After gaining "some acclaim and modest success" with his first book, Levine's second book, "Night Vision", was published in 1991. In this installment, Lassiter serves as special prosecutor on a serial murder case. This was followed by "False Dawn" (1993), in which Lassiter faces "a beautiful Finnish spy, Japanese art smugglers, CIA double agents, and Cuban exiles." Newgate Callendar in a "New York Times" review wrote that "False Dawn" "plot is fairly complicated, but the story never gets lost, and Mr. Levine tells it in a realistic, gritty manner."