Coming out next week!
Thanks to Random House for the free copy in exchange for my honest review
WHAT’S DONE IN DARKNESS – Laura McHugh (Releasing June 22nd, 2021)
You can see my thoughts on her other book, THE WOLF WANTS IN, here!
Book Description:
Abducted as a teenager, a woman must now confront her past and untangle the truth of what really happened to her in this dark thriller from the author of The Wolf Wants In.
“Laura McHugh expertly delivers a harrowing tale of a world where little is what it first appears to be.”–Ron Rash, bestselling author of Serena
Seventeen-year-old Sarabeth has become increasingly rebellious since her parents found God and moved their family to a remote Arkansas farmstead where she’s forced to wear long dresses, follow strict rules, and grow her hair down to her waist. She’s all but given up on escaping the farm when a masked man appears one stifling summer morning and snatches her out of the cornfield.
A week after her abduction, she’s found alongside a highway in a bloodstained dress–alive–but her family treats her like she’s tainted, and there’s little hope of finding her captor, who kept Sarabeth blindfolded in the dark the entire time, never uttering a word. One good thing arises from the horrific ordeal: a chance to leave the Ozarks and start a new life.
Five years later, Sarabeth is struggling to keep her past buried when investigator Nick Farrow calls. Convinced that her case is connected to the strikingly similar disappearance of another young girl, Farrow wants Sarabeth’s help, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it, even if that means dragging her back to the last place she wants to go–the hills and hollers of home, to face her estranged family and all her deepest fears.
In this riveting new novel from Laura McHugh, blood ties and buried secrets draw a young woman back into the nightmare of her past to save a missing girl, unaware of what awaits her in the darkness
My Thoughts: 5/5 stars
In 2019, THE WOLF WANTS IN, was one of my top books of the year. When I received a copy of WHAT’S DONE IN DARKNESS by Laura McHugh I was so ready to start because I knew I was in for a treat. Let me tell you, McHugh did not disappoint and I was reminded why I loved THE WOLF WANTS IN so much (highly recommend it, by the way). Another atmospheric, immersive, and captivating read in a small package at just around 250 pages. That last page came much faster than I thought it would and I loved it.
I couldn’t imagine experiencing what Sarabeth had to in her life. After her father had a near death experience, he moved the family to an ultra-religious town to live a life of modesty and close to God. Being a teenager, Sarabeth is restless and doesn’t like her new surroundings but one day she’s abducted. She was returned home a week later and most people around her treated it as her just running away and didn’t take it seriously. Fast forward a few years, and Sara made it out of the Ozarks, a detective from her past finds her to discuss her disappearance. Another girl has gone missing and he thinks it could be connected.
Poor Sara, she just wants to put her past behind her but at the same time she wants answers. You can feel the inner struggle she experiences throughout the book and I loved seeing her develop more. I cannot wait to see what McHugh releases next because she just drops us right into the setting and this overwhelming sense of foreboding and tension. I highly recommend her books and will be anxiously waiting for more!
Jessicamap Reviews 