Rating: 
Summary: It's tempting to rate this higher...
Review: This is exceptionally well written - until the end. Wonderful drawing of characters, excellent pacing. A very enjoying and interesting read. But then it just suddenly ends. This needed another hundred pages. But since this is my first Laurie King book, it certainly did nothing to discourage me from immediately going out to get more of her stuff. Gotta go, bye...
Rating:
Summary: A thriller that lost the thrill
Review: As a former cult member, I was looking for lots of neat secrets to be unfolded...good juicy dirt. I was not thrilled by this book, but I do disagree with other posters that the character, Anne was not sympathetic....she was with Jason and Dulcie. Why should she be a happy lovable? Her husband and daughter were taken away from her.
Rating: 
Summary: All brains, no heart
Review: I have enjoyed Laurie King's Kate Martinelli books and look forward to the next one. I had high hopes for "A Darker Place," but in the end I found it to be simply a slog. It's erudite and smart, as I expect from King, but I found the characters unsympathetic and poorly developed, the plot plodding--until the abrupt denouement, which left me wondering what just happened--and the writing competent but overloaded with not-especially-telling detail. Once the story moved to England--complete with glosses of that quaint English language--I got to feeling that the book was simply an excuse for a write-off on travel...but of course, King gets that with her Mary Russell books. And that left me wondering just what the object of the exercise really was.
Rating:
Summary: What happened?
Review: I have become accustomed to an excellence of character development, plot and language with the writing of Ms. King. This book is baffling because of the abrupt snarl of loose ends in the wrap-up. As a reader I shook myself wondering if it was just another unfinished dream. What happened? Did someone else take over?
Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointing
Review: As an admirer of Laurie King's other books, I was surprised and disappointed to find that A Darker Place doesn't even come close to her normal standard. I found her protagonist completely unsympathetic and the plot disjointed. The climax and end came completely out of nowhere and resolved none of the issues or relationships of the book. I sincerely hope this book was not the start of a new series.
Rating: 
Summary: Audio version of "A Darker Place"
Review: I am currently listening to tape nine (of ten) of the audio version of Laurie Kings's book, narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan, and if someone offered me - oh, say $50.00 - to return it to the library unfinished I'd turn them down. King is a great writer and Bresnahan does her book justice. I'll look for more of King's books. Not only is she a very skilled story teller, but she offers a wealth of information in an interesting manner... this book made a new fan of me. I hope her others are as good!
Rating:
Summary: Painful....and then more pain!
Review: I just don't understand why the "New York Times Book Review" said this was a "nail-biter thriller"? There was nothing remotely thrilling about it. Was truly one of the most boring books that I have picked up in a long time. I kept reading hoping that it would get better but, it never did. I think the author even tired of it by the end judging by the way it ended.
Rating: 
Summary: A bright future for the heroine of a Darker Place, please!
Review: Psychologically interesting protagonist, a brilliant woman searching for redemption, her colleague, a FBI agent with moral dilemas. What more could you want. I loved that the locations changed, I liked the cult aspects, even if there was a occasional cliche. Not as rich in breath and depth as the Mary Russell novels, but the modern theme more than makes up for it for me. I like that the heroine has to deal with morality as it exists today, and make decisions about sexuality and integrity in the real world.
Rating:
Summary: I hope this isn't a stand-alone novel
Review: Everything about this book fascinated me. The presentation--journal pages, drawings, excerpts from memos and alchemical allusions for the section divisions--the subject matter and the character development. A Darker Place impressed me with the depth of the author's research into comparative religions, alchemy and psychology. King has the reader walk the fine line between seeking spiritual obedience and being gullable to those who appear to "see all and know all." The ending is maddeningly tantallizing but not incongruous. The character describes her role of infiltrator as one who has to drop into and fit into a given situation, gather information regarding potential danger to the community's inhabitants and drop out, leaving the FBI to work out the solution. She expressed regret at not having known what became of certain characters she'd met on her previous forays. I hope this means King is leaving the door open for Anne Wakefield to return.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling despite the abrupt ending
Review: King paints a fascinating picture, both of the woman Anne -- haunted and driven by the cult-related death of her daughter and husband -- and of the Change community she infiltrates at the request of the FBI. I agree with other reviewers that the ending is too abrupt; it doesn't satisfy. But the experience up to that point is so rich and compelling that this book is still very much worth reading. I look forward to the sequel, though, to tie up some of the loose ends and reunite us with these fascinating and well-drawn characters.
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