Amy Engel | THE FAMILIAR DARK

Plot (via Goodreads):

Set in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, in a small town with big secrets, The Familiar Dark opens with a murder. Eve Taggert, desperate with grief over losing her daughter, takes it upon herself to find out the truth about what happened. Eve is no stranger to the dark side of life, having been raised by a hard-edged mother whose lessons Eve tried not to pass on to her own daughter. But Eve may need her mother's cruel brand of strength if she's going to face the reality about her daughter's death and about her own true nature. Her quest for justice takes her from the seedy underbelly of town to the quiet woods and, most frighteningly, back to her mother's trailer for a final lesson. 

Review:

Right from the harrowing and brutal first chapter with this one, I was hooked. Now normally, I enjoy shorter books because I think they are quick and to the point with little-to-no filler. The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel is not only a shorter book (under 250 pages), but completely immersive, dark, and harrowing with fantastic characters and a plot that is relentless with emotion and twists and  turns. I could not put this one down and I devoured it in one single night.

Right from the eerie and violent first chapter, I was immersed in this story. I loved the characters and the setting - I feel like they complimented the story perfectly and added such depth to the plot. It was refreshing to see a book that featured some characters that you don't usually see in a book like this and how normalized Engel makes those characters and their lifestyle. Let me tell you, once you start this one, it is damn near impossible to put down and before I knew it, I was halfway through and found myself both getting somewhere and still begging for more answers. I immediately fell in love with reading these characters and between that and the fantastic pacing to this one, it was like falling into a black hole. While I really enjoyed Engel's debut novel The Roanoke Girls, this one just solidified Amy Engel as a go-to author for me.

As I got deeper into this one and approached the ending, I swear I wouldn't have noticed if the four walls around me caught fire. The pacing with this one was incredibly parallel to the intensity level of how much this story was captivating me and I am so thankful I started it on a Sunday so I could read the entire thing with no interruptions. With everything that has been going on lately in the news, if you want an immersive read that will get your mind off things, I highly suggest The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel.

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

Rating: 5/5