A secluded mountain lodge. The perfect getaway. So remote no one will ever find you.The promise of a luxury vacation at a secluded wilderness spa has brought together eight lucky guests. But nothing is what they were led to believe. As a fierce storm barrels down and all contact with the outside is cut off, the guests fear that it’s not a getaway. It’s a trap.Each one has a secret. Each one has … a secret. Each one has something to hide. And now, as darkness closes in, they all have something to fear—including one another.
Alerted to the vanished party of strangers, homicide cop Mason Deniaud and search and rescue expert Callie Sutton must brave the brutal elements of the mountains to find them. But even Mason and Callie have no idea how precious time is. Because the clock is ticking, and one by one, the guests of Forest Shadow Lodge are being hunted. For them, surviving becomes part of a diabolical game.
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With shades of the Agatha Christie mystery, And Then There Were None, this was an enjoyable read.
When a group of people, each with their own secret, are lured to a secluded ‘holiday resort’, you know the outcome isn’t going to be good.
This book jumps between the events at the resort, where the guests are targeted, and become distrustful of each other, not knowing who’s behind their predicament, or who will be next to die, and the law enforcement/search and rescue team who are trying to find the missing group.
In The Dark is a compelling, fast paced mystery that kept me guessing.
Holy crap. What did I just read?! This book was amazing. It was written amazing. The plot was mind blowing. The execution of the plot was fabulous. I was surprised at every turn. Have I used enough adjectives to describe how awesome this book was?!
The amount of players in this book were astounding but Loreth kept them well separated and easy to figure out who was who. The way the book played out was executed well. I have loved every book that I have read by Loreth Anne White. This book was no exception. If you love a good mystery novel, this one is for you.
In the Dark is an intense, edge of your seat thriller that kept me guessing until the end. At first it was a bit challenging to get used to the author’s writing style as she kept jumping from past to present to past and had a ton of characters to keep track of but once I adapted to that style of writing, it was smooth sailing and I was able to immerse myself into the storyline.
Even though there was no romance in this story, the author did build up the potential for a possible romance between Mason and Callie sometime down the road. I look forward to reading more about these two.
4.25 stars-IN THE DARK by Loreth Ann White is a contemporary, adult, stand alone, mystery thriller akin to Agatha Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (aka Ten Little Indians).
Told from several third person and first person perspectives following two timelines, IN THE DARK follows homicide cop Mason Deniaud and search and rescue expert Callie Sutton as they are called into a potential crime scene where a plane and its’ ‘pilot’ have been found in the BC forest, a pilot with obvious signs of knife wounds in her neck. What ensues is the search for the truth, and the discovery that more than one person fell victim to a masterful game.
Loreth Anne White pulls the reader into a mystery thriller as we are up close and personal with a group of people who have been invited to the opening of a new high-end lodge and spa in the BC wilderness , a group of people connected by sins of the past. From a PI to a former police officer, to a doctor, a business woman and her husband, a former prostitute, a one-time newscaster, and an airline pilot, the fated group will slowly succumbed to a game of revenge and betrayal, secrets and lies. Having willingly walked into a trap, the guests become pawns and prey to a killer, and the wilderness alike.
IN THE DARK is a story of intrigue and mystery; of revenge and retribution; of secrets and lies; of circumstance and opportunity. The premise is entertaining, sensational, and electrifying ; the characters are numerous, dynamic, and fated to die.
A loose interpretation of Ten Little Indians, White will keep you guessing throughout the entire novel. Mason and Callie will draw you in from the beginning. This one was really tough to put down. Great job, Loreth!
Revenge: Is it Sweet?
5 star rating for outstanding writing, plot twists, and characters.
MATURE audiences
Language: As other writers have noted, the story contains numerous F-bombs, to the point where they are tiresome and lose their impact. The author clearly has an extensive vocabulary and could have put it to use without succumbing to current trends of (What?) trying to be gritty, or relevant, or whatever makes authors assault us with their repetition .
As far as I recall few other objectionable words or phrases were used. Why this one word?
Violence and psychological tension: Yes. Most readers will find it acceptable.
Children: Several characters have children about whom they are worrying or over whose loss they are continuing to grieve. These passages are well written enough that some readers might want to pass over this story.
Sex: There are one or two paragraphs that are not sensuous. They are unpleasant accounts, mostly because of just plain icky detail.
Plot no spoilers:
Set in northern British Colombia, 9 people are invited to an all-expense-paid preview of a new luxury resort. All have been lured by the possibility of expanding their own businesses.
Once they get there, the location is NOTHING like they expected and all circumstances point to them being the victims of some kind of horrible hoax — or is it a trap?
Included are plentiful references mostly to Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None,” but also to her novel “Murder on the Orient Express.” If you’ve read these you can see how the plot intertwines the two. Ms. Christie, however, always wrote with more restraint. The deed would have been done, but readers are not subjected to gory details.
My recommendation: Because I, personally, found the story disturbing, use your own good judgement. Understand that I’m not a fan of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” type movies or even “Carrie.”
Quite the homage to Agatha Christie and her novel “And then there were none”, also known as “Ten little Indians”. A puzzle within a puzzle as Christie wrote it, Loreth does an admiral job and makes this a book you can’t put down.
First if all, the way nine people are expected to take a plane to a secluded lodge and end up with eight passengers is perfect. And the list of lucky people picked includes a plastic surgeon, an ex-cop, a pilot with a tragic past, a couple with ties to the surgeon and more.
Second, the location she describes is not only remote but scary, intimidating, and just gives you a bad vibe…very atmospheric! You don’t know if you should enter the lodge or just hide outside it!
Mason is the cop and Callie is from search and rescue and together they must take their teams out in the wilderness during a storm and find these missing people. No flight was filed, the location and lodge look nothing like the pictures, the web site has disappeared, and there does not seem to be a connection between the people. And yet, the plane is found with a dead person in it…..the pilot or a passenger?
Callie is dealing with her son Ben and her hubby, Paul, and his accident. Mason is dealing with his own personal losses and keeping his new job. Each of the eight people at the old lodge are distinctive and hiding things from the past. And people are dying.
Who is behind it and is it one of them or someone hiding in the woods?
You almost have to plan on reading this in one night as it pulls you in and you fear for your own favorite character. The search is dangerous and the tension of dealing with the elements including wolves, bears or man is ripe with scares. Grab a blanket as you’ll become chilled as the cold water, snow and wind take a toll….because the author takes you there. 5 stars
I haven’t read one book by this author that I didn’t love!