Thursday, February 28, 2013

Review - Into the Dark

Title: Into the Dark
Author: Alison Gaylin
Publisher: HarperCollins (January 29, 2013)
Format: e-Book (651KB); Pgs 384
Genre: Suspense
Source: Amazon
Series: Brenna Spector #2

I enjoyed this book as much as the first - And She Was. Both books grab you from the start and even thought there are a couple sluggish parts, you are in for a suspenseful ride. At first, Brenna Spector rejects a job offered to her by her former employer Errol Ludlow the man that almost got her killed and can be held partially responsible for ending her first marriage.

Performance artist Lula Belle is missing; this shadowy figure reaches out to her web-based followers in silhouette and tells intimate stories. They are not just any stories, they are recounting Brenna’s life – a life that she is desperate to put back together. A life that involves her missing sister Clea. As Brenna is further drawn into Lula Belle she cannot turn away, she must find her and discover the truth. Could this really be her missing sister? How else could she know so much about Brenna and Clea’s life? How does she know the words that Brenna’s horrible mother used?

As we found out in book one, Brenna has hyperthymestic syndrome, the ability to remember every moment and every word spoken since shortly after the disappearance of her sister. She is on an endless journey to find Clea no matter how much her life, and the lives of her loved ones, hangs in the balance.

The storyline is twisted, but I would not say horribly convoluted, there are a couple of places that you wonder how far this can be stretched, but by the end, all the pieces are put back in place.

As the bodies pile up and the deception deepens, you cannot turn away from the very flawed Brenna. She will never win mother of the year, but she tries, tries as hard as she can, but she will fall short. That is just the way she is wired. She is in a constant struggle between the present and the past and at any given time, you the reader, will not truly know what part of her is winning.

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