Welcome to a tour with Novel Publicity. Today I’d like to share with you my thoughts on the newest novel from Mary Maddox.
Darkroom is dark. There are some very warped people in the world, and Mary Maddox writes them extremely well. Their callousness is chilling. But there’s gold beneath the horror.
A story of multiple murders and high-end drug dealing populated by cruel and ruthless people could be depressing, but it isn’t because Maddox pits these characters against an ordinary woman with a strong sense of right and wrong and the determination to stay alive and make sure the bad guys end up where they should, i.e., behind bars. The story inspires by assuring us that if we use our head and know when to call the cops, we can do all right even against the worst kinds of criminals. For Maddox’s heroine, though things get pretty dire, there is never a moment when everything is completely hopeless. She always finds something that she can do, and never once is the plot unrealistic or contrived.
Ms Maddox is a talented author. The plot is never predictable, the characters are complex and believable and her prose flows with beauty and clarity. The book has the added bonus of pushing us to ask ourselves: how strong would we be if faced with similar circumstances?
5 stars.
There’s a release week sale on, so grab your copy of Darkroom before the price goes up!
More about the book:
There’s plenty of room for another grave in the mountains . . .
Talented but unstable photographer Day Randall has been living rent-free in Kelly Durrell’s
Colorado condo for eight months. Day needs someone to keep an eye on her. Kelly needs
someone to draw her out of her stable but not spectacular life. The arrangement works for both
of them.
Then Kelly comes home one day to find Day gone. There’s no note, no phone call. Day’s car is
still parked out front, but her room is starkly, suspiciously spotless.
No one seems to care. The police certainly aren’t interested in a missing bipolar artist, but Kelly
knows something is wrong. Day wouldn’t just leave.
Alone, Kelly traces Day’s last steps through shadowy back rooms of Boulder nightclubs and to a
remote mountain estate, where the wealthy protect themselves behind electric fences and
armed guards. Along the way, she uncovers a sinister underworld lying just below the mountain
snow, and a group of powerful people who will do anything to protect the secrets hidden in
Day’s enigmatic photographs.
If she trusts the wrong person, Kelly herself will be the next to disappear.
“. . . tight, compelling, and convincing writing that is also witty and insightful.”
— Jon A. Jackson, author of Hit on the House and No Man’s Dog
“I couldn’t put this novel down. Darkroom is suspenseful and beautifully written. Kelly Durrell is a
deftly-drawn, intelligent, and likable heroine.”
— Daiva Markelis, author of White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life
“. . . unexpected plot twists and suspenseful action. The murder mystery is dark and menacing,
and the characters are multi-faceted.”
— RT Source
About the author:
Mary Maddox is a horror and dark fantasy novelist with what The Charleston Times-Courier
calls a “Ray Bradbury-like gift for deft, deep-shadowed description.” Born in Soldiers Summit,
high in the mountains of Utah, Maddox graduated with honors in creative writing from Knox
College, and went on to earn an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She taught
writing at Eastern Illinois University and has published stories in various journals, including
Yellow Silk, Farmer’s Market, The Scream Online, and The Huffington Post. The Illinois Arts
Council has honored her fiction with a Literary Award and an Artist’s Grant.
Connect with Mary:
Her website
Thank you for the kind review and for featuring Darkroom.
I think it’s a great book. I love the way your protagonist doesn’t give up. Against all odds, she retains her moral fibre.