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Book Summary and Reviews of Darkness, My Old Friend by Lisa Unger

Darkness, My Old Friend by Lisa Unger

Darkness, My Old Friend

A Novel

by Lisa Unger

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • Published:
  • Aug 2011, 368 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

After giving up his post at the Hollows Police Department, Jones Cooper is at loose ends. He is having trouble facing a horrible event from his past and finding a second act. He's in therapy. Then, on a brisk October morning, he has a visitor. Eloise Montgomery, the psychic who plays a key role in Fragile, comes to him with predictions about his future, some of them dire.

Michael Holt, a young man who grew up in The Hollows, has returned looking for answers about his mother, who went missing many years earlier. He has hired local PI Ray Muldune and psychic Eloise Montgomery to help him solve the mystery that has haunted him. What he finds might be his undoing.

Fifteen-year-old Willow Graves is exiled to The Hollows from Manhattan when six months earlier she moved to the quiet town with her novelist mother after a bitter divorce.  Willow is acting out, spending time with kids that bring out the worst in her. And when things get hard, she has a tendency to run away - a predilection that might lead her to dark places.

Set in The Hollows, the backdrop for Fragile, this is the riveting story of lives set on a collision course with devastating consequences. The result is Lisa Unger's most compelling fiction to date.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"A satisfying story with an eclectic and interesting cast of characters and believable dialogue. Unger shows her usual deftness at intricate plotting and explores the mother-child relationship from multiple angles..." - Kirkus Reviews

"The edgy suspense that marked Cooper's appearance in Fragile (2010) is lacking here. Unger concentrates instead on an odd assortment of secondary characters, varied enough to capture attention despite connections that remain awkwardly tenuous." - Booklist

"As with Fragile, the secluded nature of the town easily lends itself to long-gestating secrets, which Unger handles much better in this follow-up that's as much about uncovering the past as it is about accepting the future." - Publishers Weekly

"Starred Review. Verdict...one of Unger's best thrillers yet." - Library Journal

"Darkness, My Old Friend is deeply plotted and complex and carries an undeniable momentum. Lisa Unger's enthralling cast of characters pulled me right in and locked me down tight. This is one book that will have you racing to the last page, only to have you wishing the ride wasn't over." - Michael Connelly

"Lisa Unger is one of my favorite authors. She gets better and better with each book." - Karin Slaughter, New York Times Bestselling author of Fallen

"The beauty of this unconventional crime novel is that focus is not on whodunit but the darkness that drives us." - Family Circle

This information about Darkness, My Old Friend was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Diane S.

Darkness my Old Friend by Lisa Unger
Four threads tie together in this psychological suspense novel. Elois the psychic from Unger's previous novel Fragile. plays a prominent role in this one and she is a character that I find very interesting. Also Jones Cooper attempts to find a new phase in his life after leaving the police dept. and is of course embroiled in these story lines. Secrets, how the past affects the future and a young girl attempting to come to terms with her new home and life are the main basis of this book.

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Author Information

Lisa Unger Author Biography

Photo: Tanya Sharkey

Lisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of twenty novels, including Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six, Last Girl Ghosted, and Confessions on the 7:45 — now in development at Netflix, starring Jessica Alba. With books published in thirty-two languages and millions of copies sold worldwide, she is regarded as a master of suspense.

Unger's critically acclaimed novels have been featured on "Best Book" lists from the Today Show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times and many others. She has been nominated for, or won, numerous awards including the Strand Critics, Audie, Hammett, Macavity, ITW Thriller, and Goodreads Choice. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award ...

... Full Biography
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Link to Lisa Unger's Website

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