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What Lies in the Dark

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What Lies in the Dark

By: CM Thompson
Narrated by: Pippa Rathborne
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About this listen

One murder can make a town nervous. Two brings fear. Add three, four, and more, and watch neighbor turn on suspicious neighbor.

©2014 CM Thompson (P)2018 Bookline & Thinker Ltd Crime Thrillers Detective Fiction Mystery Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Thriller Crime Suspense

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This is contemporary British noir; a sometimes gory journey into hearts of darkness read with unsentimental restraint and subtle insight into the characters by the narrator, with powerfully moving effect at climactic moments. She brings out the sardonic humour of people under extreme pressure, as well as their essential loneliness.

There are a few passages of repetitive exposition in the book, but the author deserves full credit for tackling complicated themes of violence, grief and redemption within a disintegrating community. Relationships and family life crumble. Nobody knows who to trust and nor do we. Prejudices and preconceptions are challenged. Everyone is trying to hide behind a mask of some sort.

The listener clings to the two flawed but ultimately sympathetic detectives (in the memorable partnership of Fletcher and Victoria "Bullface") for hope. I felt that I knew them personally by the end. We long for heroes however disillusioned by humanity we are, and this book keeps us guessing whether any still exist.

Stirring and disturbing, as a thriller should

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A city somewhere in the United Kindom, surrounded by woodland and open spaces as well as containing parks and other secluded spots within it. A dog walker finds the body of a woman, her throat cut, thrown over a fence. Police conclude she'd been attacked from behind. One oddity though: the number 22 had been cut into her hand. Was this some sort of code? Or did it reference the fact that the woman was 22 years and 22 days old when she died? Or, worst scenario, that she was the 22nd victim, and there was a serial killer at large? Fears of the latter are believed confirmed when other victims are uncovered, one marked as 2 dating back several years.
In charge of the investigation are Defective Sergeants Aaron Fletcher and Victoria 'Don't call me Bullface' Bullrush, both with long service records. As time passes and bodies line up, desperation and guilt dog the police team and fear suffocates the city.

This police procedural serial killer thriller is unlike others of it's genre in that it concentrates on people: victims, law officers and the killer, their personalities, lives and aspirations, rather than the rather gruesome deaths. and on the effect the deaths have on other people. The victims have nothing in common other than being female and within the late teen to forty age range. The frequently terse writing style brings an immediacy to the story, which quickly becomes compulsive reading. The identity of the killer, though teasingly flashed before the reader, remains hidden until close to the end.

Pippa Rathborne narrates, her attractive sounding voice converting text to speech expertly, conveying emotion where required. Starting slowly, her pace increases after the first intro chapter, and moves through the novel with a confidence which increases the compulsion of the story. A fine performance.

I am grateful to the rights holder of What Lies in the Dark for freely gifting me with a complimentary copy, at my request, via Audiobook Boom. Thank you. As previously mentioned, it was unlike any other of it's kind that I have read, and, once started, completely compelling. Characterisation of all of the protagonists, with the possible exception of the killer himself, was good and this made for an even darker than usual peak inside an area being held hostage by fear.
Definitely recommended to those enjoying the serial killer genre.

Afraid of their own shadows.

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I have tried to listen to this book 3-4 different times but have always been put off by the narrators voice. She just isn't for me and I found her hard to tune into.

But the overall premise of the story had me coming back time and again. Small time murders as more and more bodies are discovered but with less and less evidence! I found the writing style quite different to a standard crime thriller, but the way the author builds up tension made me speed through to the end.

I'm glad I stuck with it, definitely worth it in the end…

Please note, I did receive a free copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

Challenging

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