Jane Knudsen is extremely private and often described as an ice queen, she keeps everyone at arms length although something everyone can agree on is that Jane is a stunningly beautiful woman. Jane who is a workaholic attorney is accused of killing her boss and seemingly had opportunity, she hires her ex law school roommate Allison Barton. Allison doesn't know Jane well, no one does and if she's honest with herself she was always jealous of Jane's good looks. It is her job to get to represent her client but is Jane hiding more than Allison bargained for?

Firstly, I had trouble putting this book down so I clearly enjoyed it. It flowed really well and I desperately wanted to know the big secret that Jane was hiding... which by the way is not for the faint of heart. The author doesn't skirt around the edges of difficult subject matter she delves right into it and fair warning it isn't pretty.

I equally liked and disliked Allison and Jane but ultimately I thought they made a powerhouse team. I was a bit sick and tired of hearing about the beauty of Jane and her so called privilege or lack thereof because of her beauty, it really did run through the heart of it and while it was there for a reason it did get laid on a bit thick at times.

This is a legal thriller so legal terms are par for the course but if I never have to hear the term 'billable hours' ever again it might just be too soon - it by no means ruins the book but man those lawyers ... is that all they think about? I also found Jane's 'secret' to be quite drawn out at times often going over and over the same elements which definitely added to the word count but perhaps not much more to the storyline.

Overall I found the book to be enjoyable, the writing style was super easy to follow with Jane and Allison's POV clearly labelled. The ending could be accused of being a little rushed and cut short with a large element of the story left untouched but it didn't ruin the overall book.

This is the second book in the series but you wouldn't know it as it can be read entirely as a standalone, you did not need the first one for any context at all.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer and the author for an advance readers copy of this novel for my honest review.

4 WOW Not what I expected stars!!
Although Book 2 in the Allison Barton series, it read fine as a standalone
Jane Knudsen is an unflappable, cool, beautiful workaholic attorney. So how someone like her is wanted for murdering Ray Corrigan a senior partner at Blackwood, Payne & Vivant the firm where she works?

Jane approaches her University of Virginia law school roommate Allison Burton who is now a criminal defense attorney for help.

The story alternates POV between Jane and Allison.

Love the unexpected twist at the end!!!
I am looking forward to Book #3 !
Thank you author, Kristin Wright!!


Want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 12, 2022

This book grabbed my attention right from the start, it had a very strong beginning and continued with that pace and intrigue until about 2/3 of the way through. Overall I liked it a lot. Two strong heroines, one with a lot of mysteries in her past, and two heroines I cared about. would read more by this author 4.5

Defense lawyer Alison Barton’s life has changed in many ways after winning a high profile case. She’s in a new relationship, has started her own firm, and is co-parenting her daughter with an ex with whom she doesn’t see eye to eye.

When Alison gets a call from one of her law school classmates who has been accused of murder, she has to put aside everything she believed in college about Jane Knudsen and build the best defense she can. Something that’s proving hard to do with all the secrets she knows Jane is keeping from her.

Told from the perspectives of both Jane and Alison, the author deftly moves the story along while meticulously peeling away the layers of protection each woman has put up. With an intriguing premise and fast-pace, THE DARKEST WEB is a compelling and dark mystery that you won’t want to put down.

You don’t need to read Wright’s debut THE DARKEST FLOWER before this one, but doing so would certainly give you some deeper insight into Alison.

THE DARKEST WEB comes out on April 12. Many thanks to Thomas & Mercer for the advance reading copy.

Jane is in trouble and calls someone she knows, but doesn't really know. Both troubled women have reason to keep secrets and need to reveal them. Jane may be accused of murder, her lawyer needs to protect and save her.
Lots of emphasis on looks, not so sure about that.
The alternating points of view give differing views of the same events, rounding out the story.
It was fine.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

I agree with many of the other reviews that there was too much emphasis on beauty.
The relationship between the two women and their different viewpoints on life, work and the past were well developed.
Because I figured pretty early on who the murderer was I read most of the book wondering why everyone else did not catch on.

this book read more as a drama, and i kept waiting for it to come back to the mystery. i enjoyed the last third of the book much more than the first two, because the case started to pick up and there was less focus on the personal drama between all these characters.

i also thought that the portions about Allison’s personal life dragged on a bit, they would be harder to follow if you hadn’t read the first book.

Really enjoyed this story from beginning to end, especially the 2 POVs between very different characters. It's fast-paced, and definitely reveals love-hate relations. I don't think you have to read the first in the series to enjoy this one..

Jane Knudsen, a private, cold, and workaholic attorney, finds her boss shot in the office one morning. So of course, because she found the body she is suspect #1. So while she doesn't want the police digging into her past, she hires an old roommate Allison as her lawyer. Now, Allison does what Jane does not want to be done and she digs into Jane's past and now is left second-guessing herself and wondering how well does she really know Jane. Now, while I was on the edge of my seat for a good portion of this book. I enjoyed the writing and I really admire how the author is able to tackle challenging subjects very ingeniously.
I enjoyed that as the reader we were knowing who was narrating the different chapters, sometimes authors will switch POVs, and it's confusing but this one was a great setup! This was also a new to me author, and definitely will not be the last that I read by this author!
Now until I saw on Goodreads that this was the second book in the series I did not know that. This book works well as a standalone!
If you are looking for a quick modern style mystery then this should be the book that you pick up! Great mystery and you're definitely on the edges of your toes for a while! Thank you Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for the extraordinary opportunity to read this book!

The Darkest Web Kristin Wright

5 stars

This is the 2nd book in the Alison Barton series, I have not read the first one but this did not detract from my enjoyment of this one.

Alison Barton is building a successful career as well as bringing up her 6 year old daughter Libby. She is recovering from the break-up of her marriage, due to her husband Steve’s cheating and the over hasty re-marriage of her husband to Karen.

Alison is now in a new relationship with a fellow attorney, Emmett Amaro, but is trying to take things slowly to avoid any conflict with her daughter.

When a shocking murder happens in a prestigious law firm Alison is surprised to be contacted by the prime candidate for the murder, Jane Knudsen. Raymond Corrigan is found very early in the morning at his office by Jane who is always the first person to arrive and the last to leave.

Alison feels obliged to take on the case as years before Jane had been her roommate for a short time although Alison had never felt she had really known Jane. Jane is insistent that she did not commit the murder and there are many other possible candidates for the crime. A vengeful wife, an obsessed daughter and as Alison probes deeper various other members of the firm become suspects.

The main problem for Alison is that Jane will not give away any of her background or details of her childhood and the evidence begins to stack up against her. The other complication is that one of Jane’s very few relationships had actually been with Alison’s current partner.

However as the book progresses we begin to learn the awful truth about Jane’s childhood and begin to understand why she behaves the way she does. The details are very slowly revealed to us and we can understand why Jane has become such a private person.

Alison eventually discovers the truth but this is a book that is difficult to put down, there are many twists and turns and I really enjoyed the plot and the characters rang very true.

I will certainly be reading the next book in this series and I would recommend it to anyone who likes this genre.

Dexter

Elite Book Group received a copy of the book to review

The Darkest Web was riveting from start to finish. It can be read as a standalone, since I read it as such, but it was enjoyable to the point that I will be reading the first book to see what Allison has been up to.


Jane has been running from her past since she was able to. Stay Low profile and don't make connections is Jane's Motto, but what happens when her infamous boss gets killed and she's on the suspect list?
Make a connection and Lawyer up. This is where Allison comes in. Can Allison get Jane a get out of jail free card or is this a case Allison can't win since her client would rather wear a jumpsuit than tell her secrets?
Innocent till proven guilty and all that jazz, but you know society it's more like guilty till proven innocent.


I enjoyed the POVs of two different personality attorneys in the same field, but ones sitting on the wrong chair and in handcuffs. I cried, laughed, and screamed for example when someone decides to bet their first born on the defendants behalf. [First borns hoping that J's innocent after that outburst] Kristin mentions several injustices and morally degradable acts that are sometimes mentioned as fillers, but in this case she schools us on never judge a book by its cover and gives us the justice we deserve. This was truly a Dark web with a caterpillar turned butterfly ending. Don't worry its not all Mystery and Edge we do get at least one cutie in a hay of hell nos.


*Thank you Netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review*

This thriller centers around a damaged lawyer named Jane, whose past has put her in an emotional cage of fear and caution.

When Jane's boss ends up dead on his office floor, and he's found by Jane, she knows she'll need counsel. So she turns to her law-school roommate, Allison, who's not exactly a friend. Allison, like most others Jane has encountered, is intimidated by Jane's beauty and made no attempt to befriend Jane back in the day. But Allison lives nearby, is good at her job, so Jane picks her. Allison has tons of misconceptions about Jane - including believing a rumor about her roommate hooking up with a professor - that are complete lies. But those color her treatment of Jane as the two figure out what happened to Jane's boss and navigate the judicial system once Jane is charged.

We find out why Jane is so closed off - for very good reasons! - and through her, the way our misogynistic society treats beautiful women by idolizing and shaming them simultaneously. Jane's terrible past combines with this treatment, leaving her with deep emotional trauma that surfaces during her defense. Allison gradually realizes Jane's wounds and is convicted of her own contribution to them in law school. The book is a good story but what it does best isn't part of the narrative itself. Jane's story is a commentary on the prejudice toward and stereotypes of beautiful women, perpetuated by both men and women, in harmful ways.

Wow, I absolutely loved this! I did not want to put it down. It’s the second in the “Allison Barton” series, however I didn’t read the first and had zero problems jumping right into the second.

I predicted what would happen from pretty early on, however it didn’t ruin the story for me or affect if I enjoyed it

Highly recommend!

The Darkest Web was a fantastic read.
And after reading the first book in the set I had to jump on the newest one.
And I didn't disappoint. This one kept me guessing. Kristin has created a character so compelling and interesting I had to keep reading.
It was hard to put down because so much was happening.
All in All I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was intriguing and super fast paced straight from the beginning. Wright knows how to weave a great story and she's done it again in what is hands down her best work yet!

Thomas & Mercer,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review closer to pub date.

If anyone was considering becoming a lawyer, reading this book would certainly be a warning. The life with billable hours, 16 hour days, choosing between the job and family and climbing the lawyer ladder to be a partner is so well described here you’d never study the profession.
But the real story is about one of those driven lawyers and her background. What's behind this woman? What is she hiding? The reader is takedown a path that is full of heinous crimes that are very upsetting to find that answer.
The beautiful ice queen, Jane, is accused of the killing of her boss. While being the most productive of all the lawyers she still manages to find people willing to point a finger at her as the obvious culprit. But as you discover, there are many other characters with their own set of issues that could fall under that category.
Jane reaches out to her old roommate, who she never really liked, but has become a criminal attorney with an outstanding background to be her lawyer. It is the relationship from client/lawyer to friends that uncovers Jane’s nightmares and leads to her road to a new and empowered life.
There are so many characters to dislike in this book it’s hard to put down.

Double Snapcakes With A Side of Hot WHAT?! sauce! 😳😯🤯

What?! Wait... what?! I'm sorry.... WHAT?! Hubba balloo fluffykins! I was enamoured from the beginning with this book. Absolutely adored it! Dark, twisty secrets that aren't what you think. Assumptions in modern day life. Right or wrong?
Jane arrives to work one morning at a law firm, to be the one to discover and find her boss, Ray, dead by gunshot. She calls up an old college acquaintance, Allison, who is a criminal lawyer, to represent her when questioned. So who in the world shot Ray and what is Jane trying so hard to keep down from her past? Can Allison really help her and does she have secrets of her own? Darkly delicious! What a yummy legal thriller & mystery! This author is promising! That ending had me shook! 😳

Thank you to NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer Publishing for this ARC.
Release date: April 11, 2022

I give this 4.5 / 5 snowflakes! ❄️

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Darkest Web by Kristin Wright via eBook.
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The Darkest Web is about a beautiful, (VERY beautiful as this point is constantly stressed to the reader), woman who keeps herself and her life extremely private. No one at work knows her background before college, or really what her present life entails now. She has made it a point to never get close to anyone as a friend or romantically for fear of letting her dark past be found out.
That all begins to change when she arrives early to the attorney office she works for & finds her boss dead on the floor in his office. Everyone who works there knows she works late, knows she arrives early and is in close contact with him. So obviously they will first assume she was involved. And what flashes before her eyes is her carefully put together life unravelling & the world finding out who Jane Knudsen really is. Her only option is to hire an attorney quickly and hopefully one she can trust. And that person is her old law school roommate, Allison Barton.
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When I realized that this was a book 2 in a series that is about the character Allison Barton, I worried that I would be lost & trying to figure out who she was & what details I might miss not having read the first book. But if you're not worried about finding out the outcome of the previous story, this one is good as just a stand-alone novel. And as much as I find the author is a well enough writer, I sadly do not have the urge to pick up the first book to read more about Allison Barton.
There wasn't much mystery or thrill to this, as one would hope when picking up a mystery & thriller book. I figured out from the moment the character was mentioned "who done-it". That's not to toot my own horn, it was just one part of what disconnected me from this story.
The characters themselves were pretty standard & not much personality going on with them to make it interesting. The plot itself felt overdone and nothing new that I haven't watched on tv before in an hour long episode.
Which brings me to the biggest problem of the story, & that is Jane. I believe the "mystery" part of the book was her past, and wanting to know what had happened to make her close off so much of her life. She is basically described like a beautiful robot. So when the time came to reveal what happened to her when she was a young girl, (and it is AWFUL...really really awful), I felt as the reader, we had been so shut off, just as the characters were to her, that I didn't feel much of a connection to her. My emotions were not invested in her outcome to this story. And by the end, there was just one too many reveals that felt placed there purely for a shock value that just fell a bit flat for me.
I wouldn't steer anyone away from this book. I do believe others would enjoy this & if asked I would recommend to the right person. It just wasn't the right book for me personally.
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(CW: Major child abuse)

I hope this becomes I series. I read the first book as well and loved them both. I thought the writing was great, and enjoyed the humor in it. The book kept me intrigued, I was never bored and the ending was really great. I can’t wait to read more by this author. I will recommend this book.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, such a good book.

The story alternates between the perspective of Jane and Allison, former law school classmate, now defendant and lawyer. It's well written, and suspenseful. The characters were particularly fascinating, as we unveil the mystery plotline, what's more captivating is peeling back the layers to find out who they really are.

Much enjoyed and a true capture of the intense, pressure cooker culture that exists for associate attorneys in many firms. Add in some murder and not knowing who to trust and you have a great read that keeps you guessing!