Charlie Donlea | SOME CHOOSE DARKNESS

Plot (via Goodreads):

The truth is easy to miss, even when it’s right in front of us. As a forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore sheds light on cold-case homicides by piecing together crime scene details others fail to see. Cleaning out her late father’s law office a week after his burial, she receives a call that plunges her into a decades-old case come to life once more. 

In the summer of 1979, five Chicago women went missing. The predator, nicknamed The Thief, left no bodies and no clues behind—until police received a package from a mysterious woman named Angela Mitchell, whose unorthodox investigation skills appear to have led to his identity. But before police could question her, Angela disappeared. Forty years later, The Thief is about to be paroled for Angela’s murder—the only crime the DA could pin on him. As a former client of her father’s, Rory becomes reluctantly involved with the killer—though he continues to insist he didn’t murder Angela. Now he wants Rory to do what her father once promised: prove that Angela is, in fact, still alive.

As Rory begins reconstructing Angela’s last days, another killer emerges from the shadows, replicating those long-ago murders. With every startling discovery she makes, Rory becomes more deeply entangled in the enigma of Angela Mitchell—and in The Thief’s tormented mind. Drawing connections between past and present is the only way to stop the nightmare, but even Rory can’t be prepared for the full, terrifying truth that is emerging . . .

Review:

Alright - I am just going to let you know ahead of time that my love for Charlie Donlea is at an all time high. This is my third novel by him and by far my favorite; in fact, this is definitely in my top 5 of this year so far. Coming off the release of so many documentaries and movies about serial killers, I will say that Charlie Donlea captured all of the elements of a serial killer case and a psychological thriller and turned it into one hell of a suspense novel that terrified me, captivated me, and left me in disarray in its chilling conclusion.

So, right from the beginning, I knew this was going to be the kind of read that is right up my alley! There's something about summer that brings out the crazies and for some reason, I am completely drawn to the stories that feature the heat of the summer combined with the terror of a good serial killer story simply captivates me in the most unsettling way. Well, between the cold and procedural cold-case style that the present day timeline is written and the brilliant and effective serial killer cat-and-mouse style that the timeline in the past is written - this is probably one of the best thrillers I've ever read and easily my favorite Charlie Donlea story. It is unnerving and riveting, with characters that jump off the pages and are so well-written that at times, this could have been read as a non-fiction book had I not known ahead of time that it was a new novel. The way that he wrote two characters on the spectrum of autism was done with grace and was realistically represented. I will never get enough of Donlea's writing and cannot even begin to tell you how much I absolutely loved this novel. At about 300 pages, I could have easily devoured a 600 page book with this plot and Donlea's ability to hypnotize me with this fantastically paced and electrifying novel.

Special thanks to Kensington Books for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5