This book was both everything and nothing I expected. Thank you so much to Crooked Lane Books, Netgalley, and R. J. Jacobs for this lovely ARC. The cover is stunning and drew me in right from the beginning. The book was about a stalker who had endured intense neglect and childhood trauma. A series of events leads her to be in the same place at the same time as her stalking victim years later, when she was trying to move on. That same person is found dead, and now she is trying to figure out what happened and if she was framed.

Thoughts: I thought this concept was very interesting and not like every other book. The idea of a stalker with a complex and troubled past made you second guess what was going on and what really did happen. I loved what a short and easy read this book was, and I was engaged with the story from start to finish. There were a few things I think the book needed to explain better and flesh out, but it was still a captivating story that I needed to finish. I couldn’t help but feel for the main character and what she was going through, and the setting was different and unique. This book was just over 200 pages and didn’t lose interest at all. I couldn’t wait to hear what happened, and I enjoyed the ending as well. 4 stars from me.

This book started off ok but was a very blah read. I just couldn’t get into it, but I kept going in hopes it would get better. The parts of the book that were good didn’t make up for the parts that were bad.

2.5/5

This was a very quick but enjoyable read. Jessie's personality really came alive off the page, I just wanted to give her a hug (but, you know... boundaries). I was never quite right when it came to trying to guess what was going to happen next. Highly recommend for anyone looking for something fast-paced. Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to review this digital ARC in advance of publication!

"Kindness can break your heart."

Jessie Duvall suffered abuse and neglect as a child. As an adult, she is working to make a better life for herself. She has an apartment, a job with a catering company, and lives a quiet life. Everything seems to be going well for her until a catering gig takes her to the home of celebrities - including the one she has been ordered to stay away - Shelly James. One Summer, Jessie followed Shelly's country music tour everywhere. It wasn't flattery, Shelly James took it as stalking, and subsequently, Jessie was arrested.

"It's always the quiet ones."

Jessie has been working on herself, attending therapy, and working hard. But then Shelly James is found murdered and Jessie's past will come back to haunt her. Jessie knows the police will be looking at her and she takes it upon herself to find the real killer.

I found this book to be enjoyable, but it failed to completely suck me in and blow me away. The premise is good. I even found it extremely plausible that Jessie would be looked at as the suspect. I do wish the author would have delved more into her difficulties that resulted from her abuse and neglect. At the beginning of the book, her therapist talks about her difficulties and struggles, and yet she can able to take on a search for the real killer. This one will take some suspending of disbelief, with her character. The writing was solid, and the pacing was spot on.

Overall, an enjoyable book that many are enjoying more than I did so please check out their reviews as well.

I received a copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was my first book by R.J Jacobs. Needless to say I enjoyed it because next thing I knew I was already 50% through it. I felt bad for Jessie but glad she got a chance to be heard. I do wish there was more behind the scenes police work. Like why did they get the search warrant, or talking to the daughter. I will definitely check out more of his work!

Thanks for the copy netgalley!

Great story! I was engaged the entire time. A real page turner. Looking forward to reading more books from this author! Highly recommend!

For me it was very hard to get into the book and was able to loose myself in the story. The premise was good, but I didn't feel any connection to the characters. The pacing was too slow for me especially at the beginning of the book. I enjoyed some parts, but thought for most of the book it was just okay.

This is a unique thriller with a very interesting protagonist. It’s no surprise this book is written by a psychologist. The narrator, Jessie, has a unique mental illness that I’ve never seen in a thriller protagonist before, which among other things causes her to lose words and to need constant music to connect with the world. In accordance with her love of/dependence on music, she develops a fixation on a popular band, who she follows on tour and eventually is accused of stalking. Soon after, a murder occurs and she is once again implicated.

I really liked being inside Jessie’s head. She was unique and very likable and her psychological issues were new and different and written in a very compelling voice that really made you root for her. I don’t know that the author ever gave her an official diagnosis, and maybe that was intentional, because you really don’t need one to know and like her. You just need to understand how she thinks and feels, and the author does a great job of that.

It was a little too easy to figure out whodunit, but it was still fun going along with Jessie for the ride as she figured it out. I also really enjoyed her relationship with one of the detectives. The book was super fast paced and interesting and I look forward to reading more of R.J. Jacobs. In a very crowded thriller field, he brings a very unique point of view to the table.

Thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and R.J. Jacobs for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was top-notch. It is about a girl who had some issues years ago, was following a husband and wife singing band. Some call her a stalker but the girl herself considered this band her family as she was going through a really rough time and all she had to make herself feel better was listen to the husband and wifes CD over and over again.... doing her job catering a party, the wife of the singer's ends up dead. And of course she is the prime suspect. She must go back into the darkness to really find out what happened to Shelley and to make sure the person responsible for the death is brought to Justice. Even though that's the main plot, there's so much more depth to this story. Are narrators past and what she went through, all the characters in the story, it just comes together and such a great story. This book was amazing and I would absolutely read books by this author again.

Does anyone ever recover fully after being a victim? Jessie Duval has the dubious record of being held captive in isolation the longest in the state of Tennessee .... for over a year in a place of near complete sensory deprivation in a dark closet ... without sunlight ... without touch. Her foster parents allowed her to keep a Discman with a single CD ... containing the music of country singers, Shelly and Owen James. The music became her only lifeline to sanity ... the James essentially became her family. When this heinous act was uncovered and Jessie was released ... it was like being reborn. She had to relearn how to walk, after being forced to sit for more than a year.
Her language skills were severely depressed .... everyday occurrences created anxiety and resulted in difficulty coping. She wore sunglasses and headphones everywhere ... to cut down the sensory overload. Jessie clung to her "family" ... she followed the James' concert tour around the country for months ... until one incident of misunderstanding led to a confrontation with the security staff ... it took three officers and a stun gun to subdue her. A short jail sentence resulted and afterward an order of protection was issued ... prohibiting Jessie to be near the Shelly and Owen James
Jessie eventually is able to live independently in spite of her deficiencies ... she attends counseling sessions monthly ... and follows up with a parole officer. She was successfully holding down a job with a catering service .. mostly doing food prep. When one of the food servers suddenly quits, she is forced into this job with the attendant need to "meet and deal with the public". At the Sean Peterson graduation party there are many celebrities - including the one person from her past she must avoid at all costs ... Shelly James. This engagement leads to a subsequent party hosted by Owen and Shelly James. When Shelly is discovered murdered in the nearby woods ... Jessie becomes the perfect scapegoat and number one suspect.
Jacobs weaves an immersive narrative with unbearable escalating tension. The main narrative is provided by being in the mind of this severely damaged soul as she attempts to cope with not only life but then having to sleuth her way out of the enclosing net of the law. The pacing of the plot is propulsive and results in a page turning mystery that is extremely enjoyable. As an aside, .... the story is infused with local Nashville culture.
Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Press for providing an Uncorrected Proof in exchange for an honest review. ( at readersremains.com )

Wowza, this is one of those fast paced, chilling thrillers, which are absolutely unputdownable! It was one that was definitely well written and phenomenal character development, making it your mission to solve! I was sad it was over, when I finished! Highly, highly recommend!
Will make sure to buzz around platforms and use low Amazon reviewer number on release date!

I am not sure if my copy was somehow messed up or I was provided with an un-edited copy or what, but there were so many errors that just took me away from the story. These were not obscure errors either, but rather sentences like “One wears has a small microphone on his left shoulder...”. Additionally, some words were missing or misspelled.

I really tried to continue on despite this and give the book a chance. By the time I got about half way into the book, however, I had to stop. I kept getting too frustrated having to reread sentences.

Regardless, I loved the premise of the story and I found Jessie to be a likable character. In the future I may pick this back up, but for now I just can’t get past the mistakes!!


Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane for the review opportunity!

•ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for my review•

Let me start off with this book leaves you wanting more. Even though it is fast-paced, you cant seem to put it down.

The main character. Jessie is someone you can’t help but to feel for even though she’s don’t some questionable things, but what’s she’s been through can’t really blame her. She was kept in a dark, small closet for a long period of time with only her thoughts to rely on. Music from this country duo was her reality and escape when in this locked closet. They almost became her family. So when she gets accused of stalking them, her life takes a downward spiral.

This book dives into what psychological damage is caused when you are kept away in the dark for so long. The author did a wonderful job with this book. I enjoyed this book and would recommend.

Despite the heaviness of Jessie's past, I found myself gripped by her story. This has all the makings of a good thriller: lots of suspicious characters, no (immediately) clear motives, and of course, plenty of twists. Even though I managed to figure out part of the big reveal, much of it was still a surprise at the end. I picked this up to start reading on a lazy afternoon and couldn't believe that I'd finished it hours later. Definitely a strong addition to the genre.

My Grandfather was big on mysteries. Of course, he was of the generation raised on radio which can act as a gateway drug to the genre. Mystery and Crime novels were usually what I found him reading with the occasional random genre thrown in. My mother mainly read science fiction and fantasy which is what I was mainly brought up on. I branch out and hop around to all different forms of literature nowadays and this book can be counted as one of the reasons I don't dismiss something just because it isn't my 'norm.'

It was great! I do have to say that I did figure out who did it right in the beginning, which is one of the reasons I can't give this a perfect five stars. I do like being right, but it takes a bit of the fun out of it when you can solve the mystery and have to wait around for the characters to catch up with you. Now, is that the fault of R.J. Jacobs? Not at all. Even with books that aren't mysteries I've noticed I'm beginning to realize where stories are going and how plots are going to play out. It comes from being a big reader. So I don't fault the author at all and honestly there were a few moments in the book where I thought "Wait a minute, is he seriously going to blindside me and actually make this person the killer instead? Am I completely wrong?" It would've been a killer twist.

It takes awhile for the story to get set up. Our main character has a lot of history that we have to get through before we enter into the thick of things. At first the constant flashbacks bothered me but then I realized it was setting me up for the rest of the book. They were there for a reason. I can't tell you how many times I've been annoyed by writers including flashbacks or walls of text to flesh out a character just to fill pages. Everything in this book is written because we need to know it. For a mystery, every detail counts.

At one point our main character finds herself imprisoned while they try to figure out if she's guilty or not of the crime. It made me uncomfortable because seven years ago I was falsely accused of a crime where I actually spent two weeks in prison before I was released and proven innocent. This book brought back a lot of memories from that. I'm surprised Mr. Jacobs was able to accurately portray what it felt like. He gave Jessie the right voice.

This book was just a good choice for me.
The book is about Jessie who suffers from a strange and unique psychological condition whose past was somehow not the best thing and she'd been to jail, it seems all dark but she doesn't give up and she have managed to get a job, a car and a house. And a year after all these "not happy" events she was accused of murdering a famous singer and throughout the novel she is trying to figure out how she got to all that and how to get out of it.
This book is truly fascinating as the writer had brought all the things I like and has mixed them together and provided it to me that I really want to thank him.
I do recommend this book.

This is R.J. Jacobs second book after the winning debut “And Then You Were Gone”. The strength in this book is the same strength as that novel which is a flawed main character that has a past that threatens their present – and whether we believe them or not.

But the characters never get away from the author in this second thriller fiction novel “Somewhere in the Dark.”

Jessie comes from a traumatic past, a past that could break anyone. Hoping to escape it all, she fixates on a music duo that includes Shelly James. She followed her and her husband everywhere, collected memorabilia, bought backstage passes. Only now she’s banned – an incident that scared the James’ into excluding her from their shows and ultimately their lives.

Hoping to move on, Jessie takes a job with a catering company that takes her right where she shouldn’t be – at the James’ celebrating their daughter’s birthday. And then Shelly is found dead. And guess who the neatly wrapped suspect is?

This book had an interesting premise and I wanted to know more about Jessie as the book went along. Jacobs does a good job of supporting and caring for his main character so their personality shines through without completely absolving them until the very end as everything wraps up with no loose ends.

The suspense really amps up at the last third of the book as the beginning helps us navigate Jessie’s world. An intriguing plot keeps up the pace until the mystery resolves itself from carefully laid clues that will make the reader want to go back to see how everything came together.

Another winner from a new writer in mystery and thriller that keeps up with the contemporaries dominating the field today.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for early access to this title due August 11th. Reserve your copy now.

Somewhere in the Dark by R.J. Jacobs is exactly what a psychological thriller should be. Jessie Duval is a 19 year old young woman who is slightly famous, in a way, because of a horrible childhood trauma she endured while in the foster care system in Tennessee. She was locked in a closet for over a year and as result has developmental delays and psychological scars. During her time in the closet, she was given a portable CD player which contained a single CD by Owen and Shelly James. These country music stars became her family in her world of make believe that she lived while being held captive in the closet. Jessie becomes a bit obsessed (understandably so) and decides to follow the James's tour. Unfortunately. an incident occurred during a concert which landed Jessie in jail and a permanent order of protection to stay away from the country duo. Jessie is working as a server at a party when she spots the very people she was ordered to stay away from as party guests. What begins as an unintentional parole violation leads to Jessie becoming involved in a very serious criminal investigation.
Jacobs does an excellent job with letting inside Jessie's head. As a reader I felt I fully understood Jessie's thoughts and actions. There are many times when I am reading a psychological thriller and the characters actions don't make any sense. Jessie's actions seem valid given the trauma she suffered as a child. Jessie is a very likable character and I was definitely rooting for everything to work out for her. I found the plot line believable. I did not find this a story with a lot of twists, but the whole twist ending has become a bit outlandish and overdone anyway, so it was refreshing to have a straightforward story line. All in all, it was an enjoyable satisfying read.

I've been seeing this book making the rounds on Instagram, and with the delightfully dark cover and intriguing summary, I was thrilled to receive an eARC and quickly dove in.

After a childhood of brutal neglect, Jessie wants nothing more than to put her past behind her; she paid the price for stalking a famous country couple on tour. She has a stable job she likes, a small apartment, and a social worker who genuinely seems to care about her (and brings her pop tarts sometimes, which is nice). When a catering job puts her in direct connection to the murder of the famous country star she's not supposed to be anywhere near, Jessie needs to find a way to prove her innocence--and her sanity--before it's too late.

So, I loved this book, and there are a lot of things done well in terms of structure and narrative style, but what I really want to talk about is Jessie's character, because the book hinges on her voice. From her point of view, we get inside her mind as she copes with the horrible traumas of her childhood and see how they impact every move she makes on a daily basis. The fear of another person touching her was palpable, but not exploitative. I didn't feel like this was someone guessing at what it would be like to suffer from the severity of neglect, but rather an insightful, complex examination of the psychological ramifications of neglect. Through the sole perspective, we are isolated from other characters in much the same way Jessie found herself, and simple, overlooked possessions, such as a discman, became that much more significant.

Additionally, and without giving too much away, the unraveling of the plot was well executed and believable. I appreciated the structure, the succinct chapters, and Jessie's interactions with supporting characters to propel the plot's mystery. I also loved how Nashville culture was highlighted, and found myself enjoying little cultural tidbits (lanterns and population and weather--as a lifelong upstate NY native, I'm always curious about the minute details of a place that really breathe life into the setting, and Jacobs did a wonderful job).

Overall, Somewhere in the Dark is a propulsive, guttural, striking read that will keep you on the edge of your seat to the very last page.

Big thanks to Crooked Lane and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

4.5 The story of Jessie is addicting! I just wanted to sit and read it all in one sitting!

Jessie's life has been hard. One thing helped her get through was and old beat up CD by Shelly and Owen James. Finely as an adult she is able to get a good job catering and has a good apartment. During a catering party she runs into someone from her past, that she can not run into... Shelly James. After growing up and becoming adult Jessie who had become obsessed with The James, and followed their tour all around the country. Always at the show and buying their items online. She quickly became noticed and kept an eye on, her affection for the James started to creep them and then lead to an awful event at a show. Now with a keep away order she has got to get away from this party before she's found out.
Soon Shelly James is found murdered after her own party, that jessie worked because she was convinced she should and that she was wanted there. But did she do it? or is there more at play here! Jessie needs to find answers before they pin it on her!

This was a fantastic fast paced read! I loved that Jessie's character was likable but also so questionable. She had been through so much crap, you could understand what she was doing a little. I really enjoyed her fight to find ansewers and not just sit and let things happen. The murder just added another interesting layer to the plot, who did and why would they kill a beloved country music star. The ending was great, it all wrapped up so nicely and the end I didn't guess!


Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for arc for honest review!