Joe Hart

The River Is Dark by Joe Hart - A Must Read Heartbreaking Thriller You Should Read
The best book I've read in awhile, this is an excellent thriller. The writing is crisp and authentic. The prologue begins with the scene of a murder where and we are instantly thrown into the story. A confused young boy is traumatized by his witness to the murder of his parents. Then in chapter one, we meet the protagonist, the haunted Liam Dempsey, who travels to Tallston to find out about his brother's murder show more only to discover there have been other murders in the small city. The mystic of the story mounts as we are introduced to an array of interesting characters, all with difficult situations, and some sad circumstances. This well-paced story will keep you turning pages. The more we learn about Liam, his problems and shortcomings, the more we appreciate his strengths. The most revered is his ability to love even after being rejected, perhaps that's why he is able to accept others around him who are far from perfect. This is not only a conspiracy thriller, it also is a heartbreaker. You'll jump in your seat and grab the tissues. After reading this story you may reconsider the definitions of normal and beauty. You may discover the meaning of true unconditional love. I highly recommend this book. show less

When looking at galleys to request for reading and reviewing, I always look for stories that are intriguing, often involving subject matters I find interesting or in genres I enjoy. You never know for certain whether your hopes for a good novel will come to fruition, so each galley is a bit like a leap of faith in which you put your trust in the author to tell a well-written and entertaining story. The leap becomes just that much larger when there is no buzz surrounding a novel or one that show more is not getting a lot of attention from other reviewers. This is how I felt about Obscura, a novel which I should enjoy given its suspenseful premise and the fact that it takes place in space – two of my story-selecting forms of kryptonite. I do not anyone else who has read it, so there is no buzz, no word-of-mouth to shed some light on the story or at least provide some form of reaction about it. So, opening to that first page was a leap in a way. It is one of the few times I have gone into a novel really not knowing anything more than what the synopsis told me.

Now that I finished the story, I can say that the leap was totally worth it. The story is intense; think horror movie intense. Gillian is alone on a ship in space for most of the novel, except strange things keep occurring that should not be happening if she were truly alone. Not only do you have the fear of the unknown, you have the fear of technology and the fear of absolute loneliness playing with each other. Add to that mental impairment that comes with drug withdrawals and abject grief, and you have a recipe for one of the scarier novels you will read.

Gillian makes for an excellent heroine. She is highly intelligent and fiercely independent yet extremely vulnerable given the losses in her life. She is battling a painkiller addiction, which makes her an unreliable narrator. However, when the truth reveals itself, she becomes the ultimate hero, doing what needs to be done for the best resolution possible, even if it involves the ultimate sacrifice. Her flaws make her real; her determination makes her admirable. She is a character with whom it is easy to sympathize and for whom it is easy to cheer.

The story itself is heart-pounding almost from the opening chapter. You are immediately thrust into the action so that Gillian’s nervousness becomes your nervousness because you don’t know anything else. Gillian’s unreliability only becomes apparent as you understand the forces that put her into space. What happens while she is on the shuttle is downright terrifying as you know nothing and can only see the action through her very faulty eyes. The action on the shuttle is only half the story though. What follows after is crazy science fiction goodness, equally as intense as only a good sci-fi action story can be.

Obscura is the best type of gamble because I so thoroughly enjoyed the story, more than I ever imagined I would. I fell hard for Gillian and her plight, and everything that happened to her or around her while she was on the shuttle and after only served to increase my interest in her success. The writing is taut, providing balance between science and fiction, telling and showing. This is an action-adventure story, so one would not normally expect character development; however Gillian does grow as an individual throughout the mission, coming to realizations about her past and present behaviors that indicate greater self-awareness and an eagerness to get things right. I only wish I could bring greater attention to this fun and scary novel because it most definitely deserves to become a popular summer read. show less

“…we all have an ugly place deep inside that we’re aware of”

An easy fast-paced read but not quite the psychological thriller I’d hoped for. Despite the author trying to confuse the reader with the back and forth between Imogen and Lev, thanks to the title it was easy to guess the ‘twist’ early on. I felt the ending was rushed and left me with more questions than answers. The plot holes from those final pages put the kibosh on Imogen’s future plans and therefore felt lacking.

I felt like the author was trying too hard with his word choice. His descriptive language fleas over the top pretty often.

Why did we learn so much about Zoey's bladder?

The reason we're supposed to accept for Rita's change in behavior doesn't fit the Rita we initially meet. There's something missing in terms of character development to make it seem believable. This goes for Penny too.

The premise was good though and the story kept my interest. I'm hoping the author evens out the rough bits show more in his writing for the second installment. I'm not really sure how we can keep the story going with how it ended though. There are some loose ends that needed to be wrapped up, but it felt like the whole story could have ended with book one. show less