**Cait Sidhe’s Review of In the Dark**

I’ve never read anything by Loreth Anne White, which is crazy, right? I think I never had because I don’t think I like thrillers and/or suspense. I may have had my mind changed. This book starts off with a bang and doesn’t stop!

Eight guests have been promised a trip out to a luxurious wilderness spa resort retreat. It’s situated picture perfect on a beautiful lake, with miles of peace and quiet all around. The ill fated guests find out very quickly that what they were promised and what they received are two very different things. As they band together for survival, they start realizing that they all have something in common. There are dark secrets here and secrets don’t stay buried for long. As the lies start being discovered, an even darker past is revealed. Someone is out to get them and is killing them one by one.  Is it an outsider that set all this up or is it one of their own?

I have a secret as well…I’ve never read Agatha Christie. Never. Not a mystery/thriller fan, remember? I’m thinking I should give Dame Christie a chance after this. Part of the mystery of In the Dark centers around an Agatha Christie book called And Then There Were None. In her book, eight people arrive to a isolated island, drawn by duplicitous means, met only by the butler and housekeeper. At dinner, a gramophone is played accusing them all of murder and they discover ten figurines that mysteriously are broken as each person dies in varied ways.  In the Dark follows this same path very closely, with the arrival of the eight, and their discovery of the book, the adapted poem, and little wooden figurines.

The story is told in bits and pieces. The point of view changes from that of the group at the resort and then jumps back to veteran big-city homicide detective Mason Deniaud and Kluhane Bay Search and Rescue expert Callie Sutton as they try to follow the breadcrumbs and hopefully find the group alive. I actually enjoyed the piecemeal way that the story was doled out to the reader in reverse. 

I loved the intrigue and trying to figure out who-dun-it. While it wasn’t a complete mystery in the end, it was an enjoyable read trying to figure all the details out along the way. I typically don’t like books that waver back and forth on POV, but White builds such great characters that I didn’t mind. Especially with Mason and Callie. They had such interesting back stories, even if they were both tragic. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending but given the nature of the two, I really couldn’t see anything other than the one we were given.

4.5 of out 5 propellers for this atmospheric mystery. Just don’t go into it expecting a romantic thriller. While it doesn’t shirk on the chills and thrills, there’s only a hint of flirtation in this one!