Exploring lives on the brink of disaster, R. J. Jacobs returns with another compulsively readable novel of suspense for fans of B. A. Paris and Mary Kubica.Do the mistakes of the past mark us as guilty for life?After a childhood marred by neglect, Jessie Duval’s finally got it together. With an apartment in Nashville and a job with a catering company, she’s thriving.But all that changes when … thriving.
But all that changes when Jessie works an event where celebrities will be in attendance–including the one person from her past she must avoid at all costs: singer Shelly James. Jessie doesn’t hate Shelly. Quite the opposite. One summer, she followed Shelly’s tour everywhere. Only, Shelly wasn’t flattered; she was terrified by Jessie’s devotion–especially after Jessie was arrested. But after a year of therapy, Jessie understands what happened. She’s not the same person anymore.
Jessie keeps her head down, but when Shelly is found dead, Jessie’s troubled past comes tumbling out and she quickly becomes a suspect in the high-profile murder. As the police close in on her, ignoring other credible leads, Jessie realizes Shelly’s murder will be pinned on her–the perfect scapegoat–unless she finds the real killer. And no one knows Shelly’s life and inner circle better than her. But she will have to go deeper into the dark–if ever she wants to find her way out.
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Jessie Duval is a unique teenager. Just 19 years old, she’s spend some time behind bars… not for the usual drugs or alcohol. When she was a child, she was locked in a room with no windows for over a year. Once a day, someone would bring her a plate of food and a clean pot. She slept on a concrete floor with only a disc player. She lived with the music of Shelley and Owen James .. a country music duo. In her mind, they became her family.
When she was rescued and she spent some time with a therapist, she started following the James’ …. not to hurt them or scare them, but just to be close to her ‘family’. Her childhood abuse left her terrified of the dark and she couldn’t stand to be touched ..especially if she didn’t see it coming.
One night, she was discovered as she made her way to one of their concerts. A detective who was working as security grabbed her and she went crazy, grabbing a knife she carried for protection and cutting his arm.
But now she has moved on. She works for a caterer, has her own apartment, her own car. She still sees her therapist .. the one person she feels she can trust.
When Shelly James is murdered, Jessie is the prime suspect …. she was on the job working at the home of the James’. She had tried desperately to get out of going, but her boss put her in a bad position ..especially as he has no knowledge of her background.
Fearful of not being believed, she runs … right into the very detective who arrested her the first time. She’s wary, but he seems to listen to her, trying to understand.
So what did happen to Shelly James that night? Who would have wanted her dead? A husband she no longer loved? A daughter she fought with constantly? An old boyfriend …a new boyfriend …. a manager who may be stealing from her?
Do the mistakes of the past mark us as guilty for life?
It’s extremely well written, with lots of page-turning action. Characters are skillfully drawn. Twists and turns to keep you riveted to each and every page lead to an unexpected conclusion. Suspects are many and varied. This was a most interesting book.
Many thanks to the author / Crooked Lane Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
#Somewhere In The Dark # R.J. Jacobs
Thank-you to NetGalley and R.J. Jacobs for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Somewhere in the Dark is an intriguing story that pulls you in and keeps you interested throughout. The main character, Jesse, is a foster care child searching for a home and a family. She is an engaging and likable character who you find yourself rooting for. She is locked in a dark closet for a year, around age 11, and has disabilities that result from this time of abuse. She copes with this by telling herself stories in her head, sharping her other senses and listening to the only CD she has of Owen and Shelly James, who are famous singers. When she finally gets out, she follows them for a year through their concert series across the country. She is arrested and serves time for stalking. After she is released, Jesse tries to turn her life around by living a simple life on her own. She takes a job as a caterer, sees Ms. Parson, her counselor, has her own small apartment and for the most part, keeps to herself. She still buys memorabilia related to the James’s and watches them and their adopted daughter, Finch, on occasion. Everything is going well until her catering company is hired for a party where the James’ are guest. As a result of that party, the James then hire the catering company as well. A murder transpires and she is seen as the main suspect. Other enchanting characters are entwined in the mix and the further the investigation goes the more entangled it becomes. This is a fun read that engages the reader with interesting and well developed characters. I highly recommend this book!
I freaking loved this book and I’d love to have a physical copy of it This was quite the adventurous psychological thriller I’ve read so far, it kept me hooked from page one. I took my time reading this, absorbing every little pieces of this dynamic situation to figure out what and how. It kept me guessing and it was a big blow to my face when I didn’t realize the facts was right there! The suspense was gripping me to the core and I felt alot of sympathy for Jessie who went through so much, it killed me when nothing was going in the right direction for her! The story that explained how her reality was different from the world reality itself was like looking through her eyes. This is my first book I’ve read of this author and I plan on reading his past work, I really enjoyed the writing style and the pace of this one was slow-burning with thrill and suspense but done the right way I want to say, for me at least
For me this book started off sort of slow, but as the book progressed it did pick up speed. This was a new author for me, but it was one of my favorite genres and I am always in search of new authors to fall in love with. The story follows Jessie whom has had a horrible child hood, and bears the scars to prove it. This book will leave you guessing until the end. I would recommend it to others.
I received a ARC from NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books and the author and am under no obligation to leave a good review, all opinions expressed here are my own.
Jessie Duval has had a historic childhood. Listening to Shelley and Owen James CD is the only thing that kept her grounded. Once she was old enough o be on her own, she followed their tour from city to city until the last night, when everything went wrong. Charged with stalking and a restraining in ordered, one year later she has everything back on track. Until Shelley is murdered and the police think she is the killer. Set in Nashville, Shelley and Owen James are country music royalty. Jessie has been obsessed with them, wishing and believing they were her family.. This was a fast paced read. A good mystery of who killed Shelley, and Jessie trying to prove it. Because of her upbringing, Jessie has difficulties with words, difficulties connecting emotionally with people, trust issues and doesn’t like to be touched. She is also naïve and gullible, which made me feel bad for her. I really enjoyed Jessie’s “closet story and found I wanted to read more about it. This is a solid story that I would recommend if your looking for a good mystery. This is due to be released on August 11th, 2020.
Thank you R.J. Jacobs, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Jessie is recovering from a severely traumatic childhood, including a year when she was locked in a dark closet with nothing but a Discman and a country music CD to entertain her. She’s still obsessed with those country singers, whose warm family image promises everything she hopes for, but is under court order to stay away from them after an incident at a concert. But Jessie also has to maintain her catering job, which takes her to her idols’ home one night to work as a server. Jessie becomes the prime suspect when one of her idols is murdered.
This is a fascinating book. It’s not really a thriller, and it’s not really a mystery. It’s pretty clear what is going to happen and what did happen. But it was still a page-turner for me. Jessie is a winning character. She is immediately engaging and sympathetic. The author is a psychologist, which lent detail and credibility to his description of Jessie’s confinement and the effects of the confinement. The suspense lies in whether and how Jessie will be able to break free of those effects sufficiently to clear her name. I was rooting for Jessie all the way.
One nit: I didn’t like the author’s device of having Jessie search for words and then immediately put her finger on exactly the right one. It seemed implausible (when words are on the tip of your tongue, they tend to linger there a while), and it grew irritating.
A quick, compulsive read. Recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.