Thank you to ThrillerBookLovers The Pulse, Thomas & Mercer, #partner, for an advanced e- copy of What Lies in Darkness in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: July 16, 2024
Summary:
A missing family. A traumatized detective. The past and present collide in a riveting novel of suspense by the USA Today bestselling author of These Still Black Waters, Do No Harm, Behind Every Lie, and The Night Olivia Fell.
Late Christmas Eve, the Harper family’s car crashed on a desolate stretch outside Black Lake. Sixteen-year-old Alice was found injured by the side of the road—alone. It was as if her parents and younger sister, Ella, had simply disappeared.
One year later, Alice is still dealing with nightmares and unanswered questions when she and her friends find Ella’s bloodstained backpack in the basement of an abandoned home. As Detective Jess Lambert investigates, she uncovers dark secrets that put her on a collision course with her past. Jess’s only witness is haunted by her own ghosts—ghosts that might ultimately be connected to Jess.
Jess will do anything to find out what happened to the Harpers—no matter how deep she has to dig. Because neither the living nor the dead are giving up their secrets easily.
My thoughts:
This is the second book in Christina McDonald’s Jess Lambert series and I am definitely a fan! I loved the first book, These Still Black Waters and was very excited to get my hands on this next installment and I’m so happy to say it exceeded my expectations! Now I just need to wait for the next book…which hopefully will be coming out soon!
Once again, Christina McDonald has managed to give us a book where it is almost impossible to talk about without delving into spoiler territory, so forgive me for being a bit vague here…but trust me when I say if you love thrillers that are incredibly addicting, fast-paced, atmospheric and have just a hint of the paranormal – this series is for you! The protagonist in this series, Detective Jess Lambert might just be one of my new favorite characters and I hope she will be around for a long time. She is a flawed character but has a fierce, determined personality that once on a case, will stop at nothing to see it resolved.
This installment had me invested and hooked from the get-go. And I just love the way Christina McDonald is able to weave different threads together that you don’t see coming. The twists and turns this book takes are nothing short of brilliant. I definitely did not see some of them coming and loved how it all played out. I loved how there were mini cliffhangers at the end of some of the chapters – this just begs you to keep reading, as if I wanted to put the book down anyway!
One of my favorite quotes from this book really sums up the cleverness of what you will find within these pages: “Some of the most poisonous things come in the most clever disguises.” I really cannot recommend this book, and this series, enough. While this book can be read as I stand-alone, I do suggest reading the series in order to really see the growth and development of my new favorite character, Jess Lambert, especially as there are only two books and a novella so far!
Books in this series:
0.5 The Stranger at Black Lake
- These Still Black Waters
- What Lies in Darkness – due out July 16th
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