Today’s team review is from Terry, she blogs at http://terrytylerbookreviews.blogspot.co.uk/
Terry has been reading The Darkroom by Mary Maddox
DARKROOM by Mary Maddox
4 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by me as a member of Rosie Amber’s Review Team
Darkroom is a slick murder mystery/thriller set in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado in the winter – the setting itself was a plus point for me.
Kelly Durrell’s friend, scatty, bohemian photographer Day Randall is missing. So is Marcus, the lover of Day’s married friend, Odette. Kelly knows nothing of the murky world inhabited by those surrounding Day and Odette, and isn’t aware what she’s getting into when she starts to make investigations.
The story is told from the third person points of view of Kelly, and Animal, a bouncer from Cascade, a club owned by Day’s former lover, Tyson. Animal was a most appealing character, I liked him very much. I thought the story was tidily put together, with the strengths being the characterisation of the minor characters (such as the awful Dustin) and the dialogue, which is excellent; I felt the author really understood her characters and what made each one tick. The only one that didn’t really come alive to me was Kelly, who seemed like a slightly bland vehicle for the plot, some of the time, but this didn’t make me like the book less. Tyson is sexy and sinister, Joyce is ghastly, Day was lovely but infuriating, Welch revolting… the rest all came across so well.
The plot itself did not throw up many surprises for me, but it’s so well written that it kept me wanting to turn the pages. Recommended for anyone who likes a sharp thriller ~ oh, and I smiled to see the mention of 70s band It’s A Beautiful Day. I didn’t think anyone but me had heard of them, but perhaps that’s a UK thing!
Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Great review!
(Oh and Terry–not saying either one of us is old, but I could probably recite lyrics to “White Bird”…)
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Ha ha! Yeah, it’s just a number, right?!
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Great review, Terry. I liked Animal as a character as well – and sometimes wanted to shake Kelly!
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I didn’t want to do anything much with her, she didn’t ‘happen’ for me at all – it’s such a personal thing, isn’t it? Yes, Animal was very well done 🙂
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Reblogged this on The Little Blue Balloon.
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This one did intrigue me for sure. Thanks, Terry!
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A sharp, precise review. I’m intrigued. Thank you. 🙂
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Thank you so much for posting this review.
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Pingback: Rosie’s #BookReview Team #RBRT DARKROOM by Mary Maddox @Dreambeast7 #amreading – Journal of my Creative Life
Great review, Terry. Pinned & shared. 🙂
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Glad you found it well-written. However, I do kind of prefer the plot to throw out a couple of surprises.
@dino0726 from
FictionZeal – Impartial, Straightforward Fiction Book Reviews
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Yes, me too. Had it contained some great unpredictable twists I would have given it another half star 🙂
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I was intrigued until you said, “The plot itself didn’t throw up many surprises for me.” I like fast-paced thrillers with plenty of twists and turns. It’s a deal-breaker for me. Or maybe, I’m misinterpreting this line.
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A great review Terry – what I really like about this book is the way everyone who has reviewed it has come at it from a different angle and had something different to say about it. That’s reviewing at it’s best 😀
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