Back in 1988 a little film called Fatal Attraction garnered five academy award nominations. A movie about a man whose short fling with a beautiful, successful woman goes really, really bad, it’s a cautionary tale of how one small mistake can have some very big consequences. In many ways, Such Dark Things is a millennial version of that dark story.

She remembers the blood. It was everywhere. But she doesn’t remember her father killing the people next door when she was just a teenager, even though she was there when it happened. In fact, Dr. Corrine Cabot seems to make a habit of forgetting unpleasant things. For example, right now she is in a psychiatric care facility because she can’t remember the night she tried to kill herself.

Jude, her husband, is a man with secrets. He’s afraid – or rather, practically certain -  one of them caused Corrine’s breakdown. Every morning on his run, as he pounds out the miles, he tries to pound out a penance. What got them here? What turned a marriage of two beautiful, successful people into a place of anger and betrayal, where death seems to hover at the door? Was it stress? Jealousy?

The answer is something far more sinister. And far more dangerous than either of them can imagine.

We know from almost the very beginning that this is a story of how the past affects the present, but the author moves her narrative back and forth in the time line – from present day to a few months prior to years prior– to keep us guessing which part of the past plays into how and why things went wrong. It’s an effective tool in that it gives her a chance to resolve multiple issues while keeping the reader from getting bored or being able to guess what is happening/happened. But as effective as it is, it can’t hide the book’s, big flaw.

Before we go there though, let’s talk about what she gets right. Her pacing and storytelling are very smooth, and  Jude, his brother Michael and Corrine are all three dimensional and nuanced characters. The author does a good job of creating her setting: the tools she uses to set it up aren’t obvious but to most middle-class people in the Western world, the setting will have a strong sense of familiarity. Her prose is easy to read, clear, concise and she uses it well to paint a portrait of lives gone incredibly right turning into lives gone incredibly wrong. The plot, however, leaves a little to be desired.

Because that’s where the big flaw comes in: the unbelievability factor. Corrine and Jude literally have it all: great looks, fascinating careers, comfortable finances, supportive family and friends. Aside from the fact that Corrine annually becomes an emotionally closed off workaholic during the weeks leading up to the anniversary of the murders, they have a great marriage. Still, I could understand why two wonderful young people would have a crack in their otherwise wedded bliss during that yearly, controlled meltdown. Jude is lonely, sick of being stuck waiting to have a family while Corrine works out her daddy issues and vulnerable to a sexy, flirtatious beauty who wants to give him the world.  I can believe Corrine is neglectful, nervous and exhausted from fear of her disturbing memories and turns to people other than Jude for comfort. The author does a fantastic job on that setup. But as the details of the affair become known, I began to disengage a bit from the tale.  There is a difference in being stalked by a psycho and being enamored with one. I could understand how Corrine and Jude might fall prey to the former but that one of them became captivated with the psycho, that I didn't buy. Especially given how quickly the psychotic got really, really wrong.

Fortunately, that unbelievability factor does not destroy the tale. I still found myself completely interested in learning if Corrine ever regained her memories, and how she and Jude would disengage themselves from the crazy in their lives. But the disturbing images and deeply disquieting histories we are exposed to on the way to figuring everything out fail to hide the fact that the mystery within Such Dark Things is ultimately implausible. It’s an intriguing novel but its allure relies heavily on the train wreck factor: You know you shouldn’t look, but you just can’t help yourself.

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Corinne and Jude have been happily married for over a decade. She's an ER doc and he's a therapist. But recently their marriage is crumbling a bit. She's constantly working and he feels lonely.
Not helping their marriage is the fact that Corinne is currently residing in a mental hospital - Jude found her with her wrists slit.

We go back and forth a bit in time. From two weeks before Halloween until now. It seems that Halloween was somehow the trigger for Corinne. Something really bad happened when she was 18. Her dad was arrested for killing two people. But Corinne was there too - babysitting the killed couple's children. But the police found her standing all bloody in the middle of the whole massacre.

What happened back then? And what is happening now?
WE HAVE NO IDEA!!!! But we SO want to find out.
AND ALSO .... NOTHING IS WHAT IT SEEMS! ☺☺☺

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WOW!

I really had no idea what to expect when I started reading. I know from Courtney's Nocte series that her books can be quite ... interesting and weird and confuzzling. And this book was not so very different. I was intrigued from the very beginning. You just have to keep on reading to find out what happened and what is happening and you - or rather I - wanted Jude and Corinne to live happily ever after.

The story is told in both Corinne's and Jude's POV. I loved that! And I was surpised that I was not at all confused by the constant change in time.
13 Days and 10 hours until Halloween - Jude.
Now - Reflections Mental Hospital - Corinne.
4 Days and 4 hours until Halloween - Corinne.et cetera.
Good way to uncomplicate things for this very easily confused reader. ☺

SUCH DARK THINGS was a really exciting story. It gave this reader a bit of heart and soul pain while reading. I felt for them both and I just wanted everything to be good again. But of course it's not that easy. Very dangerous things are happening in this story. [And ugh!! The bad guy! Or girl rather. I hated her so much and I kinda knew from very early on who she was and what it was all about, but it was still an amazing story, even without the twists and turns that could've been amazing, had I not figured it out too soon. Was it too obvious? It felt very obvious to me. Could've been hidden a bit better I think. But ... there were still some things that were surprising and exciting!!! ☺ (hide spoiler)]

I wanted to throw the kindle at Jude's head a few times - grrrr! Weakling! But I still loved him and wanted him to find his way back.
(People who are against cheating in books, might not want to read it [even though it's not REALLY cheating in my opinion. It kind of is, but due to circumstances and bad guys, it's not really bad. It's definitely forgiveable. Even though we hate Jude during his weak moments. But since he's not having a love affair or a one-night stand with real sex, it's not really cheating. It's more the fantasy about the whole thing that gets to this poor and lonely man. I would forgive him. Especially after everything about Zoe comes to light. (hide spoiler)]

And I loved Michel! He's such an amazing brother!

I really enjoyed this book. It was something a bit different - a breath of fresh (psycho) air - in the middle of reading all those sexy new adult or rockstar romances. I loved it. Wouldn't mind seeing it on Netflix one day!☺☺☺

PLEASE READ IT! Don't be afraid of weird reviews or the cover or the blurb. It's an amazing love story. A story about a couple that has A LOT of past and present pain to fight through to get back to that happily ever after that they thought they were living all along.

While this type of book isn't my usual read, sometimes I crave something different. I want a dark and suspenseful story that messes with my head and perhaps makes me feel a little uncomfortable. All of that would certainly sum up Such Dark Things. I enjoyed the way the story was told, alternating between the past and the present. It kept me guessing and turning the pages in the hopes of getting some answers. My feelings on the characters encompassed a wide range, from adoration to detestation, with our heroine and hero falling somewhere in between. This book won't be for everyone, but it was definitely a memorable reading experience for me.

So let me tell you how excited I was to hear that Courtney Cole was branching out into a new genre of writing….SO EXCITED!!! I couldn’t wait to read this book.

I dove into this book with gusto!! I will say it was an enjoyable read and I think Courtney has a strong future in this genre of writing. My only complaint really was that I think she focused more on Jude’s side of the story more than I would’ve liked. I wish the story would have focused more on Corinne and what led up to her problems.

I will warn readers though, this book does have cheating in this story. So if you aren’t a fan of cheating or extra marital affairs then this is NOT the book for you. I normally don’t like reading about affairs in my books but because Courtney is a favorite author of mine I had to give it a try. I am not sorry that I read this book, but I hope that if she continues to write in this genre that her next stories don’t focus around cheating. To be fair I knew what I was getting into when I chose to read this book, so I really can’t mark it down for that, but I thought it was too much the focus of this story.

This is a psychological thriller that will have your mind racing while you read it. I can’t say much about the storyline because this is a story that has to unravel itself for each reader. I will say that Courtney was correct in the blurb when she states that it is like the movie Fatal Attraction….I totally got that vibe while reading this story. Of course Courtney put her own spin on this type of story to make it unique. I will say that as the story progressed I was able to figure somethings out and some of the secrets that were hidden in Corrine’s mind. But even with that Courtney was able to surprise me along the way.

Such Dark Things is a standalone novel told in Dual POV. It is told in both past and present time. I understand why it was written that way, but I have to be honest and say that at times I had to keep reminding myself what time frame we were in…kind of got a little confusing.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to see a different side to Courtney Cole. This book is UNLIKE anything else she has written. Also if you are a fan of that thriller, suspenseful love story, that is filled with angst, secrets, lies and betrayal and you don’t mind cheating, then this is the story for you

I want to just say first and foremost: this book that Courtney has written is gut wrenching and gut turning and real and raw. It’s completely UNLIKE anything I have ever read before. It’s real life and it hurts. It hurt me. I was queasy and I was clenching my teeth and fists together throughout most of the book. This is a book about the kinds of things that can happen every single day. When you aren’t even expecting it. The things that most of us (if you are anything like me) might be terrified of.

I read this book in one sitting. ONE. I didn’t stop until I was done. I couldn’t stop. I WOULDN’T stop. I was a complete masochist with this book because I literally just kept going, kept hurting myself, and kept feeling nauseas. My nerves were SHOT. But did I keep going? HELL YES I DID. Absolutely. And that is what makes this book so wonderful. You don’t want to keep going and experiencing all of this like it is happening to YOU but you do.

The characters didn’t fall flat in any way for me. Throughout this whole book, Courtney provides us with two different point of views. Two different feelings. And two different secrets. You will relate to one of them, I promise. I over-analyzed everything about my life by the time I was done being in these people’s heads. I questioned a lot of motives and psycho-analyzed every aspect of them.

I know that I say it a lot but I mean it with this book. Go in blind. If you read the blurb, do not let it stop you. It’s hard to give this book a meaningful and worthy enough review due to the fact that I do not want to give away anything that pertains to this story.

My only request is you go in with an open mind on this one. Open your mind to two different types of people and two different types of inner dialogue and POVs.

*disclaimer: there is cheating in this book. Now, most of the time that is really hard for me. But Courtney wrote it in a way that made me understand that it was bound to happen. I didn’t accept or approve that it happened, but I understood that it was to happen.

4.5 Stars

This book was captivating from the start. The book is told from Corrine and Jude POV.. I really enjoyed this book.

Corrine and Jude are a happily married couple. or are they? Corrine works long hours and her husband feels like she is never home they never spend the time together.

It goes from past to present so we get a back their backstory too. Something happened to Corrine when she was younger on Halloween night which she has blocked out. The book kept me turning the pages to find how what happened all these years ago, what is happening now..

There are a few good twists I didn't see coming. I enjoyed the storyline I think it was well written.. I can't wait to see what is next from this Author.

4.5/5 stars

Such Dark Things is a standalone psychological thriller. It is written by Courtney Cole under the pen name of Courtney Evan Tate.

I absolutely love psychological thrillers. So when I found out that Courtney Cole had written one I knew that I had to read this book.

This book was compelling. This book was captivating. I could not put this book down!

This book has two narrators: Corrine and Jude (a married couple in their mid-30s). The book goes back and forth in time (between NOW and about a month before - this latter time period moves slowly forward to the present).

Corrine and Jude live in Chicago. She is a busy ER physician, who works a lot. He is a therapist, who seems to have a more set schedule. Jude has a twin brother Michel. Corrine has a sister Jackie.

This book is a psychological thriller. The book starts with a prologue. There are two first person POVs. 17 years ago something happened in Corrine's life on Halloween. People died. She has blocked out what happened. This is a big part of the story.

I am not always a huge fan of a story going back and forth in time. But I thought that it worked very well in this book, especially since it was all stuff that happened in the last month.

Corrine was an interesting character. She is paranoid and also worried that she might go crazy.

I definitely enjoy a good thriller. In this book there is so much going on. What happened all those years ago? What is happening now? What is she blocking out? I loved it all.

I found the book intriguing right from the start. But how I felt overall would depend on whether there were any good twists. And how the book ended. I was definitely satisfied with both of these things.

There were a bunch of characters of note. I was really fascinated by Michel. He had such an unusual profession given who he was. Also there was a twenty-something named Zoe who worked at the diner where Jude and his brother ate every day. I could not stand her right from the start.

I was so anxious reading this book wondering what was going to happen next. I was on the edge of my seat. I definitely put some of the pieces together. But honestly there were some things that I did not see coming.

I was dying to know how this story would end. This book was riveting. This book was exciting. This book was crazy. This book was chilling. Honestly I could not put this book down. The end made me cry. Overall this was a really good book.

I enjoyed Such Dark Things by Courtney Evan Tate. I didn’t see the protagonist coming at all. Corinne is an ER physician who works long hours. She is married to Jude, a therapist who feels neglected when the demands of Corinne’s job keep her away night after night. But Corinne is also dealing with a trauma that happened when she was 17 on Halloween. During Corinne’s long stretches at the hospital and their opposite schedules, Jude often goes for breakfast and sometimes dinner at his favourite diner with his brother. It is here he meets Zoe. A probacative, outrageous woman who will stop at nothing to try and make Jude hers. Meanwhile for Corinne, strange things are happening, flashbacks and panic attacks. Things that seem to have Corinne question her own sanity. Jude has his hands full with advances from Zoe and as he resists her, her crazy begins to amp up around the same time that Corinne’s troubles intensify. Coincidence? Maybe. I was interested in Corinne’s past and how it intersected with her present. All in all, a satisfying read. Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin (my first!) for my advanced copy.

This book was a regular page turner. The suspense, the interesting plot and events I didn't see coming. What I did not care for were the squiggy details of one of the characters abuse at the hands of her father. It could have been handled in a different way that was less in your face. There were a few shocking sex scenes that I could have done without in a thriller type of story.

In Such Dark Things by Courtney Evan Tate the focus is on two main characters. Ms Tate does an excellent job of taking the reader back and forth in time and the characters view point. Difficult to put down as you really want to know what comes next, and you find yourself wanting to say to the characters not to do something! I was given an early copy to review.

Your first introduced to Corrine, who is a busy physician working in the emergency room. She throws herself into her job to help escape from her past which she herself finds to have some missing pieces. Her father killed two people, leaving her behind as a teenager. All while keeping busy this leaves little time for her husband, Jude which you find out is having an affair with a very young woman named Zoe who is in her early 20s who later admits to having been molested by her foster father. Zoe exhibits many of the common symptoms of someone who has been severely abused as a child, yet Jude is not concerned. All he cares about is his sexual needs. The only thing I did not enjoy was the amount of sex scenes, I'm not a fan of romance novels or anything of that nature so it started to lose my interest at that point. Overall, the book had potential to be great but it kind of went left field into the erotic/romance section. I wish this book kept me more intrigued and had a better more suspenseful ending.

Have you ever walked into a bookstore and ended up in the wrong section? Or walked into the wrong bathroom by accident? That's how I felt reading Courtney Evan Tate's Such Dark Things. Touted as a mix between Girl on a Train and Fatal Attraction, this book is more like Lolita meets the movie American Beauty. And not in a good way. When I hit about the halfway mark through this book and had read one too many sex scenes, I had to look up the author and description of the book. I am not into adult fiction, nor do I enjoy romance novels. This book was written by someone who is also an adult fiction writer (aka R- to X-rated novels) who is writing this book under a pen name, which I normally wouldn't care about. However, this book clearly does not fit into the "psychological thriller" genre as its publisher states.

That being said, the book started off really strong. The first part of it is devoted to Corrine, who is a busy physician working in the emergency room. She throws so much heart and energy into her job that not much is left for her partner and husband, Jude. Corrine also throws herself into her job to escape her past, one that is murky even to herself. Her father killed her two people, leaving her behind as a teenager. As a reader, I was drawn into this story, wondering what happened that fateful night. 

Once the author started focusing on Corrine's husband, however, the book took a sharp detour. Jude is having an affair on the side with a very young woman in her early 20s who later admits to having been molested by her foster father. The young woman, Zoe, argues that she came onto him, which Jude simply takes at face value despite his training as a PSYCHOLOGIST. Zoe exhibits many of the common symptoms of someone who has been severely abused as a child, yet Jude is not concerned. All he cares about is his sexual needs. The amount of ridiculous sex scenes involving Jude and Zoe in this book is so copious that it left me wondering what the heck happened to the plot. I skimmed most of these scenes because they seriously took up SO much of the book, and had little to do with the plot. The scenes were overtly graphic, too, which felt inappropriate in this genre.

I had a lot of hope for this book especially given its strong beginning, but the focus on Jude and his wildly inappropriate (bordering on victimization and abuse in my opinion) relationship with a young woman who has been a victim of abuse her entire life overshadowed the entire book. The ending was just as maddening, and frankly I wished I had stopped reading the book as soon as it started to get raunchy and completely unbelievable. 

Maybe this book would work for readers of adult fiction and romance, but this was not for me. Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley, and the author for an advanced reader copy of this book.

Oh my god! I loved it! This book was phenomenal! What a dark, twisted, sick, fascinating, tragic story this was! I was gripped by this book from page one. Seriously it was brilliant and if you love psychological thrillers, this is the book for you!! Absolutely amazing!

A night filled with youthful exuberance and bad choices changed Abby’s life back in 1992. Guilt ridden over causing the death of her brother, she refuses to allow herself the happiness she doesn’t feel she deserves. She turns her back on her boyfriend, Liam, believing if he knew the truth about her, he would hate her. Twenty years on Abby and her husband Nate are living a typical middle class life, even though Abby is still consumed with grief and guilt over the of of her brother. It doesn’t help that she is reminded of the accident that ended her brother’s life is sitting across the breakfast table from her every morning. Nate is the motorist who stopped that night and pulled Abby to safety, but was unable to save her brother. Still, their guilt is a strange sort of bond. Then Liam reappears, moving in to the same neighborhood and the truth about what happened that night begins to emerge. A powerful novel about guilt and not facing up to the truth