"Powerful, beautiful and not for the faint-hearted. "
Plenty of books fit into the ‘Small town, big secrets’ genre, but for my money this is one of the best. Set in the poorest part of the Missouri Ozarks, the story follows Eve Taggert as she sets out on an all-consuming quest for justice after her daughter is found murdered on the town playground next to the body of her best friend. Eve is a mother with nothing left to lose and her search for the killer leads her into the very darkest depths of the human psyche.
The small, hardscrabble town of Barren Springs is brilliantly portrayed, as is Eve herself – a pleasingly complex protagonist grappling with her own family demons. The story also has some great twists and packs a real emotional punch. Powerful, beautiful and not for the faint-hearted.
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
| Other Genres: |
Win an Escape Challenge and a copy of The Spy and the Snake by M J Robotham
Closing date: 02/08/2026
Sometimes it's better not to ask questions. Sometimes it's better not to know.
Eve Taggert's life has been spent steadily climbing away from her roots. Her mother, a hard and cruel woman who dragged her up in a rundown trailer park, was not who she wanted to be to her own daughter, Junie.
But 12-year old Junie is now dead. Found next to the body of her best friend in the park of their small, broken town. Eve has nothing left but who she used to be.
Despite the corrupt police force that patrol her dirt-poor town deep in the Missouri Ozarks, Eve is going to find what happened to her daughter. Even if it means using her own mother's cruel brand of strength to unearth secrets that don't want to be discovered and face truths it might be better not to know.
Everyone is a suspect.
Everyone has something to hide.
And someone will answer for her daughter's murder.
From the bestselling author of The Roanoke Girls, The Familiar Dark is a spellbinding story about the bonds of family as well as a story about how even the darkest and most terrifying of places can provide the comfort of home. The Familiar Dark will blow you away.
The Familiar Dark features in the following genres: Crime and Mystery, Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Thriller and Suspense, Psychological thriller
The Familiar Dark is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Familiar Dark was written by Amy Engel and published by Hodder an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton
The Familiar Dark has 238 pages
£9.89
