Characters – I love every single character, even Sascha and Holm. They all have a beautifully told history that explains their individual character and actions and I felt like I knew all of them personally by the end of the book. My favourite perspectives are Pavlik, Aaron and Holm.
Aaron is an incredibly inspiring woman, especially knowing she is based on experiences of real people. Her narration is so beautifully written that after reading every other page, I had to stop and reflect on what I’d learned. She’s such a pure and honest character and everything she does is completely credible and typical of someone as amazing as her. Her introspect is stunning. I usually hate reading introspect, especially in thrillers, but I could have read an entire book of hers and loved it. As someone who rarely gets invested in characters, Aaron gave me almost permanent tears in my eyes.
Pavlik is cool as Hell. He’s funny, straight to the point, so courageous and dedicated, I couldn’t imagine anyone else leading the department. I wish he was my dad.
Holm is a troubled and beautiful soul. His story is so tragic but fascinating and the conclusion to his character arc is perfect to me.
Plot – Wow. The plot is masterful. My heart was racing pretty much constantly throughout the book. The prose is so sharp, fast and unapologetic that a million things seem to happen and each chapter is more gripping than the last.
The exposition is written brilliantly, delicately woven into each chapter in threads rather than clumped up together and dumped onto the page like is sadly common in so many books of this genre. I couldn’t predict the ending and I wouldn’t want to. The story is more than just the plot, it is the histories of the characters and their desires and desperate needs that drive the plot forward at a break-neck pace.
Every time a part of a backstory is told, giving the reader a chance to breathe, the pace isn’t slowed but my feelings and understanding amplified. The intricacy with which this book is written is no less than awe-inspiring. Not a single word is superfluous or wasted. Everything written is meant to be there, adding either to the movement of the plot, the deep and poignant inner thoughts of the characters or the fascinating purpose behind ancient philosophies that characters live by. Ugh. I wish to write like this some day.
Writing – My review can never do this book justice so I’ll conclude it with a few of my favourite quotes from In The Dark:
‘He has an ancient face. Eyes like stones with salt drying on them.’
‘Harbour lights race past like photons in a particle accelerator.’
‘Four minutes. They sped past like seconds and lasted for centuries.’
‘His footsteps fade away like those of a man counting every day until his retirement.’
‘A life as interesting as dust on a sideboard.’
‘…she would become a quite different police officer and follow her father onto the thin ice, beneath which you could see the faces of the dead with every step you took.’
‘Her heart thumps as if it isn’t in her chest, but a long way away, a speeding metronome that she wants to throw out the window to make everything quiet.’
‘…she kicks open the door to her inner room, throws in the truth, shuts the door and dances with him.’
‘She lies half-dead on the mattress and is grateful.’
‘Mrs Burri’s face might appeal to a middle-aged man with a weakness for jerkily painted lips that are used to passing on instructions in an entirely humourless way.’
“You have something to lose. The only thing I have to lose is my patience.”
‘Her next answer plunges like a meteor from the sky and opens up a crater between them.’
“May the dead wait for us.”
