The Darkest Corners

By: Kara Thomas

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie

For fans of Gillian Flynn's Dark Places and Sara Shepard's 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 ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.

Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn't have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons - and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they'll disappear for good.

Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial Callie drifted, and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.

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 the truth, the closer she gets to a killer - and this time it won't be so easy to run away.

©2016 Kara Thomas (P)2016 Listening Library

Critic reviews

"Gripping from start to finish, The Darkest Corners took me into an underbelly I didn't know existed, with twists that left me shocked and racing forward to get to the end." (Victoria Aveyard, number-one New York Times best-selling author of Red Queen)

"A tight, twisted thriller, full of deft reversals and disturbing revelations - deeply, compulsively satisfying!" (Brenna Yovanoff, New York Times best-selling author of The Replacement)

"As dark as Gillian Flynn and as compulsive as Serial.... Kara Thomas' mystery debut is intricate, chilling, and deeply compelling. Unforgettable!" (Laura Salters, author of Run Away)

worth the read

The story starts out slow but the end has so many twists! Keep listening, the end is worth it if you can get through the first half.

Couldn't stop listening

Loved it. Honestly couldn't stop listening to this book. It's been hard for me to make it through a book latley but this one had me hooked from the start.

Great Read

Great read with a lot of story lines but flowed well and surprises throughout which I usually don’t get!

I wish I had known...

I think this book should have been categorized as YA, and the teenage voice reading it should have blown her nose or gotten over her cold before starting narration. The end of the book was fairly interesting, but really just the last 30 minutes or so. I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it

This book deserves more hype!!

I was pleasantly surprised by this book! It held my interested and had some good twists. I was afraid it would read as YA due to the main characters age, but it didn’t. It was well written and the plot was thoughtful. An enjoyable listen with an unexpected ending!

Great twist

I loved the twists and turns of this book. I would definitely recommend this book.

Nonstop mystery

Grade: A-

Recent high school graduate, Tessa is reluctantly back from Florida, back to the podunk Pennsylvania town she'd rather forget, back to say goodbye to her dying father. She's staying with her ex-best friend's family. She hasn't spoken to Callie since moving to south after both girls testified to witnessing an abduction turned murder when they were eight, ten years ago. But, Tessa has secrets and she fears the wrong man is on death row.

I’ve read THE DARKEST CORNERS a few times. The twists and turns kept me hooked. Kara Thomas gave Tessa a believable, authentic voice of a young woman abandoned by choices her parents made, reluctant to trust, fueled by her desire to find her sister.

Tessa came by her distrust and bitterness with good cause, but I didn't like how both she and Callie lied often when unnecessary. I don't remember either girl showing a kindness toward anyone, and at times they acted thoughtlessly. The characters dripped hopelessness and despair.

THEMES: murder, prison, family, parents, siblings, friendship, mystery

THE DARKEST CORNERS is an interesting mystery with an ending that left me stunned.

ETA: I enjoyed the audiobook narration.

Held my attention.

I liked the story enough to listen to the whole thing in one road trip. And had to sit in the car the last 10 mins to finish it up once I arrived at my final destination. It's no Girl on the Train but it was 👍🏻👍🏻 I'm actually really tired of people comparing books to that one so ironic.

Loved everything about this book

Well except how depressing it made PA sound- I don't know much about fayette county in particular but.....
The plot was good and the twists weren't too obvious like a lot of books- like able characters

Riveting and Suspensful

This is a great book for anyone interested in the dark, twisted corners of humanity. The book is layered with murder mysteries, psychological exploration, and how complex and complicated people are. The narrator is great, using varying intonation, speed, and raw emotion to bring the story to life.