Review: THE WOMAN IN DARKNESS, Charlie Donlea

• 
  this edition published by Penguin Australia 2019
• made available by my local library
  
• ISBN 978-0-14379-515-5
• 291 pages

Synopsis (publisher)

Charlie Donlea's chilling new suspense thriller is the story of two women, separated by forty years, yet both inextricably linked by a series of horrific murders that took place in 1979.

"She wondered if the mysterious woman had chosen darkness. Or if darkness had chosen her."

As a forensic reconstructionist, Rory Moore sheds light on cold-case homicides by piecing together details others fail to see. And while cleaning out her late father’s law office, she takes a call that plunges her into a forty-year-old mystery.

In the summer of 1979, five Chicago women went missing. The predator, nicknamed The Thief, left no bodies and no clues behind - until police received a package from a mysterious woman named Angela Mitchell, which uncovered his identity. But before police could question her, Angela disappeared.

Forty years later, The Thief is about to be paroled for Angela’s murder – the only killing the DA could pin on him. But a cryptic file found in her father’s office suggests to Rory there is more to the case than anyone knew.

Soon Rory is helplessly entangled in the enigma of Angela Mitchell and what happened to her. Drawing connections between the past and present, she uncovers dark truths about the reclusive woman, her own father, and the man called The Thief.

But not even Rory is prepared for the terrifying secrets about to emerge…

My Take

When Rory Moore's father dies she is surprised to learn that for the last 40 years he has been providing services for The Thief, suspected of being a serial killer. Now The Thief is about to be paroled, 20 years early, and Rory's father was to have managed the conditions of his release. He appears to be a reformed character, but is he?

He was convicted of killing his wife but no body has ever been found, and it is only his wife's investigations that link Thomas Mitchell to the other deaths. 

Rory is drawn into investigating what happened to Angela Miller, and her research reveals some surprises.

This novel leads down some surprising paths: a very engaging read.

This certainly won't be the last book I read by this author.

(BTW I was surprised to find that the author is male)

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Charlie Donlea is a USA Today bestselling author who has been praised as a 'bold new writer…on his way to becoming a major figure in the world of suspense' (Publishers Weekly). He was born and raised in Chicago, where he continues to live with his wife and two young children. He is the author of Summit Lake, The Girl Who Was Taken, Don't Believe It, The Woman in Darkness (published elsewhere as Some Choose Darkness) and The Suicide House.