Thank you for the opportunity to preview Darkroom. This is a mystery that starts slow but does build.
Dark and gloomy. 3 stars

When photographer Day Randall goes missing no one seems bothered apart from Kelly his room mate. Kelly decides to investigate herself. This was a bit of a slow burn for me but decent read.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

"Talented but unstable photographer Day Randall has been living rent-free in Kelly Durrell’s Colorado condo for eight months. Day needs someone to keep an eye on her. Kelly needs someone to draw her out of her stable but not spectacular life . The arrangement works for both of them.

Then Kelly comes home one day to find Day gone. There’s no note, no phone call. Day’s car is still parked out front, but her room is starkly, suspiciously spotless.

No one seems to care. The police certainly aren’t interested in a missing bipolar artist, but Kelly knows something is wrong. Day wouldn’t just leave.

Alone, Kelly traces Day’s last steps through shadowy back rooms of Boulder nightclubs and to a remote mountain estate, where the wealthy protect themselves behind electric fences and armed guards. Along the way, she uncovers a sinister underworld lying just below the mountain snow, and a group of powerful people who will do anything to protect the secrets hidden in Day’s enigmatic photographs.

If she trusts the wrong person, Kelly herself will be the next to disappear."

DNF'd at 35%

I'm so annoyed. I have seen so many raving reviews about this book and it is even an award-winning novel but I just couldn't get into it. For a book that is less than 300 pages, it's incredibly slow and if I'm honest, I was bored.

We follow Kelly after she discovers her housemate Day has gone missing. This takes place within the first few chapters and after that, I can't say a lot else. The pacing seemed off and it was becoming a chore to pick up. I didn't care for the characters so it really didn't bother me that these events happened, and I didn't care enough to find out the details.

I might pick this book up again at a later date to give it another shot, because it did have potential, but at the moment I need something else.

NOTE: Gifs used in Goodreads review:
As the second of Mary's books I've read, I had high hopes for Darkroom.

I really enjoyed Daemon Seer, and had hoped for some of the same darkness in this.

I'm not sure why this just didn't sit well for me, it wasn't a bad story. The characters were reasonable and the overall finish of the book was really polished. It just didn't do it for me.

Perhaps it was the feeling of the big-bad-guy, the one you never really know, but his name is enough to make people shudder. Think Voldemort from Harry Potter, or The Godfather.

It always makes me think they're not really real. Like the boogeyman, always worse than you really thought.

The tension that was meant to come from our main character Kelly being pursued by the bad guys left me wanting. While what happened wasn't outrageous, I was left with a sense of running for the sake of running. As well as some of Kelly's behaviour was a bit silly.

When we got some insight into what actually happened, I felt somewhat removed, and that was not what I was expecting from Mary after I read her first book. Add to this a slower start, and it really wasn't working for me up until about 25-30% of the way in.

The middle part of the book read exceptionally well, the writing so well crafted I read 40% in one sitting without even realising it.

In the end I felt like I wanted to love this book, there's a lot of good things going for it, but I just couldn't quite get there.

**Note: I received an electronic copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This was my first book by Mary Maddox and I loved it! The writing style was fast paced and the plot was deliciously twisted. While some things might have been a bit easy to guess, it still made for a great read.

The story was predictable, but the writing created a suspenseful feeling that gave me a sense of impending doom. The sexual scenes felt a little forced and is really why this didn't receive a higher rating from me.

I'm not usually a fan of books that are form different characters perspectives but I enjoyed darkroom. It didn't bounce about too much so you got confused with who was telling what story.
Kept the suspense and I enjoyed the characters and how they became involved with each other. A good mystery that I recommend.

Darkroom was a pretty good book. I enjoyed it once I got into it, but that took a few chapters. It seemed to me that there were too many characters introduced without much elaboration within a very short time. I almost felt that I should go back to retread some of the beginning, but hoped that it would all be explained soon instead. This made it more difficult to follow and really get into the book at the start. I thought the detail of some of the darker situations was chillingly accurate. The format kept the plot interesting, using multiple points of view. I may have also liked a little more closure at the end.

This book was interesting to read. It had a lot of twists and turns that you didn't expect. A little slow to get started but once it did it took off!

It took me a few chapters to get into the style of writing but once I did I really appreciated the authors style. There's a lot of characters in this book which but after a few chapters I got to grips with who was who. Really enjoyed it and have to say I loved Tyson, a well developed character.

Darkroom is not your typical "Whodunit" mystery novel. However it is a mystery nonetheless. Are all the good guys good? Are all the bad guys bad? Can everyone survive? Can anyone?! I'll admit I had a hard time putting it down. I had to know! So even though the characters are overall bland and not particularly likeable, even though the mystery is relatively vague for most of the story, it still held strong as an engaging read. I feel like I went on a mediocre date with this book and might want a second just because the first did not provide enough info was not quite satisfying enough to determine whether there is chemistry.

thanks you.
enjoyed it.
will get copies for family and friends.