Darkness Hides

Someone she knows is watching.
Someone she knows is stalking.
And something hides in the darkness.

About Darkness Hides

Someone she knows is watching.
Someone she knows is stalking.
And something hides in the darkness.

With a Category 4 hurricane about to make landfall, boat safety instructor Kate Parks is running out of time. Bodies are piling up–and they’re not from the raging storm. An injury may have ended her career as a Fish and Wildlife officer, but nothing can keep her away from the investigation.

And it doesn’t take long for her to see that the clues have one thing in common: a connection to the recent death of her five-year-old nephew.

In a brewing storm of rage, guilt, and family secrets, Kate fights to protect her grieving sister just as the hurricane threatens everything she knows and loves. But before her world is completely ravaged, she must uncover one final truth:

Run from the water.
Hide from the wind.
Flee from the shadows where a weeper seeks revenge.

My Thoughts

Darkness Hides is an intense novel from start to finish, that leaves you on the edge of your seat and never knowing quite what to expect next.

At the center of our story is Kate’s family and the death of her nephew. Her nephew was killed in a car collision due to a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road. This has split the family apart but as you read the novel, you don’t realize exactly how far and how many people his death has touched. Slowly, individuals involved in the legal team that defended the man who killed her nephew, start to turn up dead and an item is left at each crime scene, one that Kate is not quite sure how to interpret but is pointing to her own family.

Who is the killer? With so many possibilities, you are left on the edge of your seat. Kate wants to protect her family but can she mentally handle the outcome when the evidence points at the possibility of one of her own family members taking revenge into their own hands?

Who is trying to protect her family? In all of this madness, death and even an incoming hurricane, there appears to be someone trying to protect Kate and her sister. But who loves them enough to do so? Who knows enough about their past to want to protect them?

I loved how our characters and plot developed throughout the story. I did not want to put the novel down as the story evolved so quickly. You learn a little bit more about each person’s past and the connection they have to Kate and her nephew. You are guessing who you think could be the murdered but you realize that you don’t ever truly know what is going to come next (which to me is the best part!). It is an intense story of guilt, forgiveness and even mental illness. The ending blew me away but it was a perfect ending for this story. This is a definite must read novel.

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and Sun Bury Press.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

JC Gatlin lives in Tampa, Florida, and writes mystery novels that include sunny Florida locales and quirky locals as characters. His last novel, H_NGM_N: Murder is the Word, won the coveted Florida Royal Palm Literary Award for Best Mystery in 2019. He is active in the Florida Writer’s Association and is a board member on the Florida Writer’s Foundation, a charity organization that fights illiteracy.

You can connect with him on his website and Facebook.

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Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.