales)  I love all three of them. My heart goes out to them. And now that Shane and Vignette are grown, I wish I could have all three of them over for pasta and soup and a nice dry red wine."

And it's that familial dynamic that makes The Hidden Man so compelling.  You root for Blackburn and his unconventional family and you root for Duncan who is struggling against both an internal and external foe - and you hope all four of them can solve the mystery before Duncan has to make that ultimate sacrifice.  But maybe that sacrifice needs to be made.  Maybe he needs to make that bold choice as a force for healing.  And maybe that line of reality needs to be danced across from time to time.

Anthony Flacco lives in a camouflaged literary bunker in the hills outside of Los Angeles, at the end of a long drive guarded by a cadre of intimidating graduate interns who confiscate all handheld electronic devices before allowing visitors onto the property. Click to see a video book trailer of The Hidden Man.

Contributing editor Mark Combes is an avid sailor and Scuba diver and travels extensively in the Caribbean pursuing his passions. He works in book publishing and RUNNING WRECKED is his first novel.