Hello, Darkness was an engaging and exciting thriller which stars Paris Gibson and Dean Malloy. Paris is a former television reporter who became a radio personality while she was caring for her fiancé who was gravely injured in a car accident. He was mostly brain dead for the seven years she cared for him. He has recently passed away.

Dean Malloy was Paris's fiancé's best friend since their college days. After the accident, they lost track of each other primarily because Paris wanted it that way. Dean has been busy with his career as a psychologist and police officer. He has also been co-parenting with his ex-wife. Now his wife has remarried, and Dean has become the primary caretaker for his seventeen-year-old son Devin. He has also recently moved to Austin and taken his son with him. Devin isn't happy about the move and is rebelling and hanging out with unsuitable friends.

When Paris receives a threatening phone call while she is at work, she calls the police and goes to the police with a cassette of the call. She fears that the caller is not just venting but is really threatening the life of someone. The police sergeant calls in the new lieutenant who turns out to be Malloy. Now they are forced to confront each other and work together if they want to save the life of the missing woman.

There are lots of possibilities for the unknown caller including a sex addict, an ex-con, and still others. The story, published in 2003, talks about teenagers who are connecting for sex over the internet which also includes Dean's son Devin on the edge of that. It is also told from multiple viewpoints including that of the sex addict. The story didn't feel dated despite its age.

I liked that Paris and Dean were able to resolve their differences which were caused by guilt over their actions in the past. I thought the tension built nicely in the story. I'll admit that I was surprised by the villain of the story despite forming a poor opinion of him during the course of the story. ( )

Mom felt like it was a suspenseful harlequin romance so I never read it.

It started off slow for me but by the third chapter, it was picking up and gradually picked up even more from there. The reason it got a 4/5 instead of a 5/5 is because of the slow start and the moments that I would get bored throughout the book.

As always Sandra Brown keeps you guessing until almost the very end. That's what I do love about the books I have read and finished by her. It's also the reason I keep picking up her books, even though many times, it starts off slow. I am looking forward to trying to get into the rest of her books and finishing as many as I can.

This book is very much worth a try. Sticking with it may have you glad you did.

This book goes towards my Big Book Challenge (400 pages) and the 2nd book I finished for the #tbrtakedown 3.0 (it says here 355 pages but my book page count is 406 pages) ( )

Enjoyable and suspenceful. ( )

Fast moving story. Will keep you reading
Very Good ( )