The Darkest Corners

4.5 stars.

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas is a riveting young adult mystery. Tessa Lowell's return to Fayette, PA stirs up not only unpleasant memories of her family's dysfunctional past but it also raises some unsettling questions about a serial killer's conviction.

Ten years earlier, eight year old Tessa and her best friend Callie Greenwood's testimony was instrumental in putting accused killer Wyatt Stokes on death row. Tessa's family slowly imploded afterwards and she moved from Fayette to live with her grandmother in FL. Estranged from her family and the friends she left behind, she returns to Fayette to say goodbye to her dying father only to discover he passed away before her arrival. Stunned to discover her runaway older show more sister, Joslin, visited their father, Tessa begins the arduous task to locating her and their missing mother. As Tessa and Callie slowly reconnect, a stunning murder which bears eerie similarities to Stokes' victims rocks the small town and the girls become convinced they helped put the wrong man behind bars for the earlier murders. Tessa and Callie slowly repair their fractured friendship and put themselves in harm's way as they embark on an investigation into Ohio River Monster murders.

Tessa is closed off, emotionally distant and finds it impossible to ask for help. The loss of Callie's friendship was a devastating blow and returning to Fayette resurrects the painful memories of that long ago period in her life. Tessa's reunion with Callie is fraught with tension and their first few encounters are awkward as they try to find common ground. After one of their childhood friends turns up missing, the two young women finally begin comparing notes about their testimony and they are shocked to discover they both have doubts about Stokes' conviction. Fully realizing the devastating effects reopening the case will have on Callie's family, the two women nonetheless feel compelled to uncover the truth about the murder of Callie's cousin, Lori, the Ohio River Monster's final victim.

Even before Lori's murder, Tessa's family life was not exactly happy as they struggled to make ends meet. Her father is a hard drinking man who turned to a life of crime after losing his job. Her mother is somewhat fragile and overly involved in her and her much older sister Joslin's lives. Joslin is a rebellious teenager who is hanging with a bad crowd and dating a somewhat unsavory older young man. After Lori's death, Callie's family moved to a different neighborhood and the lack of close proximity was the beginning of the growing distance between the two girls. After Tessa's father was arrested and sentenced to life in prison, Joslin's relationship with their mother deteriorated and she ran away from home without warning. After Jolin left home, their mother became deeply depressed and terrified about what was happening, Tessa turned to Callie's mom for help.

Despite a bit of a slow start, The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas quickly picks up speed and hurtles to a dramatic and jaw dropping conclusion. As Tessa and Callie begin digging into the past, long buried secrets begin bubbling to the surface. Twists and turns, red herrings and numerous suspects keep them (and the reader) guessing the truth about the identity of the Ohio River Monster. This dark and gritty young adult mystery is a captivating read that I highly recommend to readers of all ages. show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Amazing thriller that is full of suspense, surprises and a mouth dropping ending! I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend it to mystery fans!

Opening Sentence: Hell is a two-hour layover in Atlanta.

The Review:

Almost ten years ago there was a murder and two little girls gave testimony and put a man behind bars. But what did they really see that night? How much of their story was true and how much was what the police twisted it to be? Did they put the killer in prison or is he still on the loose?

Seventeen year old Tessa hasn’t been back to Fayette, Pennsylvania since she was nine years old! Not long after the trial for Wyatt Stokes ended, her own father was sent to prison for show more armed robbery and they say he only has days to live, so if she wants to say goodbye she better do it now.

She knows that going back is going to be hard but she never imagined how difficult facing her past was going to be. She hasn’t spoken to Callie since she moved and seeing her now is bringing up memories she wants to forget. Secrets from that night that she never told anyone. As Tessa tries to search for the truth she finds more then she was hoping for and this time she might be the next victim!

Tessa was a very relatable character and someone you can easily sympathize with. Going through a very traumatic situation at such a young age and then only a few years later basically being abandoned by everybody she’s ever loved has caused her to have a lot of insecurities. She keeps everybody at a distance to protect herself and that has made it hard for her to form any kind of relationship with anyone. Throughout the story Tessa experiences so many different emotions and as a reader that really helps you to connect with her. As you watch her grow and try to make sense of everything that has happened it makes you want to root for her and see her succeed. She overcomes a lot throughout her story and I thought she was a very well written character!

Callie has dealt with the situation very differently than Tessa. She’s turned to drugs and alcohol to try to kill the pain and guilt she feels. She has bottled up all her feelings to try to cope and it broke my heart. She is a beautiful girl and she is destroying her life because she is afraid. At first it was a little hard to like Callie, but as the story progresses you slowly get to see the real her and how much pain she is in. I don’t agree with how she coped with things, but I could understand why she took the path she did it. Ultimately, I ended up really loving her character!

The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Thomas does an amazing job providing the perfect amount of information at the right time to keep the reader intrigued throughout the entire story. The characters were developed perfectly, and the writing was phenomenal. I did feel that there were a few moments where the story seemed a little slow, but luckily these times didn’t last very long. There was no romance, which is usually a big issue for me but surprisingly this story didn’t suffer from the lack of romance. I actually think that if romance had been added in it would have just created a lot unnecessary drama. Overall, I thought this was a great mystery full of suspense and twists you won’t see coming. If you are a thriller fan you should definitely check this one out.

Notable Scene:

Every now and then another answer to what happened that night sneaks in from the darkest corners of my mind. I usually squash it like a mosquito—there’s no point dwelling on questions no one can answer for me.

But now that I’m here, I can’t ignore certain things any longer.

There are worse things in this world than monsters, and somehow, they always manage to find me.

FTC Advisory: Random House Kids provided me with a copy of The Darkest Corners. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less

When I’m not obsessing over podcasts (which is, admittedly, not often), I try and find a good and/or interesting book to listen to when I am either driving or at the gym. I usually don’t have a plan when I go into looking for an audiobook, and will just look for what’s available. I didn’t have many expectations when I randomly downloaded “The Darkest Corners”, as even though I’d seen it around I’m always a little hesitant around YA thrillers. They can be hit or miss, in my experience. But I think that my limited expectations worked in “The Darkest Corners” favor, because I ended up thoroughly enjoying this book as I drove around or ran on the treadmill.

Comparisons have been made to Gillian Flynn, and I actually show more enjoyed this book more than I have most of Flynn’s work. The first reason is the intricate and tense plot. When Tessa and Callie were seven years old, Callie’s cousin Lori was murdered, seemingly part of a serial killer’s rampage. They were the only witnesses at the trial, as Callie said she saw a man named Wyatt Stokes in their yard. Tessa never actually saw him, but was pressured into confirming it. Now time has passed, and Tessa is questioning whether they had the right guy or not. A lot of this reminded me of real life crimes where police interference and public prejudice focus attention on someone who may actually be innocent. The town of Fayette, where the book takes place, is a small one where difference is looked upon with suspicion and poverty is a plague that seeps into all facets of life, and the underlying tension of this reality lingers on the page. As Tessa looks more into the crime, the story takes on very noir-esque tendencies, which I greatly enjoyed. I did find myself surprised by a number of the twists, and was happy that most of them were laid out and unwound in ways that didn’t make them feel like they were out of nowhere.

The second reason is because of our main character, Tessa. While she has the same baggage and messed up background that you might see in a Flynn novel, I think that Thomas knows how to bring more humanity out of her main character. Tessa is certainly damaged, and is having a hard time coming back to her home town, but her struggles and inner conflict manifest in more understated ways. She and her best friend Callie both react to their self doubt and guilt differently, and while Callie being a walking mess might have been a more tantalizing POV in a story like this, Tessa’s subtlety and less obvious trauma was a more rewarding(?) experience as a reader. That isn’t to say that Callie doesn’t go through her own journey, nor that she isn’t an interesting character in her own right. Seeing both her and Tessa approach their investigation in their differing ways was a neat way to unfold all of the intricacies to this mystery. Their interactions with each other felt real too, as they are both aching for the other and the friendship that fell apart, as well as deeply feeling the resentment that each has for each other and the choices that they made after their testimony. Neither of them are totally right nor totally wrong in their baggage related to each other, and their coming to terms with their tattered friendship was one of the best parts of this story.

I do think that there were a few too many balls in the air regarding the various facets and side stories with the drama. From Tessa’s convict father to her MIA mother and sister to the abusive father of another friend to a run in with Neo Nazis, it did feel a bit much at times. I am all for red herrings, but when you have a whole school of them I feel that it’s a bit overwhelming and overwrought.

That aside, I found “The Darkest Corners” to be a very well done thriller, one that goes well beyond the YA set and could hold it’s own with other stories aimed towards adults. If you are suffering withdrawal from the lack of new Flynn stories, this is a book that you should probably get your hands on. show less

I would like to thank Random House Children's & NetGalley for a copy of this e-ARC to review. While I received this ebook for free, that has no impact upon the honesty of my review.

Goodreads Teaser: "For fans of Gillian Flynn's Dark Places and Stan Shepard's Pretty Little Liars, The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.
There are ghosts around every corner in Fayetteville, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there 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 show more 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."

One of the most twisted rides you'll ever go on, nothing is as it seems - not for the characters or the reader; this story is just one giant bombshell, caught in the moments just after detonating. I can't say that it's what I was expecting, but it absolutely surpassed anything I could have imagined. Simply riveting. This is a fantastic blend of real and imaginary situations, all swirled together until one can no longer discern the real from the created.

Told from Tessa's point of view, we are granted interesting insights into information that could potentially change the outcome of the whole story. Only piece by piece, and almost grudgingly, does Tessa share her thoughts with the only best friend of her childhood, Callie. A childhood cut ridiculously short for both girls, just in different ways. Witnessing the struggles that both Tessa and Callie go through is almost physically painful. It's impossible not to feel something for them. However what you feel will likely change paragraph to paragraph.

On the outside Tessa appears only somewhat damaged, while Callie seems fairly normal. But then the faces we show the outside world very rarely reflect who we feel we are on the inside; Callie and Tessa are no different, hiding behind various facades. Given what they've gone through though, well that's pretty understandable. Having been apart for the past ten years means they have to redefine their friendship, if indeed that's what they still are. And all this: their relationship, their shared purpose, and everything that hangs in the balance, it's all condensed into a few short weeks.

The pacing of this story is spot on, from the very first page to the very final page. It's a brilliant blend of the intimate and the public, combining those things that a person shares with others, and those they may not even acknowledge themselves. And it's masterfully done, showing us the story through Tessa and the world at large. What Tessa feels seeps into the pages so heavily that it's well nigh impossible for those emotions not to leach off the very page and into your skin as you read. Yet, as with those few people in her life that matter, she still manages to mostly stay behind the barriers she learned to erect very early on. Barriers she's struggling to maintain, even against herself.

I simply loved this book! It just takes everything you think you know and turns it on its ear. You'll go in a different person than the one that comes out. And that is the mark of an incredibly well thought out and beautifully crafted story. Even those parts that have a basis in truth are so twisted you'll begin to question the reality and honesty of those external truths. When you can no longer tell fact from fiction the author has done their job; more than just found their job they've set a new standard for the genre. Heaven help those that publish in the same genre after this book; they've got incredible new heights to attain just to stay in the game. show less

This book started out well, then 3/4 of the way through, I lost interest. It seemed that the plot keep veering off into various directions. It became difficult to remember the characters, then new ones were added.

In small town Fayette. PA, years before Tessa returned to say goodbye to her dying father who was in jail, a monster of a man dwelt among the people.

Killing young girls by strangulation, Tessa and her friend Callie lost a friend to the monster. They were instrumental in putting him in jail for life because they testified they saw his face and identified him as the one who took their friend away.

Because they were so young, now when they are older, they wonder if they fabricated their stories to match.

The culprit was in jail, or show more so they thought, until another murder occurred.

I finished this book, but cannot recommend it. show less

Finally a YA Mystery that I loved!!! It wasn't 100% perfect, but it was SO interesting!! 4.5 Stars

A YA Mystery that sucked me in!!! I've been looking for a LONG time for a really good YA Mystery... it seems to be one of the hardest books for me to find anymore. I've read so many BLAH books, and then this one came along, and it's anything but BLAH. I was really hoping the serial killer angle would be that deciding factor, and I have to say I didn't even need there to be a serial killer for me to be into this book! It was just so addicting and suspenseful and the characters were strong!

The Mystery: I loved how complicated this book got. It went beyond just the idea that they may have put an innocent man behind bars. There was so much more show more going on than that. It was- Who Killed Lori? Why Is It Happening Again? Where Is Tessa's Mother? Why Did Tessa's Sister Change Her Name? I loved all the family secrets and drama going on simultaneously. It really made me want to read and read and read to figure out WHAT in the world was going on with these 2 families... and of course, who was killing people.

The Setting: I'm from Pittsburgh, so the area this book is set in is about 40 minutes south of me. I've been to Fayette County, and I'm always excited to see Western PA featured in books. The thing about the setting I didn't like so much was the negativity. I felt like this book gave off a really negative view of small-town life. Now don't get me wrong, I've been known to knock my small-town every now and again.... but one of the first things I learned in my college creative writing class was that people don't like to read about judgement. And this book was throwing the judgement around pretty harshly. Not everyone who lives in a small-town hates it. Not everyone ONLY lives there because they weren't able to make it out. Some actually CHOOSE to stay because they like the small-town life. Now it might seem like I ranted a bit here- but there was a LOT of little jabs about how terrible it was to live in Fayette scattered throughout the book, and I found it to be not cool.

The People: I really liked Tessa, Callie, Decker, and Callie's mom. I'm glad it didn't veer into the forcing-a-romance in category, but I can totally see Decker and Tessa getting together later on... or at least staying in touch as awesome friends. I loved that Callie was harsh and had her issues, but totally came around and showed me that she wasn't what she first appeared.

The Ending: Now even though this totally 100% fulfilled my need for a YA Mystery, that doesn't mean it was perfect. I didn't care for the extra turn that the book took to tie everything together. I know it was meant to be like a major WTF moment... but I thought it went a little too far into the yeah right category. I liked that it tried, but it definitely went about 10 steps over the line into crazy-town for me.

OVERALL: YES to this fast-paced, page-turning YA Mystery!! I've been looking for a YA Mystery that I clicked with, and I was so happy to finally found one! I think this was a big step up from [b:Prep School Confidential|13411546|Prep School Confidential (Prep School Confidential, #1)|Kara Taylor|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1362062511s/13411546.jpg|18668960].

My Blog:
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So.

This was about as dark as you can go while remaining a teen novel. If it had been written for an adult audience, I probably would have been significantly less inclined to read this before bed. Even then, it's not really a dreamless sleep kind of book.

Don't want to say too much, due to risk of spoilers, but this is a hair-raisingly quick read that delves into...well, the darkest corners of small-town America. (Bonus creep-out points because I went to school in Pittsburgh and took the train by dead-end former steel towns like Fayette several times a year.) There also happen to be not one, but two, very intriguing central characters in Tessa and Callie.

I'm terrible at figuring out mysteries, but I'm pretty sure everyone else will be show more flummoxed by this one as well.

Thanks to Delacorte and Random House for the ARC! show less