My gosh, this novel was a wild ride! It was like a train wreck I couldn’t look away from. After my friend, Talon, reviewed this novel at Under the Cover Book Blog, I couldn’t wait to start reading. Basically, if Talon gives five stars to a book I know it is bound to be a great read. Since reading her review, I began seeing this cover everywhere and started noticing more great reviews popping up on Goodreads. Before I scrolled across any spoilers and wasn’t able to go into this story blind, I decided I’d better give it a go immediately.
While browsing Amazon to check out the price (I’m ever a frugal book lover), I discovered two Audible credits with my free-trial. I’ve only ever listened to one audiobook in my adult life and I wasn’t completely sold on the experience. I like it while I’m driving alone, but that rarely happens these days with three boisterous children in the backseat. I decided I’d pop in some earbuds as I cooked and cleaned since they are fairly mindless tasks, killing two birds with one stone. I have to say, I really enjoyed being able to multi-task in this way and will have to “invest” in more Audiobooks in the future. I really enjoyed the dual narration of Such Dark Things with the female perspective of Corinne and Jude’s male point-of-view.
BLURB:
From the outside, Dr. Corinne Cabot is living the American dream: a successful ER physician, she is married to a hardworking and handsome psychologist. Together they own a charming house in the Chicago suburbs. But Cabot has a dark personal past and her memory has holes she tries to fill in. Her sleep is ravaged by recurring nightmares of that night when, as a teenager, she found her father standing next to the bodies of two people he had shot dead. It is what she can’t remember about that night that utterly haunts her. Her father is still alive in jail for that terrible crime. At times now, despite her success, she fears she is truly unable to determine what is real and what is not. Then she starts to suspect that something is amiss with her husband and realizes that nothing–and no one–in her life is as it appears.
The characters in this story were so painfully real. Corrine gave a voice to women’s insecurities and the intuition we often quiet down to suit our denial. I truly felt for her and like her many times in my own life. She was easy to relate to and exciting to read about (or listen to). Throughout the whole story, I was questioning her reliability as a narrator, which can’t get enough of. I didn’t want to stop listening because I was dying to know more about every facet of her life!
Jude, oh Jude. I can’t even go on about Jude because I wanted to punch his daylights out for most of the book. Not to mention the antagonist of this story – I truly haven’t despised a character this incredibly much in the longest time.
There were parts of this storyline that completely disgusted me, making me wish I was reading, rather than listening to the narration. I think it might have been easier to stomach the particular “dark things” without voices in my head, so to speak. I may have been more apt to give this book five stars instead of four if I had read this, as opposed to listening to the audiobook. It was truly a stomach-turning, blood-curdling novel that will make you question all of the people you let into your life. I have a love-hate relationship with these types of books because I love not knowing what will happen next, but slightly hate the level anxiety I feel during and after reading. I felt like I was constantly in the dark about what was going on, and even though I was able to figure out aspects of the conclusion, there was one particular twist that had me gasping. I have to zip my lips now because this is an incredibly challenging book to review without spoilers! Overall, I really enjoyed the suspense of the story, the excellent writing, and the emotions the author was able to evoke. If you’re a suspense fan, this novel comes highly recommended, and if you want to listen to the audiobook like I did, click here.
Ashes Books & Bobs 