I had never read anything by this author before and went into this book blind. I forgot the synopsis and did not know what to expect. And- yowza- was it one to remember.
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This tale was absolutely terrifying. Granted, I haven’t read for 3 weeks, but the plot was absolutely electric. The characters were all fleshed out beautifully and there were so many tangential plot lines that flowed seamlessly across one another. It never felt like too much and it wasn’t too difficult to follow, but it still retained so much complexity. The piece just felt so raw- as the reader, you can’t help but get affected by all the heartache and terror.
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A note of caution though: this book does get pretty gruesome. I didn’t know this going in and it definitely caught me by surprise. It’s fantastically written, but it plays out like a movie in your mind, and those mental images can get a little terrifying.
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I had a little trouble making my way through the first 15% or so. Granted, things were still getting set up at the time, but my interest wasn’t completely drawn until about 20% of the way in. But once it was caught, there was no letting go.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this piece! A comprehensive review will be posted on social media shortly.

Never before have I read a book this unexpected, this twisty, this...phenomenal.

Loreth Anne White has written a vivid and intense mystery that will both keep you guessing, and clamouring for more by the end. Every time I thought I knew who was manipulating the characters, I'd find out I was wrong. The clues are so well-placed that they hardly seem important until pages later. The plot is full-steam-ahead and never lets up until the end. You're always kept guessing, always wondering, never sure of that next chilling step.
This is man vs man, man vs nature and man vs self at its very best.

The setting is so well developed, so real, that it becomes just as much a killing force as any of the human characters. The wilderness can kill you, make no mistake. 'In The Dark' points this out in bold and then underlines it in case you missed the lesson the first time.

This is a stunning novel, written by a brilliant author. I am a new fan now, and likely will be for years to come.
Thank you Loreth Anne White, for sacrificing family time to write this, for sharing your white-hot talent and for trusting ARC readers.
Thank you also to NetGalley and Montlake for the system by which I found a new favourite, in exchange for an honest review.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go find the rest of this ingenious author's catalogue.

I wish I had started reading this book before Halloween, because it carried with it the feeling of a scary/thriller movie - in fact, while reading I kept envisioning how it would play out on screen.

The novel opens with narration from the sole unidentified survivor of a terrifying ordeal that has taken place in recent days. The character is being asked to explain what happened to police. 

We then go back in time to see the perspective of the detective who arrived on the scene of a downed aircraft, which contains the remains of what appears to be a female pilot.

We go further back in time still to meet a cast of characters heading to the yet-to-open-to-the-public Forest Shadow Wilderness Resort and Spa. Each party heading to the resort for the first time has potential interest in bidding to provide various services at the resort, if they like what they see there.

The book goes back and forth between different days to piece together the full story, bringing with it mystery and anticipation as you start to learn new things and try to figure out what's going to happen.

We get to be inside the heads of the various group of characters who have come to the resort — which doesn't turn out to be at all what they expected — and it seems each person has some secrets of their own or some demons they're fighting. They soon realize that they've all been lured to this situation because of specific circumstances in their life — and that they have a weird familiarity with each other. "We're all being punished for something," one character says.

Of course, in the vein of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, people start to die, and the stakes are raised. 

I found it challenging at first to try and keep the characters and who they were straight because there were several, but they were fleshed out enough and written with enough variance that it was soon easy to remember them and even get a sense for who they were and what their motivations were. 

This was a quick and easy read, and I enjoyed the way it was set up with differing timeframes and differing perspectives - it definitely kept up the mystery!

A steadfast thriller (not at all a romantic suspense) that pays homage to the classic who-done-it mystery novel. Loreth Anne White delivers an impeccably crafted narrative with a brilliant cast of characters. The plot moves steadily through multiple points of view and delivers all the unsettling thrills that allow readers to become immersed in the storyline. Aside from the misrepresentation of the genre, this book has everything going for it. Absolutely loved it. 5 stars!


Thank you to #NetGalley and @MontlakeRomance for this ARC of #InTheDark. It was read and reviewed voluntarily, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Tarrah Marie (@wayward_readers)

Oh my wow! I devoured this story. I love these kinds of stories. This one definitely kept me on edge the whole time. So well written. Thanks Montlake and Netgalley for the ARC.