I went into this book not knowing it was part of the Marvel Universe. I like Marvel, but I don't feel like I know enough about it to really understand. The first 30% of the book I spent Googling information about the characters/events and I almost put the book down for good. HOWEVER, the rest of the book hooked me. Once we start getting more into the mystery/plot and away from the Marvel side of things, I really, really enjoyed it.

Definitely recommend if you like Marvel and mysteries. Lisa Jewell is fantastic.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hyperion Avenue for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am not a huge Marvel fan and didn't realize that I was reading about a former superhero. *Face Palm* For real. There was no twist to this story, and I didn't feel the thriller aspect at all. The first few chapters were quick and easy, and I really liked that but afterwards I was shaking my head in disbelief at some of the things being said. I love Lisa Jewell, but I am not sure that this is the right avenue for her. I still don't know anything about Jessica Jones - wasn't that who the story was supposed to be about. The ending was a one star for me. Overall, a solid read just felt it was missing something.

This was such a fun read! Lisa Jewell does a great job capturing Jessica Jones’ tough, no-nonsense attitude while throwing her into a twisty, suspenseful case. The mystery kept me hooked, and the mix of Marvel vibes with Jewell’s crime-thriller style worked really well.

It did slow down a bit in the middle, and I wished some of the side characters got more time to shine, but overall, it was a really entertaining read. If you love Jessica Jones or just enjoy a good detective story with a gritty edge, definitely worth checking out!

Sinister, twisty, dark and entertaining!

Jessica (MC) lives in Hell‘s Kitchen in New York City (present time) - and is a super hero, well, used to be. Because of something that happened to her (which is revealed at the end of the book), she is now working as a PI and has retired from being a hero. Jessica is hired to do a job for Amber Randall and has to travel to England to complete the job.

30+ years earlier - a couple meet in New York and eventually head back to England after the need for them to disappear. As the story unravels and converges in a twisting, disturbing way, you will be taken on a ride that keeps you guessing to the end.

Multiple POVs
Multiple timelines
4-⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love Lisa Jewell books. I’m not a Marvel fan, but decided this one sounded interesting. It was a great read that kept me interested. I would recommend it! Thanks for the ARC!

I love Jessica Jones and was thrilled to read a novel with her as the main character. I was engrossed in the story and like the time line switching back and forth between characters. I hope there will be more to read!

Lisa Jewell’s Breaking the Dark is a gripping, atmospheric mystery that pulls you in from page one. Following Jessica Jones as she investigates a mother’s chilling claims about her transformed teenage twins, the story blends supernatural elements with a slow-burning psychological thriller. Jewell does a fantastic job capturing Jessica’s sharp wit and inner struggles, making her journey feel raw and real. If you love eerie small-town secrets and a heroine who refuses to back down, this is a book you won’t want to miss.

This book just did not do it for me. This was not a typical Lisa Jewell novel and just not my vibe at all

Thank you, Netgalley, for the chance to review this book. All opinions are my own. I admit that I am not a big Marvel fan. I enjoyed the movies but never read any of the books. My family is a big Marvel family. So, I was curious about who Jessica Jones was. This was a perfect book that easily played out as a movie in my head chapter by chapter. It will be an ideal weekend read over spring break. Or add it if you’re looking for a different beach read. I was left longing for what happened to Jessica and her child. Thank you for taking the opportunity for this project, Lisa.

Caveat: I requested an Advance copy (ARC) because I’d enjoyed previous books by this author. I hadn’t noticed the subtitle and didn’t realize it was a Marvel universe novel! I know nothing about superheroes and their universes, so I went into this book lacking what might have been important backstory and context. Even so, I did enjoy it.

The premise and the plot both interested me. I always love a capable woman main character, even one who, like Jessica, has emotionally wounds. Generally I prefer deeper character development than this story provided—that seemed to take a backseat to plot in Breaking the Dark, such that I ended the story without feeling like I knew Jessica much better than I did at the outset—but the book still held my attention.
The story is pretty dark. I was glad that Jewell mostly hints at most of the violence and disturbing aspects, rather than describing them on-page. I also appreciated the nods to the related problems of beauty culture and social media obsession.
My rating: 3.9 stars, rounded to 4.

You might like this book if you:
• Are a fan of the Marvel universe and/or women superheroes in general
• Like mysteries that are dark but not too gory
• Like an intergenerational cast
• Like to see a character take their job seriously and try to do what’s right, even if it’s not easy
• Like to see a main character wrestling with her demons and making progress against them

Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book. All opinions here are my own.

I am not into Marvel crime, but I love Lisa Jewell. I enjoyed the story though. A definite recommend.

thanks publisher and netgalley. all thoughts and opinions are my own

Thank you to NetGalley and Hyperion for this E-ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

So, Breaking the Dark has me feeling a bit mixed. There were definitely parts I enjoyed, but there were also moments where I felt completely lost—and a few where I was just confused.

I’ll be honest, fantasy isn’t usually my go-to genre, so that might explain some of my struggle here. The plot had so many twists that it got hard to keep track of what was happening. Scene changes were abrupt, and I often found myself wondering who or what I was supposed to be focusing on.

The book starts with Jessica Jones, a woman carrying the weight of her past as a superhero. She’s in a bit of a slump, relying on partying and drinking to cope. But when Amber Randall comes to her with a bizarre story about her twins, who’ve come back from a trip to England acting strangely, Jessica can’t help but get involved. She heads to England to figure out what’s going on.

Once she arrives in the small, mysterious town of Barton Wallop, the atmosphere is seriously unsettling. Jessica meets the twins' stepfather and a woman named Belle, who seems to be hiding something. Belle’s answers are vague and guarded, which just adds to the tension.

Something sinister is definitely at play—there are missing girls, the twins are acting even weirder than before, and there’s a strange perfection about them. The book has a really dark, atmospheric vibe, but the pacing and constant shifts in plot made it a bit tricky to follow at times. It kept me intrigued, but also left me with a lot of questions.
So if you are a fan of the Marvel Universe, I'm sure you will enjoy this book.
3.5 Stars!
#NetGalley, #Hyperion, #BreakingtheDark, #LisaJewell

I started reading it knowing it had the Jessica Jones twist, but even with the Lisa Jewell magic it wasn’t one that kept attention. I found myself continuing to ask myself if I should put it down rather than picking it up at all times of the day.

Jessica Jones has given up her life as a superhero. After unspeakable trauma, she's living in Hell's Kitchen, drinking too much and trying to make her living as a private investigator. She's also worried that she might be pregnant.

When a distraught mother comes to hire her to find out why the teenage twins she sent away to visit their father in England have come back changed. Now they are like zombies who have become perfect.

Jessica takes the job and finds herself in a small English village that was once the site of a horrible tragedy. The twins' father is renovating a house built on the site of the tragedy. He has a mysterious new girlfriend. When Jessica tracks down the young girl who became the twins' friend while they were in England, she finds herself swept up into a situation where someone is trying to make her perfect goo.

Interspersed with this main story are flashbacks to an immortal woman who falls in love with a serial killer obsessed with blood and a young woman who wants to gain fame and make her fortune by making an app that makes the user's all perfect too.

I came into this story knowing nothing about the Marvel Universe and nothing about Jessica Jones or her backstory. I had questions after I began this one and consulted wikipedia for some answers. Anyone who already knows about the Universe will find that this story fits right into the canon and adds depth to Jessica's story.

I really enjoyed the book both for the science fictional aspects and the underlying question of what it means to be a mother and what being a mother can cost.

Breaking the Dark: A Jessica Jones Crime Novel by Lisa Jewell
Publication Date: March 25, 2025 or July 2024?
Three Stars- ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to NetGalley, Hyperion Avenue, and Lisa Jewell for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a boy mom who's well-versed in the Marvel Universe, I was excited to discover a Lisa Jewell-Marvel crossover. However, while I'm familiar with the Marvel world, I wasn’t too familiar with Jessica Jones or her love interest, Luke Cage. Since I haven’t watched the Daredevil series, I went into the book without much prior knowledge of the characters or their backgrounds. Based on the author and the book’s description, I was expecting to enjoy it more, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I think I'll stick to Lisa Jewell's traditional thrillers in the future, as this one just didn’t resonate with me the way I’d hoped.

3.25/5

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review!

It was an interesting concept and I really like how Jewell writes, but the plot didn’t hold me much and the ending felt a bit lackluster. Jessica is a character I like but didn’t really feel invested in - maybe if I liked her more I would have been more into this, maybe?

3.5 stars!!

thank you to netgalley for this arc, i love jessica jones so this was really exciting to get my hands on! it did take me about ~20% to really get into the plot, but once i did i couldn’t put it down. i read a majority of it in one day (about 65% of it). jessica is a badass woman and we love to see it. even if you aren’t a marvel fan, i think any reader would genuinely enjoy this is a crime/thriller book. a lot happens in this book and it was maybe a little hard to fully keep up with everything, but once all the dots connected it’s an insane story.

I am not the biggest Marvel fan, but I was truly intrigued by the story's title... then gripped by the plot. Readers follow the former superheroine, Jessica Jones, who is now a private investigator. When she was approached by a mother with concerns about her twins, Jessica found herself digging for the truth and dealing with a few of her own. While I do not believe this book was for me, I still enjoyed it. I highly recommend this read for Marvel fans and fans of Lisa Jewell's writing.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up. This book is not what I was expecting but I’m very glad for that. When requesting this book I didn’t realize it was marvel or that Jessica Jones is a marvel character as I’m not into superhero’s . I went into this book blind,but it was great. It did have some aspects of super hero’s but not overpowering it. It was fast paced and I enjoyed the characters. I may be interested in the rest of the series.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC

I am not into Marvel crime, but I love Lisa Jewell. It was a good read, I recommend if you enjoy Marvel and/or Lisa Jewell writing.