“The Darkest Corners” isn’t Thrilling Until the Very End

I was prepared to give this one star all the way up until the end, which was such a huge improvement it forced me to bump my rating up.

Tessa and Callie sent a man to prison ten years ago. Now Tessa is back in Fayette and she and Callie are rethinking their statement when new bodies begin popping up in town . . . Could the murders have a connection with the crime that took place so long ago?

Even if a thriller doesn’t have the best character development, I still expect one thing from it: a compelling mystery. One that will pull me in and leave my mind racing. The problem with The Darkest Corners was the plot took forever to get going.

I was bored out of my mind reading what felt like a stiff, cold police report. The facts were served up, the main character had no personality or emotions whatsoever, there was no creepy atmosphere, no tension—not even any drama in Tessa’s everyday life! It was utterly dull.

BUT. Around the last hundred pages, the plot got so much better. The storyline was much clearer, the mystery was suddenly intriguing, and the pace finally picked up when Tessa got whisked away to a cabin in the mountains (where was that page-turning quality in the beginning?!).

Even though the big plot twist at the end was rather cliché and cheesy, it kept my attention and I didn’t feel like I was going to fall asleep.

I pity anyone who has to plow through the slow beginning, but the ending was significantly stronger and felt much more like the “thriller” this book advertised.