TW: Child death, variations of abuse (child, domestic, relationship), mentions of harm/death to animals, graphic violence, sexual assault/rape, mentions of suicide, pedophilia

I was so excited to hear about and have the chance to read The Familiar Dark. I absolutely loved Engel's last name, The Roanoke Girls, and I recommend it to folks all the time. Roanoke was beautiful, poetic, and immensely disturbing, and I was expecting much of the same with The Familiar Dark.

In the smallest and poorest part of the Ozarks, Eve Taggert was born, grew up, and had a daughter of her own. As a young, unwed mother, she did her best to raise Junie to be her own woman in a happy and safe environment. So when Junie is found brutally murdered in the park alongside her best friend Izzy, Eve must venture back into her own past to find the grit and darkness she had in her youth, and assert vengeance for her daughter's death.

I was expecting a lot of very lyrical prose and maybe more switched perspective. I wanted a book and story that felt as beautiful and haunting as The Roanoke Girls, but I guess nothing good ever comes from comparison. Familiar is certainly haunting. It's brutal and hard to read straight from the start. It's violent and graphic, and not for the faint of heart.

The story was good, but unfortunately seemed predictable in many ways. There was a big twist I didn't see coming that was very shocking. I just felt like, overall, the story was fairly short (less than 250 pages), and it all seemed too rushed. I felt like there was just something missing, and I needed more to the story. I also felt like the wrap-up was incredibly rushed. For how the story ended, there should've been more time in the story to process. There was closure, in a way, but it didn't feel as satisfying as I had hoped.

This entire book is about Eve, but I personally wanted more information about her brother, their relationship with their mother, and I really wanted to know more about young Junie. Maybe that would have made it all sadder somehow, but I think it would have also had me more invested as a reader.

"No one wanted to eat pie and shoot the shit with a murdered girl's mother hovering around, eyes red-rimmed and soul cut out." - The Familiar Dark, Amy Engel

There's absolutely no doubt that Amy Engel is an extremely talented writer, and I'm sure I'll pick up any other novels that she releases. I just wasn't as satisfied by this one as The Roanoke Girls.

This was a good story. I know that sounds simplistic, but that describes it perfectly. I read it in one sitting, and it was totally worth it.
Eve grew up in the backwoods of the Ozarks, and was determined to give her daughter Julie the life she didn’t have. When Julie and her best friend Izzy are murdered, Eve knows the crooked town will not be on her side in finding justice.
But is what she finds worse than never knowing?

The Familiar Dark: Amy Engel

Release Date: Mar. 31, 2020

Intense, sharp, and disturbing; an unapologetic search for vengeance.

Two words: Rough Justice.

Wow! Just wow, I am stunned and genuinely wish I could reread this for the first time again to get all the shock factors. BY FAR, one of my favorite books of the year! If you are looking for an intense, gritty, addictive mystery/thriller, this is the best read I can recommend.

“The world was ugly, especially for girls. There was no escaping it. You either fought back or you surrendered.”
Engel’s second novel, after Roanoke Girls in 2017, is set in a weathered, poor town somewhere in Missouri. The town, Barren Springs, is known for both its drug producing capabilities and its cyclical grip on youth that seemingly keeps people from getting out. Eve Taggert is one of these; a single mother to Junie. Eve, and her brother Cal, had the odds stacked against them; growing up with a drug-addicted, tough love mother in a trailer located in the remote, and rough, part of town called the ‘holller’. At the local, forgotten park, two 12-year-old girls, Junie and Izzy, are murdered. Cal and Eve, both grown and in their thirties, have made it out of the holler: Cal is now a cop and Eve works as a waitress. Junie is given a quasi-normal childhood compared to Eve’s own, while her best friend, Izzy, comes from a middle-class family. As grief sets on Eve, she swears she will hunt and fine Junie’s killer. As the list of suspects slims, secrets are beginning to unravel.

Raw and obsessed with the truth, Eve will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of her daughters death. Using a mother’s instincts, Eve’s narrating will keep you turning the pages until the very unexpected conclusion.

Along with posting on Net Galley, I will be posting my review to Goodreads, Amazon (when it becomes available), my Instagram (which has over a two thousand book review followers) and my blog. Please find the link to my blog post below. I am very grateful for the opportunity to review such a raw and gritty thriller. Thank you very much.

Link to Blog Post: https://ifyoucanreadthisdotblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/21/the-familiar-dark-amy-engel/
Link to Instagram Post: https://www.instagram.com/ifyoucan_read_this/
Link to Goodreads Post: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/112342382-chanel-johnson
(it wouldn't let me attach the links at bottom of page so please find them above)

Respectfully
Chanel Johnson

This book revolves around a poor single mother, Eve Taggart, who learns her daughter was brutally murdered. Because of Eve’s past, she doesn’t trust the loathsome Chief of Police to work very hard at finding the killer. Eve starts asking questions in all her familiar dark places; her abusive ex-boyfriend, the lying father of her child, her drug dealing abusive mother, and the only person she trusts. The answers she finds pits her against the two people she loves most in the world. There are resilient women that permeate throughout the story and those strong women are left standing at the end.
A fast paced read that kept me guessing.

the familiar dark: what a great, quick read! This book is centred around the deaths of two twelve year old girls, Izzy and Junie, and Junie’s mothers quest to find out who killed them. This book was suspenseful and hard to put down! I loved all of the background the author provided about the characters and the interwoven relationships that existed. While I really enjoyed this book for about 90% of it, I did not like the ending at all so for that reason I’m giving it 3.5/5⭐️ Overall, it a good book and a really fast thriller read, perfect for quarantine!
Thank you @netgalley and @penguinrandomhouse for my copy of this one!

I have such mixed feelings on The Familiar Dark! The premise caught my attention, and I really liked the unique setting. The synopsis makes it sound like a mystery/thriller novel, and while it definitely did have some of those elements, I felt like it was much more of a character study of Eve's life - her childhood, relationships, and of course, the aftermath of dealing with a child who's been murdered. However, I felt like this added to the setting, which I enjoyed.

The piece that really gives me pause was the ending....I can't say I didn't like the ending, it just made me angry! It wasn't predictable (although not unpredictable either), but I'm just not sure I loved how things shook out. It's difficult to describe much about why I felt this way without giving away any spoilers! While frustrated with how things ended, I do believe that this was actually the intention, so if that's the case - it was a success!

Overall, definitely a unique read and I would recommend to those who like stories that are on the darker side. 3.5 stars rounded up!

This one was I N T E N S E and heartbreaking.⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
Description: Set in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, in a small town with big secrets, “The Familiar Dark” opens with a murder. Eve Taggart, desperate with grief over losing her daughter, takes it upon herself to find out the truth about what happened. Eve is no stranger to the dark side of life, having been raised by a hard-edged mother whose lessons Eve tried not to pass on to her own daughter. But Eve may need her mother’s cruel brand of strength if she’s going to face the reality about her daughter’s death and about her own true nature. Her quest for justice takes her from the seedy underbelly of town to the quiet woods and, most frighteningly, back to her mother’s trailer for a final lesson. ⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
“The Familiar Dark” was a well-written, fast-paced read that kept me guessing until that shocking twist at the end. While I didn’t love the outcome or the choices that Eve made, they definitely aligned with who she was as a character. Although I felt that constant, crushing pain that the characters felt while I was reading, it was still a great book that I would recommend! ⁣⁣
⁣
Thank you, @netgalley and #penguingroupdutton for the ARC in exchange for my honest Review! ⁣
⁣

What I know to expect from Amy Engel:
😈 twisted AF families
🤐 secrets
🌑 darkness
🔪 cruelty
😫 repulsive, unsettling stories
😲 ...that are also incredibly riveting.

Engel's books remind me a bit of Gillian Flynn's. I know, *cue skepticism* since every new thriller now is "the new Gone Girl" -- but Engel's actually do feel more like Flynn's work than any other thriller authors I've read. And it's not the subject matter, precisely, though both authors tend to write sharp women, hard characters, family secrets, isolation, and thrillers that verge on the edge of horror. It's... the feel of the stories. The way they're edgy. And I don't mean tattoos and punk hair. I mean rough, dirty edges.

It doesn't matter if Engel writes poor podunk middle America or a fabulous, glamorous mansion. There's something creeping around the edges. Dirt slipping in. Danger around every corner. And characters you want to root for. Even with their hard edges and trauma and bad decisions. Maybe because of those things.

I read The Familiar Dark in one sitting. I started it one night and didn't sleep until I was done. Eve is a fantastic protagonist. I love how readily she admits to being shaped by her upbringing, even while trying her damn hardest to defy the worst of the lessons taught to her. I love how much she loved her kid -- and my heart broke for her the entire time.

The mystery kept me in suspense, but it wasn't the most complex of mysteries. It was a slower mystery. An atmospheric story that nevertheless kept me invested and interested and needing to know what really happened.

The ending was... a shock. I won't say much about it in order to preserve the reading experience sans spoilers. All I'll say that while there was something about it that I didn't find I fully believed, in another way it was very, very satisfying.

I definitely recommend this one for anyone interested in a darker, atmospheric thriller with hard edges and a mom who will do anything for her kid -- including finding justice at any cost. Thank you to Dutton Books and Netgalley for a free advanced e-copy of the book.

Thank you so much to #NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was a quick but intense read. Any book that starts with a murder is my type of book. It kept you on the edge of your seat and was filled with a number of twists and turns .
One of the things I loved most about this book were the characters and how honest they were about "what" they were.
The story focuses on hard as nails Eve, whose daughter was killed. Eve is hell bent on finding her daughters killer. Honestly ever since I've had kids, I have related more to lead characters like this. Eve is well aware she is white trash and that everyone is blaming her for the death of her daughter. Even though it was an intense thriller it also had strong characters. Its been a week since I finished this book and it is still with me.

5 STARS

Sometimes the answers are worse than the questions. Sometimes it's better not to know.

Set in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, in a small town with big secrets, The Familiar Dark opens with a murder. Eve Taggert, desperate with grief over losing her daughter, takes it upon herself to find out the truth about what happened. Eve is no stranger to the dark side of life, having been raised by a hard-edged mother whose lessons Eve tried not to pass on to her own daughter. But Eve may need her mother's cruel brand of strength if she's going to face the reality about her daughter's death and about her own true nature. Her quest for justice takes her from the seedy underbelly of town to the quiet woods and, most frighteningly, back to her mother's trailer for a final lesson.

.
.
.

I requested this book from Netgalley after reading all the fabulous reviews that I saw posted on Instagram - and was ecstatic when I received it! I devoured THE FAMILIAR DARK in just over one sitting and it definitely lived up to my expectations!

The Familiar Dark, at it's heart, is a story about grief, loss and human nature. Eve was not an overly likeable character, but I was able to connect and empathize with her right away. I can't say that I would have made the same choices as she did, but I feel that they were completley in line with her character. What I enjoyed the most about this book was that I didn't see any of the plot twists coming. I had no idea who the perpetrator was until it was all revealed in the the last few chapters and it left me with my jaw on the floor!

This book is dark, gritty and exactly what I was hoping for! Highly recommended to anyone looking for a book that doesn't shy away from the darker sides of humanity and the lengths a mother will go through to find the truth about her child's murder.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my ARC. THE FAMILIAR DARK is out now!

The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel is definitely a binge-worthy read!
This is my 1st book by this author and I'm officially a new fan.
The book begins with the horrific murder of two young girls in a small town. One of the mother's is out for revenge and determined to find out who killed her daughter. As she investigates and digs apart this dirty old town, secrets are revealed.
A wonderful mystery and a tragic portrayal of hardship in rural America. I highly recommend this fast-paced, well written novel that is much more than a typical thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Group/Dutton, and author Amy Engel for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

This is a suspenseful and thrilling read set in Missouri, Ozarks. I could not read this book fast enough, nor did I ever want to put it down. You find yourself along for the ride with a mother who truly has nothing else to lose. The ending of this novel surprised me, and I will be grabbing the author’s previous book. I really enjoyed her writing style.

Thank you again to those mentioned above for the chance to read and review this ARC!

The Familiar Dark is a gripping, intense and dark book about a mother's search for justice and revenge after her daughter and her daughter's best friend are murdered. A mother will stop at nothing when she has nothing left to lose.

I flew through this one compulsively. It was heartbreaking but so well-written and I really enjoyed the way the book started at the end and finished with the beginning. There were a few lines in the book that really struck a chord, like "little girls were never safe, I should know; I used to be one,".

The way the storyline wrapped up fell a little bit flat for me which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 but I would still recommend this to anyone who enjoys a quick, unputdownable thriller.

A dead end town basically in the middle of nowhere is a place Eve has always lived and manage to raise a daughter on her own. I always find it intriguing to read about single mothers. They all have their struggles and a past that haunts them. Eve is a resilient and brave character who knew there had to know what happened to her daughter. Nothing seemed to add up and she took it upon herself to figure it out despite having everyone around here, including her police officer of a brother, to stop looking. I know she may be a fictional character but I found myself rooting for her to keep going. She has struggled growing up and having a toxic relationship with her mother was also another thing she wanted to change when she found out she was pregnant. She wanted to be a better example and keep her little girl safe from a big bad world.I did like the setting of the novel and the atmosphere about it. It's dark and mysterious and in your face attitude with all the folks in that town. A pretty fast pace read in my opinion and it was a pretty book novel. I give it 4 out 5 stars. Would I recommend it? sure! I still have not read the author's previous novel, The Roanoke Girls but I will be adding it to my TBR

An incredibly dark story of a daughter realizing how dark her mother is and how much she has done to protect her daughter. She comes back to discover dark secrets.

What would you do if one day your whole world was turned upside down? Would you fight for answers or would you let the authorities handle it like a good citizen? There is no way that I would be able to take it just lying down.

Eve has had one heck of a hard life. She lives in a small town by the Ozarks and is barely making it day to day but she is making it. She has a 12-year-old daughter and she’s doing everything that she possibly can to provide a good life. Then one day all of her plans and everything that she’s worked so hard for was ripped from her.The day that her daughter was senselessly murdered.

This book takes you on a mother’s journey to figure out who killed her daughter. She is surrounded by so many questionable people that she even suspects the ones closest to her. The twist in this book was fabulous. I think you got a feeling of it but everything within you didn’t want to go there. This is a five-star read for me. It is rather early in the year but I think this is going to be definitely in my top 10 for 2020!

This book had me in a STATE from start to finish. It was so emotional, and I couldn’t seem to read fast enough to find out what happened to Junie and Izzy. Gruesomely murdered in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, in a town where trust levels are LOW and suspicions are HIGH. This is a story about a mother, Eve, who loses her daughter and stops at nothing to find answers. It was so heartbreaking to read Eve’s feelings and how difficult her upbringing was and how hard she worked to ensure Junie had a better life, but it wasn’t enough. Her feelings of failure ripped me apart and I found myself tearing up a few different times throughout.

It’s almost hard to say I enjoyed a book that was so full of anguish and pain and awful things, but Engel’s writing is so vivid and powerful. This is one you don’t want to skip. If you are a fan of Ozark, this is set in a similar world with similar stakes but made all the more powerful by Engel's story-telling abilities.

The Familiar Dark ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This is a spellbinding story of a mother with nothing left to lose who sets out on an all-consuming quest for justice after her daughter is murdered on the town playground.
⠀
I adore books that I can read in a day. Coming in at under 300 pages, I started this mid afternoon, and was finished by the end of the day. I loved this one. The story starts immediately, is explosive, and doesn’t let up until the end.
⠀
Some of the scenes and descriptions in the beginning are gruesome and I skimmed over these heart breaking scenes. Overall, I did NOT guess what happened, and it is a book that stays with you after it ends. Some of the parts I just couldn’t believe what was happening, and some were quite shocking. It was a very gritty mesmerizing book that I highly recommend. I loved the ending it was very unique.
⠀
I liked this one so much I immediately got Roanoke Girls, the authors previous book. Thank you @duttonbooks for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
⠀
I would recommend this to thriller lovers, Amy Engel fans, and those who enjoy this quick engaging reads that are gritty and dark.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley. Thank you to the author,the publisher and to Netgalley. I gave this book 3 stars. The story is interesting enough, but it never really drew me in...this book actually took me two attempts to read. I read the first half of the book then put it down for awhile...I didn't really like the ending. I guess just wasn't for me, not one of my favorites for the year.

5/5 A book I devoured in one day. An amazing read about Eve's life searching for her daughter's killer. A fast-paced read that surprised me towards the end of the book. An enjoyable ride that would make for a great companion at the pool or at the beach. A great read! Highly recommend. Thank you to @netgalley and Penguin Random House for my review copy. All opinions are my own.