Title: The Darkest Corners
by Kara ThomasPublishing Info: April 20, 2016 by Random House Publishing Group
Genres: Young Adult, Mystery/Thriller, Thriller
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: April 20, 2016
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The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.
There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.
Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.
Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.
But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.
Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.
I’m pretty big on mysteries and thrillers so when I saw all of the buzz on THE DARKEST CORNERS, I knew I had to read it! I ended up making it my next read when I received an audio copy to review from The Listening Library! There was so much buzz on this being the next big thriller that I was both excited and hesitant as I dove in! It’s always hard when there’s a lot of hype for a book but whatever the outcome, I was definitely curious.
I liked Tessa right off the bat. Not in a conventional way but I appreciated what she was going through and I thought that although I wasn’t really ever in her shoes, she had an interesting story and I could appreciate the decisions that she was making, however hard. I liked that her character remained in a sort of gray area. She was always a character I was rooting for to succeed in solving a mystery and find peace but I was always unsure whether she really was somehow involved in the happenings in Fayette and then later in the story, exactly how she affected the turn of events. She wasn’t quite an unreliable narrator but there were definitely pieces of her story and reactions towards other people that had me questioning whether she was totally innocent or what really was lying further underneath the surface.
There is a lot more to THE DARKEST CORNERS than meets the eye. I won’t give anything away, of course, but like any good mystery/thriller, there are some interesting reveals at the end that really bring the book into a different light and I had that moment where I go back and re-look at everything with the new-found information. It wasn’t something that totally shocked me but it was an interesting twist! A small issue I had with the book was that there were pieces of it that added to the mystery but didn’t quite seem totally relevant to the overall picture. The mystery was one piece and the thrill was another piece and they did overlap but it wasn’t quite that click where they both fit together so satisfyingly! It was still quite enjoyable but I would have loved for everything to really come full circle and totally connect in every way… But I do realize that things don’t always work out like that! That’s more of a personal preference that a critique.
THE DARKEST CORNERS was entertaining and yet not quite as thrilling as I had hoped it would be. It’s so hard to live up to a large amount of hype (which there was for this book) but I’d love to read more from Kara Thomas and I’d be excited to see if she has any other thrillers in store for readers!
AUDIOBOOK IMPRESSIONS
Source: Review copy obtained from Listening Library/Penguin Random House Audio
Narrator: Jorjeana Marie
Performance: Good. Not a favorite narrator but one I’d listen to on multiple occasions. I don’t think I’d seek her out but I’d still be drawn to books she narrates.
I like Jorjeana Marie! I’m actually listening to another book she narrates right now and I love how differently she’s portraying the two characters (this being a mystery and new book being a contemporary). Her narration didn’t bowl me over but it was entertaining from start to finish. I feel like I could have used a little more personality from her but I like her voice and it’s quite pleasant to listen to. I think it’s realistic as a teen voice and still maintains a maturity as well.
“The View from Goodreads” is a featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!
Kept Me Hooked On: Small town thrillers. I don’t know why but I love the feel of small town thrillers. I guess it’s more twisty and interesting when people you actually know could be involved versus just strangers!
Left Me Wanting More: Twists. I’m greedy. I love twisty twists. It’s so hard to read thrillers sometimes because I’ve read some damn good twists and I never know if I want something that’s straight-forward or if I want to be totally surprised. There’s not a ton that you can do to really surprise a reader, especially if they’ve read so many books in the same genre!
Addiction Rating
Read it
I really enjoyed THE DARKEST CORNERS! It wasn’t a total shock at the end but there were some definitely interesting twists and it was an enjoyable read from start to finish!
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1 thought on “The Darkest Corners – Kara Thomas”
I’ve seen the hype for this one as well! If it would have been more thrilling it might have been a terrifying audio listen. I’ve been wanting to read more mystery so I’ll make sure to check this one out.