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Release date: May 28, 2019

Publisher: Kensington

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Blurb:

The truth is easy to miss, even when it’s right in front of us. As a forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore sheds light on cold-case homicides by piecing together crime scene details others fail to see. Cleaning out her late father’s law office a week after his burial, she receives a call that plunges her into a decades-old case come to life once more. 

In the summer of 1979, five Chicago women went missing. The predator, nicknamed The Thief, left no bodies and no clues behind—until police received a package from a mysterious woman named Angela Mitchell, whose unorthodox investigation skills appear to have led to his identity. But before police could question her, Angela disappeared. Forty years later, The Thief is about to be paroled for Angela’s murder—the only crime the DA could pin on him. As a former client of her father’s, Rory becomes reluctantly involved with the killer—though he continues to insist he didn’t murder Angela. Now he wants Rory to do what her father once promised: prove that Angela is, in fact, still alive.

As Rory begins reconstructing Angela’s last days, another killer emerges from the shadows, replicating those long-ago murders. With every startling discovery she makes, Rory becomes more deeply entangled in the enigma of Angela Mitchell—and in The Thief’s tormented mind. Drawing connections between past and present is the only way to stop the nightmare, but even Rory can’t be prepared for the full, terrifying truth that is emerging . . . 

Review:

Every single time I start a Charlie Donlea book I’m reminded why I still love thrillers. He someone manages to breathe fresh life into the genre with each book and as someone who has been having a super hard time finding a thriller to blow me away, I appreciate this so much. His books just feel really skillful, the kind that have an impeccable attention to detail but are also twisty and gripping so the pages fly by at a rapid pace.

I love a well written story that alternates timelines and perspectives and there’s plenty of that here. Rory is the present day character and she’s a forensic reconstructionist which is such a fascinating occupation and one that I really never gave much thought to before reading this book. She begins looking into a cold case that her late father was somehow wrapped up in and then you also hear from Angela back in the late seventies. There’s also a couple of more POV but I won’t mention them for fear of spoilers, but they came together and all made up a super compelling storyline that I seriously could not put down.

Donlea is one of those authors who does the best job of leading the reader down one seemingly straightforward path only to take a sharp left (and then maybe a right) turn just when you think you know exactly what will happen next. There are so many intricate plot points that even if I figured out some, I never quite pieced everything together and I really enjoyed the ride regardless of what I already knew and also what I didn’t know.

As much as I found myself racing through this is does have more of a slow burn feel than his previous books and the suspense builds gradually but I found it to be gripping nevertheless. I just love his books and am a firm fan, though this may not be my absolute favorite book from him, it’s still a really solid read and most definitely worth adding to your TBR.

Some Choose Darkness in three words: Entertaining, Compelling and Addicting.

Overall rating: 4.5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.