Wow. Just.... wow.

This is definitely one of the grittier and darker novels I have read in years. Amy Engel has written a novel that puts the worst of "poor white trash" on display in the most beautifully vivid way.

Eve Taggert is absolutely not what I would call a likable narrator, but she is an incredibly strong character that you find yourself empathizing with in the strangest ways. I think every town has it's own wrong-side-of-the-tracks dynamic, and I unfortunately know people who have grown up in ways that were not nearly far enough from the brutal truths that Engel brazenly puts on display in The Familiar Dark.

This was an incredibly fast read for me, as I couldn't put it down even when I wanted nothing more than to do so. A wonderful thriller, and a tragic portrayal of poverty in rural America - I highly recommend this title to anyone looking for a fast paced, well written mystery.
4.09/5

Thank you so very much to Netgalley and Dutton Books for the opportunity to read this for free in exchange for my honest review.

The Familiar Dark hooked me from the beginning and I enjoyed the quick journey it took me on to find the killer. I love a dark and gritty family drama but I would say I love a Mother Daughter drama the best. Easy read. Highly Recommend

How much does our upbringing dictate the kind of person we’ll be? I know it sounds like a philosophical thought, like nature vs nurture. Can you be a “good” if you were raised by someone terrible? Or, the better question is, can a traumatic childhood twist a good heart into something questionable?

I mean, really, is “good” and “bad” even a thing?

These were the questions running through my head. The plot of The Familiar Dark was intense. I mean, I knew it was about a mother who lost her daughter, but I guess I didn’t expect to be that shook over it. This author really captured the pain, an all consuming grief, a parent would feel. Reading a loss like that, my biggest nightmare, made me feel ill inside. While I felt awful the entire time, I believed every second of it. Also, the little town in the Ozarks was so desolate. It was dark, and… brittle. It was easy to imagine how a place like that could create people this messed up. And, holy sh*t they were so messed up!

I will seriously never ever forget this book. There wasn’t one character in the entire story that was flat. There were no cookie cutter characters, just thrown in for fodder. Every single one was multi-dimensional. There were some you loved. The ones who fit in the “Good” box. Then, you had the characters you knew in your gut were just evil. They were “Bad”. In this world of books we can almost always bank on the good being good, and the bad being bad. Sometimes good loses, but in the end they were still good. But, back to those questions, how much does our nurture affect our nature? Who determines what “good” behavior is? How quickly does “good” behavior go out the window when it comes to survival?

The Familiar Dark opened my mind, and I both hated and loved it. It's the same way I hated and loved every single character. I was enthralled, but I was also left with some scars.

Eve Taggert grew up poor in Barren Springs, Missouri. Her mother was a meth user and dealer, a hardened woman who had little love for Eve or Eve's brother, Cal. When Eve became pregnant with her own daughter, Junie, she resolved their life would be different. While they might not have gotten out of Barren Springs--and they are still poor--Eve loves Junie fiercely. So when Cal, now a policeman, comes into the diner where Eve works with the worst of news: Junie is dead, found murdered with her best friend, Ivy Logan, Eve's world is shattered. And she resolves that she will stop at nothing to seek justice for her daughter.

"They died during a freak April snowstorm, blood pooling on a patchy bed of white. Afterward, some people said the killer must have had one eye on the gathering gray clouds. Taken the weather as a cue to strike and picked the moment when everyone else was huddled indoors, shivering in their optimistic shirtsleeves and muttering about global warming."

This book was powerful and utterly absorbing. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it after reading Amy Engel's previous novel, The Roanoke Girls, which is one of my favorite of books. It's one that I recommend to everyone. The Familiar Dark has much of the grittiness of The Roanoke Girls and, man, Engel is an amazing writer who excels at creating these worlds that just suck you in and, in some ways, spit you right back out.

"It had happened now, finally. The disaster I'd been anticipating from the second Junie was born. And I had never even seen it coming."

The title of the book simply doesn't cover it. This is a dark story. Engel captures the small town of Barren Springs perfectly. Our story is told completely from Eve's perspective, which I loved, and things unwind and unfurl as she figures things out. As mentioned, this is a dark tale, as Junie and Izzy's deaths are terrible. Eve's grief just pours off the pages. She is quickly pulled back to the horrors of her childhood and all that she endured. We see immediately that she's going to seek vengenance for what happened to Junie--no matter what. In any fashion, in any way.

I felt as if I almost became one with Eve as I read this book. She is riveting. As a mom, this book broke my heart, and the novel was a testament to a mother's love. It's oddly tender despite its horrifying and sad moments, and I defy you not to love Eve, despite her flaws. The book shows how her childhood formed her, and her brother Cal, whom is really the only person Eve has left after Junie's death.

I could rave on and on, but I don't want to risk spoiling anything. This book isn't for the faint of heart and it's not exactly an uplifting read, but as mentioned, it still resonates as a read about the power of family and love, despite its tense, uncomfortable moments. I am wowed by Engel's writing and can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

Thank you Dutton Books for the gifted copy. I was in a major bookslump and this book was exactly what I needed.
The story was so different from anything I have read recently.
I love the heroic tendencies of the main character. She never wanted to give up on finding her daughter's killer, even if it meant changing the people she trusted.
The ending was a huge twist I didn't see coming. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

This book is a dark one! It starts with the murder of two 12 year old girls and we hear the last thoughts of one of them, so it’s not for the faint hearted. The rest of the story is then told from the perspective of Eve, the mother of one of the victims who is determined to find and seek revenge on her daughter’s killer. Eve hasn’t had an easy life, growing up desperately poor, with an abusive mother, though it seems that few people in the little back town of Barren Springs in the Ozarks have. The author did a great job painting the picture of the desperation of the town itself and the hopeless cycle its inhabitants find themselves in. It’s raw, dark, and gritty and although definitely a sad book I did still enjoy it and found myself really rooting for Eve. I felt sad at the ending, it wasn’t how I would have liked things to end up for Eve but it was also clear from the first page that this was never going to be a book with a happy ending.

Dark is the perfect word for this novel. It is extremely dark and hard to read at times, which in my opinion, makes it even more readable. It takes you to places that you don’t really want to go to but you get a deep understanding of why characters behave the way they do. A story of two 12 year old girls being murder is hard enough. Reading about the grieving of the mothers is extremely hard. It is getting into the psyche of our main character Eve that proves to be the toughest road. She was not raised in the best situation. She wanted to be so much more for her daughter Junie and now, the familiar dark comes out. The unveiling of the killer is heartbreaking.

This book is wonderfully written. It is not a cheery book so it may not be for everyone but I could not put it down. I still feel a heaviness on my soul. I feel like this is maybe what the author intended.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dutton Books for a copy of this book.

Amy Engel's "The Familiar Dark" is a strong and interesting mystery - but what sets is apart is that it is also a fantastic character study. The protagonist, Eve Taggert, must overcome her upbringing and the scars it left, all while existing and struggling to solve the murder of her daughter in the very environment that shapes her. Engel's vivid descriptions bring home the long-lasting impacts of hunger, poverty, and abuse -- and show the strength it takes to escape them. I promise you'll be flipping the pages too fast, eager to keep up with Eve's energy and unwilling to lose a moment with her.

The Familiar Dark was emotionally complex and dark! At 256 pages, this was an easy one to binge but the suspense is what sucked me in and had me reading this in an afternoon. The book opens with the murder of two 13 year old girls. The mother, not trustful of the cops in this small town, goes to the underbelly of the town and starts her own vigilante investigation. The writing was fantastic. The grief of the mother after her daughters murder is felt so keenly. The grit and desperation of the town was perfectly captured. This was a dark story with a chilling ending that caught me totally by surprise. The Familiar Dark was a character driven story full of despair, but in a wonderfully executed way. I inhaled this book and sat in suspense until the final shocking end. 4⭐️ My thanks to @duttonbooks for the advance reader in exchange for my honest review!

Eve’s whole world in Barren Springs ceases when her brother, Cal, arrives at the diner to give her the news her daughter has been murdered. Her daughter, Junie, along with her best friend Izzy’s throats were slit on a playground. Eve spirals into her former life and personality - hard, cold, and unforgiving. She makes her way through the seedy shadows of the Ozarks rampaging through former people and places that bring up her abusive childhood and history to help find the killer.

This story is very dark and gritty, the setting of Barren Springs in the Ozarks was skillfully written to where I could picture the shops and nature, hear the wind in the woods and trailer doors slam, smell the booze soaked floors of the strip club, and sense the tension of each character that crossed paths with Eve. I relished and sorrowed for the characters in the book going through the unimaginable and relating to the view of toughness in being a woman. Eve’s life growing up in an abusive household with toxic relationships and danger is so different than my upbringing, but so well told that I truly felt a sense of what it could look like to be so poor and so traumatized that decisions made by Eve felt realistic. I loved the juxtaposition between Junie and Eve’s relationship versus Junie and her mama’s which made me feel closer to Eve throughout the story. I did feel the story was hard at times to sympathize with Eve given the sharp change in character and I wished we had seen more active moments of Junie with Eve prior to Junie’s death in the opening. The twists of the book felt a little predictable and some I didn’t feel furthered the story so much, but overall it was an enjoyable read. I would recommend this to anyone who likes shows like Ozark or Breaking Bad and slow burns that are more suspense than action. I would also advise there could be a trigger for those who have been through abuse.

Happy Publishing Day! Thanks to @netgalley and @duttonbooks for this digital e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

Okay so. This was a really quick paced, engaging thriller! I've had a lot of trouble finding books I can ~engage with right now (nothing is really keeping my attention because lockdown boredom) but this was exactly what I needed! I absolutely flew through this book. It's fairly short and is absolutely brimming with action!

However. As a thriller, well, I guessed the ending in chapter three. (It honestly wasn't particularly well hidden?) And I almost didn't like it??? I honestly didn't like that Eve killed Cal? She was SO deeply dependent on her brother that it almost seemed ~out of character for her to just flat out murder him??? And I kind of didn't buy that. But I did like that Jenny showed up and helped her bury the body. That's honestly what saved this book for me. But the last two chapters were really good and brought this back for me. And there was a twist in the middle that was really good.

So. I'm having a hard time deciding how I actually feel about this book. Because I did really enjoy this book while I was reading it and it did suck me in and didn't let me go until the very end. The writing is very poetic and I did end up highlighting a lot of passages. But, honestly, the ending almost ruined it for me. So I definitely do recommend but if you read a lot of thrillers, you'll probably figure out the ending pretty early on. Whether you like it or not is where I ran into trouble.

And I also loved that this was set in the Ozarks. It definitely had a lot of Winter's Bones vibes as is gritty the way things set in the Ozarks are. And I appreciated that quite a lot. So the setting was definitely 10/10 and really helped with my enjoyment of the story.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Dutton for allowing me the chance to read and review this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Dutton Books for the advanced reader copy. ⁣
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This was my first book by Amy Engel and I’m officially a new fan. ⁣
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The book opens with the gruesome murder of young Izzie and Junie. Eve, Junie’s mother is determined to find out who killed her daughter and enact revenge. As she goes on this quest, secrets and past traumas are revealed. ⁣
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This is a dark and atmospheric read. I could truly place myself in the hopelessness of Barren Springs and feel Eve’s despair at losing her daughter and her struggle to reconcile her ideals with the person she’s become. Engel does a wonderful job at demonstrating family dysfunction through generations and really makes you feel the grief and trauma it creates. ⁣
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I recommend this book for readers who love an atmospheric and character-driven mystery. You won’t be disappointed !

The Familiar Dark was dark, even if it wasn't familiar. At least to me. To Eve, it was all too familiar.

Eve had a hard life but she never really took time to feel sorry for herself. She grew up beyond poor amidst drugs and crime. She thought that was her life until she became pregnant in high school with Junie. She held her baby and decided that the darkness of her part would not touch her daughter. She turned her back on everything she knew before, except her brother Cal. Then the dark comes back for her. Her daughter and her daughter's best friend are murdered in a sad, abandoned park. Grieving, Eve is returned to the world she had hoped to leave behind forever.

The book is not just dark. It is brutal. The opening scene, the end of the murder, is hard to read. The world Eve comes from doesn't pull punches. As we experience the reality that Eve was born into, we see how she changed and how she changes back.

There were times I didn't want to read the details of events. Be aware, there is murder, there is sexual abuse. The title does not use the word "Dark" for no reason. This story is dark, from beginning to end.

The story dynamic definitely evokes certain feelings of nostalgia which made it easy for me to connect with the characters in this story.
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Meet Eve, a young mother who works as a server and loves her daughter unconditionally. After her daughter is murdered, Eve goes on a quest to find the murderer after the system failed to offer proper justice. Through the story, Eve demonstrates a fearless and inquisitive demeanor that ultimately leads her to the truth behind her daughter’s disappearance. .
Meanwhile, there’s Eve’s mother. A selfish individual who makes everything else in life a priority before her children. A life that is troubled and centered around drugs. .

Seeing the comparison between a loving mother and one who neglects her children is what I loved most about this storyline.
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What kept me engrossed in this book was the fast evolving plot. I had my suspicions about the murderer but was completely wrong and shocked at the unexpected twist in the end. It was easy yet emotional for me to connect with the main character as we have similar background(s)- sadly. .

The only issue I had with this book is that it felt a bit dark for my personal preference. Again, it could be for personal reasons or maybe it is the intent behind this story. Overall, I really recommend this book to anyone who is seeking a dark, twisted, procedural/ mystery thriller.

4.5 stars! Not sure how this one wasn’t on my radar but I’m so thankful that I received an email asking if I was interested in an #arc (thanks Emily!!) It was my first book by this author and it was incredible! A dark, compulsive read. The writing was amazing and the story was captivating. I could not put it down! It blew me away. I’m really looking forward to reading more books by this author. I highly recommend checking this one out!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Two 12-year-old girls are murdered at the town playground. Two little girls who were best friends. Two little girls that never got to live out their lives. Two little girls .. one from the poor side of town with only a single mother.... a mother who loved her daughter unconditionally ... the mom who would do anything to have her back. The other ... not rich, but well off, with two parents who loved their daughter with everything they had.

Eve Taggart may have been raised on the wrong side of the tracks, but her daughter was everything to her. Junie was a smart, happy kid. Who on earth wanted her dead? Izzy, maybe not as smart as Junie, but a sweet innocent child. Who on earth wanted her dead.

Eve learned one thing from her own abusive mother ... nobody messes with family and you never let anyone take anything from you.

Eve is desperate with grief and decides to find out the truth ... who killed her child and why. But small towns have big secrets. Eve looks around ... the man who works at the tire store and watches young girls a little too closely .... the man she had an affair with who loves his alcohol and easily becomes mean and unpredictable at times ... the woman whose boyfriend she stole while in high school ... the killer could be any of these ... or none of these.

Other than WHO, the one constant thought is WHY? And Eve wants nothing more than to dish out her own brand of justice for her daughter.

This is a complex, emotional journey of women who do the best they can do for their daughters in dire circumstances. It's a love story. It's an emotional roller coaster as the reader follows Eve, with her memories of growing up, with her thoughts of the choices she has made over the years.

There are secrets and lies and twists and turns that lead to an unpredictable ending. Tissues may be required for this reading.

Many thanks to the author / Penguin Group - Dutton / Netgalley for the digital copy of this riveting crime fiction thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

For a mystery novel, The Familiar Dark was a very different reading experience for me. It was just what I needed in this genre; such a breath of fresh air.

I usually read a lot psychological thrillers, and not so many mystery novels. This mystery was so unlike all those thrillers I’ve read which feature a lot of upper middle class couples or rich New Yorkers.

Set a poor small town near The Missouri Ozarks, Eve finds out her 12 year old daughter Junie has been murdered. This sets in motion her desperate attempt to find out what happened to her daughter. The thing is, Eve no longer has much to live for, so she’s in this to see it through. While digging apart this dirty gritty town, Eve will uncover some truly unsettling secrets.( wow, that ending! )

If you like me have been finding those thrillers less than thrilling, give this mystery a go. Here’s one of my favorite quotes “Little girls were never safe. I should know, I used to be one. “
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Thank you to Dutton Books and Netgalley for this review copy and Goodreads for the ARC win!

Where to even begin? This thriller has me in a serious book hangover. There were so many twists I wasn't expecting. 🤯

We go on an adventure into a part of America that only the poorest have seen. There are a lot of social issues packed into this story, all of which stem from poverty.

I really enjoyed this book. It was dark, twisted, and rough. The story isn't for everyone, much of the content can be hard to handle. The pain of a child lost is portrayed SO WELL that I cried a few times during my reading. The issues of poverty are there, not polished or glazed over at all. If you are not aquainted with the darkness of poverty and the underworld that stems from it...be prepared.

There are so many GREAT plot twists within the story that I audibly gasped each time. This one is going to leave a mark on me for a long while to come. Thank you Amy Engel for this amazingly, heartbreaking, story.

I received a complimentary galley of THE FAMILIAR DARK by Amy Engel for an honest review. Thank you to Dutton Books and Netgalley!

Publication Date: 3/31/2020
Rating: 4/ 5
THE FAMILIAR DARK begins with the murder of two twelve year old girls, Junie and Izzy in a derelict park in a very poor area of the Missouri Ozarks. Junie’s single mother Eve is broken by grief at the news. She has no trust in local law enforcement, so she vows to find and destroy the person who killed her daughter. Eve lives in a dark world filled with poverty, drug abuse and people scrambling to make ends meet through whatever means are necessary.

I really enjoyed this book and it kept me hooked over the weekend, diving into Eve’s world. This was a very dark read, beginning of course with the murder of two young girls. It also delves into drug abuse, child abuse and domestic abuse. This is one that you do want to go into prepared.

I thought that the author really made a strong portrayal of Eve’s grief. Eve came out of a single parent family where her mother was anything but nurturing. When Eve has a baby very early in life she makes a decision to give her daughter all the love that she never had. Though they still live in poverty, Eve works hard so that her daughter will never go hungry. In spite of everything she has done, Eve feels that losing Junie was almost inevitable. The grief and the guilt she feels both come through so strongly.

This is a novel full of complicated characters and scenarios and the author managed to throw in some twists that I did not see coming. If you enjoy a good, dark murder mystery, this is one that you will want on your TBR!

Evie and Cal Taggert were born into the desolate back woods of Missouri to a hard and unloving mama with a mean streak willing to do whatever it takes to survive. When Evie finds herself pregnant shortly before her senior year at high school, she knows this is her chance to break the cycle. In an effort to protect her child from the cycle of drugs and abuse the swirl around her own mother, Evie gets an apartment in town, turn her back on her mother and her old way of life.

When her brother Cal, now a police officer, comes to the diner where she works to tell her that her 12 year old daughter and her best friend have been murdered at the local park, Evie feels the cold tendrils of revenge start to weave their way around her heart. Evie vows to find the person who killed her daughter and mete out justice in the way her own mama would.

The Familiar Dark is written with a palpable grit, every sentence shows the stark reality of life in the hollers of Missouri. The poverty, drug use, and corruption are taken as a matter of course and add a dark slippery layer to the story.

It is a mystery that highlights revenge and family, and the interconnectedness of small town life. It is also a story about how two children survive in that type of loveless desolate environment, learning to rely on each other for love and support and what becomes of the those children as they grow up, can they forge new identities or will part of them always reach back for the familiar darkness of their childhood.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4 Stars