Item: The Darkest Corners
Rating: 5.00
Author: kozbisa

by Kara Thomas

"Gripping from start to finish . . . with twists that left me shocked."—Victoria Aveyard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Queen

For fans of Gillian Flynn and Pretty Little Liars, The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.

    There are secrets around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about what happened there that last summer.
    She and her childhood best friend Callie never talked about what they saw. Not before the trial. And certainly not after.
    But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.
    Only the closer Tessa gets to what really happened, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

And don't miss Kara's next "eerie and masterly psychological thriller" Little Monsters—on sale now (SLJ)!

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I actually received this ARC at YallFest back in November. I really should have read it sooner, because it was an excellent read. Wow! I never saw THAT coming! I love when I read a mystery, and I am completely wrong about who-did-it.

Our main characters, Callie and Tessa provided testimony 10 years prior, which put the a serial killer behind bars with a life sentence. After the trial, Tessa ends up living with her grandmother in Florida, and the girls drift apart. Ten years later, Tessa returns to PA to visit her ailing father. Being back there intensified the memories that have been haunting her since the murder of Callie's cousin. Now those questions about the murders are resurfacing, and Tessa and Callie begin searching for the truth about the Ohio River Monster, but uncovering so many other things about their friends, neighbors, and themselves.

Loved the mystery and all the layers. As a piece of the puzzle was revealed, the mystery became bigger and more complex than originally suspected. I had a lot of sympathy for Tessa, and was proud of the bit of self growth she experience during her time in Fayette. I love that Thomas gave Tessa a bunch of great people, who were in her corner, even if she did not realize it. I needed to know that someone would be there to pick up this broken girl when the time came.

Overall: a well crafted tense mystery, that was unpredictable up to the very last line.

The Darkest Corners

by Kara Thomas

Reviewed by Sam@WLABB on Jun 18, 2016

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