If you know me, then you’ll know that I love audiobooks, so I jumped at the chance to listen to an advance copy of The Dead and The Dark because it was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Soneela Nankani. Her narrations are always fantastic, so I assumed that this book would at least be okay, even if the premise wasn’t super appealing to me.

Unfortunately, I was wrong— this book was not it for me.

From the predictability of the mystery to the just straight up bad writing, I really had to force myself to just finish listening to this book as quickly as possible. It reads like a Ghost Adventures fanfiction (which I am sure preteen Em would have loved but adult Em just felt weird reading) with a hastily planned murder mystery overlaid on top of it.

This book defies logic, but not in a good way, and I was just not a fan.

Therapist and recent widow Mariana’s life couldn’t get any more out of her control, until she receives a call from her niece that her friend has been murdered, and she thinks she knows who did it.

This book made me ask myself if I’d ever see a book that is so aggressively marketed to be THE hot new book of the Summer that promises to be a combination of some of your favorite books and not have high hopes for it. I was very determined to stay neutral on this book when I went in and not let the expectations that I had for it ruin my enjoyment of it.

Usually when I go to write a book review, I have a single post-it of mid-read thoughts to consider, instead of just my post-read reaction. I had so many thoughts reading this book that I ran out of post-it space and wrote a full essay instead, so please enjoy reading said essay.

Book Review: The Dead and The Dark

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