In the Dark

By: Loreth Anne White

Narrated by: Susan Hanfield

A secluded mountain lodge. The perfect getaway. So remote no one will ever find you.

The promise of a luxury vacation at a secluded wilderness spa has brought together eight lucky guests. But nothing is what they were led to believe. As a fierce storm barrels down and all contact with the outside is cut off, the guests fear that it’s not a getaway. It’s a trap.

Each one has a secret. Each one has something to hide. And now, as darkness closes in, they all have something to fear - including one another.

Alerted to the vanished party of strangers, homicide cop Mason Deniaud and search and rescue expert Callie Sutton must brave the brutal elements of the mountains to find them. But even Mason and Callie have no idea how precious time is. Because the clock is ticking, and one by one, the guests of Forest Shadow Lodge are being hunted. For them, surviving becomes part of a diabolical game.

©2019 Cheakamus House Publishing (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

bin and əˈɡenst

I enjoyed the story and the tie-in to Agatha Christie, who is one of my favorite authors. The story mystery was pretty apparent after deaths two and three, however, it was still a good, light read. The narration, however, was AWFUL. The constant mispronunciation of been, again and against was so grating that it actually detracted from the story. Fortunately, this book arrived as a Kindle Unlimited for me, so I was able to read most of it on my Kindle and was spared the horrible narration.

I had a hard time getting into it

I really enjoy Loreth Anne White and I was excited for this book to come out, it was the first book I've pre-ordered. I was so disappointed with everything!

The narrator is unbearable for the first three hours. I had to force myself to keep listening. I got a little into it, I was not a fan of the back and forth.

SPOILERS coming

I was annoyed with the decision to reveal it was Stella after it happened in the present day. By the time we cut back to the lodge party I didn't even care anymore. I also felt kinda bad for Debra,.she was perceived as such a villan at the end... like is what she did so bad?

not a romantic thriller

I thoroughly enjoyed the book but there is really no romance in it. romance could blossom if the novel became a series, but don't go in expecting any warm, fuzzy, happy feelings!

Fantastically Written and Narrated!

First, Susan did fantastic as a narrator. I was thoroughly impressed!

Loreth is a wonderful author. This is riveting, fascinating, thrilling, and kept me interested. How she jumped between scenes and time frames was fluid and easy to follow. There were two time frames with multiple characters, and her story closely kept everything together so you are never confused.

I didn’t expect the ending, which is always wonderful! Loreth is growing as an author and I cannot wait to read her next work!

Starts good, runs out of steam

The characters are very distinct, and one of the plot twists is very well executed, both of which are vital to a good murder mystery. The world is full and well-researched, and the pacing is great. I was completely captivated by the first half. That said, I was disappointed by this book. The second half was underwhelming, and passed up many opportunities to be more fun. Very minor spoilers to come.

Two of the main protagonists have very low stakes throughout the entire book. They have dramatic and interesting backstories, but neither of those stories ever develop. The juxtaposition between a murder mystery death game and two troubled folks just doing their jobs right, really made me aware of how little they arced.

The final act is underwhelming and predictable. The book sets up expectations of a great revelation by referencing other great works of mystery throughout, particularly “And Then There Were None”. But the only question answered by the climactic plot reveal is “Who did all the things that we already know about?” And looking back, the answer doesn’t make sense:

All of the characters were very anxious and had guilty consciences about things in their past. If their *past* ghosts were still haunting their internal monologues, why wasn’t the culprit also struggling with more immediate sins during the death game? I applaud the author for making the ambitious decision to give the reader insight into every character’s mind, and even telling the prologue from the sole survivor’s perspective, ironically making it impossible to tell who they were. But glaringly absent thoughts about committing the ongoing crimes made that conceit unbelievable.

To get nit-picky (why not?), there’s a lot of repeated language in the narration to describe characters’ fear responses. I know there are only so many ways to say someone feels surprised, but maybe the solution is to say they’re surprised less often.

The performance is great, with character voices as distinct as their writing is, and the reader adds nuanced acting to the narration where appropriate to great effect.

The reason I’m harping on this book is because I really loved it for a really long time. The author is clearly very imaginative, intelligent, and expressive, and I wish I could have seen that all the way to the end. I can’t recommend this book, but I hope to soon read something by Loreth Anne White that I can.

enjoyed

Well written and read with alot of twists.Kept me intrested. Will read more of her books.

A convoluted plot line that keeps your interest.

Good story line with lots of involved characters. I liked the way the timeline was written and how it all came together at the end. The one thing I really had trouble with was the narrator. I just found I did not enjoy her voice on this, which I realize is a personal preference. I stopped it. about half way thru and then later decided to finish it. I'd suggest getting the sample reading before buying.

Narrator overacting the whole book

The book was pretty good, but the narrator made it very difficult to listen to with her exaggerated, theatrical performance of not only dialogue but 3rd person narration as well.

Bad narrator

The narrator annoyed us in numerous ways. She had a habit of drawing out words, pausing where it made no sense and speaking in monotone. She would forget to change her voice at character changes. And she gave certain words odd pronunciation, such as uh-gain for a-gin and bean for been. It was unfortunate since it lessened the quality of the story.

Narration tough

I loved the story but the ending could have been stronger in a different order. The narration is heavily accented (Canadian) which I found a bit grating. I’m guessing it’s to put the reader in rural BC but it’s just distracting.