A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong

A Darkness Absolute (Rockton, #2)

by Kelley Armstrong

"When experienced homicide detective Casey Duncan first moved to the secret town of Rockton, she expected a safe haven for people like her, people running from their past misdeeds and past lives. She knew living in Rockton meant living off-the-grid completely: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. What she didn't expect is that Rockton comes with its own set of secrets and dangers. Now, in A Darkness Absolute, Casey and her fellow Rockton sheriff's deputy Will chase a cabin-fevered resident into the woods, where they are stranded in a blizzard. Taking shelter in a cave, they discover a former resident who's been held captive for over a year. When the bodies of two other women turn up, Casey and her colleagues must find out if it's an outsider behind the killings or if the answer is more complicated than that...before another victim goes missing. Casey Duncan returns in another heart-racing thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong"--

Reviewed by Melanie on

4 of 5 stars

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Review originally posted at RabidReads.ca.

After finishing City of the Lost, I was very excited to get back into the world of Rockton. This book takes place not long after the end of the first book. Casey and Will Anders, the other deputy in the small, secretive town, are out looking for a man who fled. Her boss and lover, Sheriff Eric Dalton is out of town on a supply run, so Casey and Will go out looking for them. That is until a blizzard hits. Then they must find shelter.

While hiding out in a cave, they start to hear another person. While searching, they find a woman in a hole. It is a small hole, so small that she can’t lay flat out. This girl, Nicole Chavez, had been missing for over a year. They had found a body wearing her clothes, so she was presumed dead.

So now, Casey, Will and Eric must find out who put her in that hole. They also have to find the missing man. So they decide to enlist the help of the town butcher, who in his real life was psychiatrist who studied psychopaths, sociopaths and people with antisocial personality disorder. While he has a medical degree and a psychology degree, he pretty much refuses to use either, if he can help it. He is willing to talk with Casey about a few things, but refuses to do treatment. Since the brothel owner is a former psychologist, he feels that she should be the one to treat this girl.

I won’t go into much detail, because this whole book is full of spoilery type of things. Just know that Kelley Armstrong really pushes boundaries with this story. There are some really tough subjects that are discussed, but she doesn’t go into any real detail. I loved the addition of Mathias, the butcher/psychiatrist. I really hope to see more of him in the third book.

This book keeps you guessing all the way until the end. If you enjoyed book one, then you will love book two. I would recommend reading book one first. There are parts about the town that are learned in book one that will help you to understand this book.

Narration
Thérèse Plummer continues to nail the narration. There is a lot of French in this book (that is how she got in good with Mathias, who is French and Casey learned it in school, as a good Canadian). I felt she did a really good job with the French (though I will admit that I have no idea if she pronounced stuff correctly or not, but sounded good to me).

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 26 October, 2017: Finished reading
  • 26 October, 2017: Reviewed