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Summary: wonderfully suspensful novel of murders in a small town
Review: What a wonderful novel. Perfect balance of suspense, tension, loyality, and emotion. Blanchard unfolds the tangled plot at just the right pace, with surprising twists along the way. You won't want to put this one down.
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Summary: Beautifully layered, elegantly written literary thriller
Review: Alice Blanchard gives us a splendid first novel full of real, psychologically complex characters, small town life rendered with perfect pitch, and a breathlessly paced, twisting plot. There are lovely, evocative touches along the way--a school for the blind, rich family history, relationships viewed though a variety of prisms,the ties that bind one to community, the difficulties of love. A tour de force.
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Summary: you won't be able to catch your breath
Review: This book is not only a classic thriller, but unlike a grisham or clancey novel, the language is precise and complex. You won't guess all of the turns and you will be engaged!
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Summary: The definition of suspense!
Review: Superb edge-of-your-seat reading, a fascinating journey with characters who immediately grab your attention and earn your empathy. Pacing is swift and sure, scene-setting is crisp and clear. A must-read -- but not at two a.m. if you're the only person at home.
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Summary: Triumphant debut
Review: Flowering Dogwood, Maine sounds like a serene community where a family can safely be raised. For years that was true. However, everything changed in 1980 when someone strangled an innocent Down's Syndrome child. Police Chief Nolan Storrow, a moralistic and honorable person, investigated the case. When he saw which way the direction of the evidence was pointed towards, he killed himself. Eighteen years later, Nolan's daughter Rachel, a detective, obtains permission to reopen the 1980 murder case. At about the same time Claire Castillo, the lover of Rachel's disturbed brother, disappears. Later on, she is found barely alive. She dies in the hospital. Claire's sister and her boy friend also vanish. Like her father, Claire prays that someone near and dear to her is not the killer in spite of the growing evidence to the contrary. No one who reads this dramatic psychological suspense wrapped inside a gritty police procedural will believe this is an author's debut novel. Alice Blanchard provides fans of the sub-genre with a thriller that rivals those of the masters. The heroine is a wonderfully flawed character who chooses to follow her heart rather than her head as many people do when confronting problems with loved ones. DARKNESS RISING is a winning work that triumphantly announces a new and excellent voice in the genre. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: I can't wait to read this book!
Review: I have enjoyed re-reading Alice's short story collection "The Stuntman's Daughter" (1996) many times. I've no doubt her characters in "Darkness Peering" will be as full of life and interest as in those earlier works.
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Summary: Kept me guessing!
Review: This was an awesome read. Constant suspense. Characters were all believable. The author led you to believe that there were several possibilities of who the killer was. I did not even suspect the actual culprit. Well done in keeping the reader guessing and then surprising them at the end. I would definitely recommend this one.
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Summary: Loved it
Review: I read this after reading and loving Blanchard's sophomore effort, "the Breathtaker." How did I miss this one? It's excellent and disturbing. Very scary. Rachel Storrow is a top-shelf leading lady and if the first 60 pages don't get your pulse pounding, go to the doctor, you might be dead. Well-written, intricately-plotted, amazingly researched (there's a surgery scene that is one of the best pieces of fiction writing I've ever read)... Okay, Alice, where's the next one?
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