The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.
    There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.
    Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.
    Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.
    But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.
    Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

Goodreads Summary

I can't turn down a good mystery and when I saw this book at ALA I didn't need convincing to pick up this book! It was a little hard to get to know Tessa in the beginning. She's a bit of a prickly pear as far as main characters come. Paranoid and clever, she will lead the reader through the mystery full of twists and turns. It was fun connecting past events to present issues that connect with the mystery. The author is a master at fooling the reader (me, at least!) into believing that the culprit is someone it is not. I repeatedly thought I knew the answer to the mystery, but the ending still surprised me. I liked how the author tied up all of the loose ends and chose an unusual, yet ideal (for the plot) ending.

Callie's character fit into the somber, gloomy vibe that the novel, at time, gave off. This book feels like it was written in a graveyard, but that aspect only adds to the appeal. I felt bad for her. She had alcohol problems and a bad case of "running from the past." Tessa was a pretty good friend to her. They had their problems, but the two were thick as thieves for the most part. I liked how the author chose to canvas the friendship instead of giving in to the more typical "love interest" that is so prevalent in young adult books. Overall, this book was a fun and intriguing read.

4 stars

The INTRO, and EXCERPT were revealed on EntertainmentWeekly.com and linked to our IMMERSIVE dedicated websiteTheDarkestCornersBook.com, which features original content to build intrigue around the string of girls who have gone missing along the Ohio River in Fayette.

NOW TheDarkestCornersBook.com website includes a teaser video and new original article by author Kara Thomas, check it out!

The cultural obsession of Making a Murderer, Serial, and The Jinx show a growing hunger for dark, psychological thrillers and this is the book that will satisfy. Readers won't be able to stop turning the pages of THE DARKEST CORNERS.

THE DARKEST CORNERS (Delacorte Press For Young Readers/ On sale April 19, 2016 / Ages 14 and up)

« “Thomas carefully crafts the suspense, leaving present-tense narrator Tessa—and readers—to doubt even those she loves the most… An unsettling story of loss, lies, and violence lurking in the shadows of a small town.”

—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

A tight, twisted thriller, full of deft reversals and disturbing revelations--deeply, compulsively satisfying!”

—Brenna Yovanoff, New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement 

"As dark as Gillian Flynn and as compulsive as Serial...Kara Thomas's mystery debut is intricate, chilling, and deeply compelling. Unforgettable!”

—Laura Salters, author of Run Away

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KARA THOMAS lives on Long Island, where she writes full-time. To learn more about Kara and her books, visit her at kara-thomas.com and follow @karatwrites on Twitter.

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