Monday, February 13, 2017

A Darkness Absolute

Title: A Darkness Absolute
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: February 7th 2017 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 416 pages
Genre: Suspense
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Casey Duncan #2

Is it wrong when you start telling a book to “get on with it already”? It was not that this book was unbearably dragging, but I really wanted to get to the meatier parts. The parts that would tell me who the kidnapper was and how they were doing it and not dwell in the emotional turmoil that Casey Butler and Eric Dalton are constantly going through. While on that point, let’s stop with Eric constantly growling – that was getting a bit redundant.

This is definitely a series that you have to begin with the first book, “City of the Lost”, to understand Rockton and how the inhabitants were chosen. A town so off the grid that an airplane flying over this part of the Yukon would not see it. A town created by a counsel to house residents that need to step away from the prior lives if they want to keep living. This is not a place for everyone, and those here, have secrets of their own.

What begins with Detective Casey Butler and Deputy Will Anders trying to track down a runaway resident turns into a harrowing ordeal when they are hit with a sudden blizzard and seek shelter in a cave. Once there, they hear a voice calling for help and stumble onto a hole holding a woman that is barely alive. Turns out Nicki, who was also thought to be a runaway, but that was a year ago, has been kept here. Now the question is - who has been holding her captive and where are they now?

As the team of Butler, Dalton and Anders try to piece the kidnapping story together, they come up with many scenarios that need to be tracked down. Could this be one of their own behind the kidnapping or even a hoax that Nicki was part of? Then the bodies of two more women turn up and the town is on edge. Who is behind this and can they figure it out before more residents go missing.

Kelley Armstrong is a genius when it comes to complicating a story, just when you think that you have it narrowed down, she throw in yet another plausible snag and the reader is chasing down that right along with everything else that is going on. This is definitely a book that needs to be read in large chunks or you will lose the momentum and suspense that is being built. Be warned, this book is on the dark side and if you are skittish just read it with the lights on, but by all means, read this series. The characters, dialogue, and psychological insight will stay with you for a long time.

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