Review: Darkness, My Old Friend by Lisa Unger

First line: Failure wasn’t a feeling; it was a taste in his mouth, an ache at the base of his neck.

From the inside cover: After giving up his post at the Hollows Police Department, Jones Cooper is at loose ends. He is having trouble facing a horrible event from his past and finding a second act. Then, on a brisk October morning, he has a visitor. Eloise Montgomery, the psychic who plays a key role in Fragile, comes to him with predictions about his future, some of them dire.

Meanwhile, Michael Holt, a young man who grew up in The Hollows, has returned, looking for answers about his mother, who went missing many years earlier. He has hired local PI Ray Muldune and psychic Eloise Montgomery to help him solve the mystery that has haunted him. What he finds might be his undoing.

Fifteen-year-old Willow Graves is exiled to The Hollows from Manhattan when six months earlier she moved to the quiet town with her novelist mother after a bitter divorce. Willow is acting out, spending time with kids that bring out the worst in her. And when things get hard, she has a tendency to run away – a predilection that might lead her to dark places.

Set in The Hollows, the backdrop for Fragile, this is the riveting story of lives set on a collision course with devastating consequences. The result is Lisa Unger’s most compelling fiction to date.

My thoughts: Last year I read Lisa Unger’s Fragile for a blog tour and when I was contacted to read and review her new book, I jumped at the chance.

Darkness, My Old Friend is a tale about change and the darkness in our lives. It delves into how hard it is to make difficult changes in our lives, either good or bad. The story explores the lives of the people living in a small town as they unravel the mystery of Marla Holt’s disappearance many years ago. Adding to the intrigue, the point of view changes between the various characters, so you get to see the first hand perspectives of the son, Michael Holt, retired police officer Jones Cooper, new town residents Bethany and her daughter Willow, town psychic Eloise, and mistreated housewife Paula who is in a controlling marriage – among others. The mystery hovers around the edges as the characters all come to terms with various things in their own lives, the common thread being abandonment.

This is an excellent mystery that keeps you engrossed until the end with drama, mystery, dysfunction, and secrets and while clues are given along the way,  readers will find themselves mesmerized as pieces of the puzzle begin fitting together to reveal a shocking picture. I read this book in one day and hope Lisa Unger visit’s The Hollows again soon.

I received a complimentary copy of Darkness, My Old Friend by Lisa Unger  from Rachel at Crown Publishers.