Member Review
Review by
Aravind R, Reviewer
I would like to thank the author (Gregg Olsen), the publisher (Bookouture), and netgalley.com for the e-ARC of Dark Falls in exchange for my unbiased review.
Dark Falls, Detective Megan Carpenter’s third outing, starts almost a month after she and Ronnie Marsh – the trainee deputy – stop a serial killer and almost get themselves killed in the process. Megan is being stalked by someone who knows all about her murky and violent past. Whoever it is has upped their game now, by gruesomely killing a woman who had helped Megan in the past and was one of the very few friends she has had in her turbulent life. Megan has only one suspect – the sibling of the person responsible making her what she is. Now, she has to catch the killer and neutralize him, in order to avenge her friend’s murder and to prevent the secrets of her past from derailing her somewhat agreeable present.
Megan’s is a difficult character to readily like or dislike. Her aversion to playing by the rules and her readiness to use people to achieve her ends make her quite unpredictable. She seems to be living in her past most of the time, replaying often the old tape recordings of her sessions with her psychiatrist. Her longing to put her past to rest and lead a normal life like so many others shows a vulnerability inside her tough veneer. Intriguing though she is, her cynicism, her unsociable behaviour, and her obsession with her past starts to grate a bit. But, to lighten all that bleakness, the author has created Ronnie, whom he has made more endearing in her second appearance. Sheriff Gray is another fine character, but the reason for his trust and leniency towards Megan in spite of her faults is as yet unclear.
Dark Falls, like its predecessor Water’s Edge, is atmospheric, fast paced and is quite gripping in its narration. These factors, along with the strong central characters, make this novel a compelling read. However, I dearly wish that Megan’s obsession with her past is finished with this book and that the future ones in this series have her fighting crimes unrelated to herself. I would recommend Dark Falls to those crime thriller buffs who like powerful female protagonists and would advise that they read the series from the start for a better experience. My rating for this intense thriller is 3.5 out of 5, the extra half being exclusively for Ronnie.
Dark Falls, Detective Megan Carpenter’s third outing, starts almost a month after she and Ronnie Marsh – the trainee deputy – stop a serial killer and almost get themselves killed in the process. Megan is being stalked by someone who knows all about her murky and violent past. Whoever it is has upped their game now, by gruesomely killing a woman who had helped Megan in the past and was one of the very few friends she has had in her turbulent life. Megan has only one suspect – the sibling of the person responsible making her what she is. Now, she has to catch the killer and neutralize him, in order to avenge her friend’s murder and to prevent the secrets of her past from derailing her somewhat agreeable present.
Megan’s is a difficult character to readily like or dislike. Her aversion to playing by the rules and her readiness to use people to achieve her ends make her quite unpredictable. She seems to be living in her past most of the time, replaying often the old tape recordings of her sessions with her psychiatrist. Her longing to put her past to rest and lead a normal life like so many others shows a vulnerability inside her tough veneer. Intriguing though she is, her cynicism, her unsociable behaviour, and her obsession with her past starts to grate a bit. But, to lighten all that bleakness, the author has created Ronnie, whom he has made more endearing in her second appearance. Sheriff Gray is another fine character, but the reason for his trust and leniency towards Megan in spite of her faults is as yet unclear.
Dark Falls, like its predecessor Water’s Edge, is atmospheric, fast paced and is quite gripping in its narration. These factors, along with the strong central characters, make this novel a compelling read. However, I dearly wish that Megan’s obsession with her past is finished with this book and that the future ones in this series have her fighting crimes unrelated to herself. I would recommend Dark Falls to those crime thriller buffs who like powerful female protagonists and would advise that they read the series from the start for a better experience. My rating for this intense thriller is 3.5 out of 5, the extra half being exclusively for Ronnie.
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