Reviewed by readingwithwrin on
“ALL THINGS DONE IN THE DARK HAVE A WAY OF COMING TO THE LIGHT”
Ruby has been avoiding going home since she left to go to college. She's used every excuse in the book, and now with her best friend Danny dies she has no choice but to finally go home. This means dealing with family issues, and seeing her first true love, and the rest of the 'crew' who she hasn't talked to since she left.
When she sees her old friends Murphy, Ally, and Emmett things have changed. Not only are Ally and Emmett now married or engaged, but their spouses are now part of the 'crew' now too. With seeing so many people that she's avoided for so long, she feels a little awkward at first, but after all the 'crew' is gathered together they have no choice but to interact with one another. This is when things get messy because Danny has decided its time for everyone else's secrets to come to light. Danny was almost always the outsider and the center of the crew all at the same time, and as they grew up and moved on, he stayed in this pattern of things that he had been into since middle school.
With each of the 'crew' members getting letters telling their secrets and with a threat that if they don't tell them in a set period of time, that Danny will make them come out anyway. This leads to some quick maneuvering on everyone's part, and some half-truths told in an attempt to make it all go away.
As for if this works or not, you'll have to read to find out.
Overall I loved this book! It's pretty little liars for grownups and I am so ready for more books like this. The tension between all the 'crew' members because of the secrets and the things that happened between all of them in high school was done so so well. I loved how things jumped around between past and present showing us things that happened and what lead up to each of their secrets. As for the relationship between Murphy and Ruby, I was kind of just meh about it, I figured out early on what was going to happen between them and what caused them to avoid each other for so long. I did love all of the friendships between the characters. No one was left out, and they all had very well developed character stories that went together, but also stood on there own. They all had family problems, relationship problems, goals, and dreams. That's something that I haven't seen so fleshed out in each character ever. Because of that, I can't wait to see more work from Coble in the future!
p.s. If you know of any other books like this one please tell me about them.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 3 February, 2018: Finished reading
- 3 February, 2018: Reviewed