"Here in the Dark" by Alexis Soloski left me feeling disappointed. While it started off promising, the experience quickly turned into a grueling read. The repetition, coupled with unlikable characters and a main character stuck in a cycle of repetitive, self-destructive behavior, made it difficult to finish.

Although there was a mystery at the core of the story, the explanations of the protagonist's alcohol abuse and abusive history were hard to digest. I strongly feel that serious trigger warnings are necessary for readers who may be struggling with issues like sobriety, sexual trauma, or child trauma.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this book. It could have been much shorter if the constant retelling of the same events had been trimmed down. Despite my initial excitement to read it, the book ultimately felt like it dragged on without much payoff.

Vivian Parry is a theatre critic and while she doesn’t necessarily have a stage presence, her life is one of ups and downs. A little blurred around the edges, she does what she can to take the sting off of life. When she meets graduate student David Adler, who later disappears, Vivian is flung into a world of intrigue and investigation – and at some times, dressing up for a role. She wants, no, needs to find out what happened to David and his whereabouts but things aren’t going to be easy…

This is an okay read about Vivienne, a NY-based theatre critic who find herself caught up in a missing person case. Vivienne is a complex character, someone who lives alone, with few friends (eccentric Justine is the only real friend she has) and no family. When David Alder gets in touch to request a f2f interview as part of his studies, she reluctantly agrees.

Much of the novel sees Vivienne trying to get to the bottom of what has happened to David - she is, apparently, the last person to see him alive. She infiltrates the gambling company he worked for (LBAL); she does all she can to figure out what’s happened. The twist in the novel is interesting, although implausible, but who’s to say such a thing couldn’t happen? I won’t spoil it for future readers but Vivienne ends out on top which twists what happens again, showing that even the most damaged person can have success.

Thank you for the ARC.

Here in the Dark is a psychological suspense novel following the life of young theatre critic Vivian Parry. Renowned for her cutting reviews of New York's latest theatre productions, Vivian isn’t exactly the most popular person in the industry.

Vivian’s world takes an unexpected and unnerving turn when she is contacted by a young man for an interview on her career in theatre. She reluctantly accepts and immediately finds herself exposed in ways she wasn’t expecting.

When her interviewee goes missing and she is the last person to see him alive, Vivian takes it upon herself to find out why.

Vivienne was a very strong character, albeit very similar to the protagonist from My Year of Rest and Relaxation - ie the milky coffee consumption, the reliance on alcohol and prescriptions etc. I found her inner dialogue to be very funny and I enjoyed being part of the investigation as she made sense of things.

What stood out for me was the dark humor and witticisms. It is clear the author is very clever and has a strong, new voice that I can't wait to hear more from.

The weak plot is what knocked two stars off this book for me. I was 75% of the way through and didn’t really care what happened in the end.

This is much deeper and darker than I expected and a very good read. The main protagonist is Vivian Parry a New York theatre critic known for her acerbic reviews. Vivian is a rather sad damaged person whose life revolves around her work, alcohol, drugs and having sexual encounters with strangers. She thinks her life is fine, and that her addictions are well hidden, but she is desperate for a promotion at work and when a graduate student asks to interview her she thinks it could further her career so agrees. A slow burn psychological thriller which examines the dark side of theatre.

Briefly, after interviewing Vivian, David Adler disappears and his fiancée comes to see Vivian, the last person to see David before he went missing. With the police unwilling to act his fiancée hires a private detective and asks Vivian to tell him about her meeting with David. Vivian becomes strangely obsessed with finding this man she barely knew putting herself in possible danger.

Vivian is a complex character with few likeable qualities, her life before ‘the present’ is gradually revealed giving some insight to her personality, but there is nothing to excuse her current behaviours. The story is very well constructed and I can honestly say that I was completely blindsided by the big reveal. A well written dark and disturbing story that had me gripped to the pages until the shocking end.

Vivian Parry is a successful theatre critic, known for her vicious put-downs and acerbic comments. She is angling for the role of chief critic at the publication she works for and is in competition with Caleb Jones, the other junior critic. Her editor suggests she try to be more positive, but you sense that she finds this difficult. Depressed since the death of her mother, she has one close friend but relies heavily on drugs and drink and for the darkness of the theatre, where she immerses herself in the world she loves.

It is her attempts to be more likeable, in order to achieve the coveted role of chief critic, which leads to her agreeing to an interview with David Adler, who claims to be writing a thesis on theatre critics. However, the interview goes badly, he seems to have done a little too much research, unearthing some secrets that Vivian would prefer others not to know. Excusing herself, she watches him walk from the café where they met and head into a park. Later, she hears from Adler’s fiancée, who claims he vanished after their meeting. Without quite understanding why, Vivian becomes involved in the investigation into what happened to him.

I must have read too many books, as I felt too many clues to what was going on were revealed too quickly and I felt – correctly – that I knew where the story was going. Saying that, I did like Vivian. She may not have been perfect, but I found her damaged character poignant, if not quite sympathetic. I too enjoy the theatre and perhaps that warmed me to Vivian’s desire to hide in the darkness and watch in anonymity. Not quite a four star for me, but definitely a 3.5. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

I think this is an excellent mix of noir, psychological thriller and description of the world of theatre.
I wasn't a fan of Vivian but appreciated how the author developed this complex, frail and grieven character who's trying to stop feeling and uses theatre obsession, drugs and alcohol.
It's not a fast paced and action packed thriller, it's a slow burning story that keeps you on the edge because you want to know what happened and what will happen.
The author is a good storyteller and I think this is a recommended read
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Vivian Parry is a harsh New York Theatre critic.
She is asked to be interviewed by a graduate student David Adler.
A few weeks after the interview Vivian finds out that David has since gone missing and that she was the last person to see him.
Vivian takes it upon herself to investigate what has happened to David but finds that what she’s looking into is a lot closer to home than she thinks.

I really enjoyed this book. I found the first half of the book to be quite slow but once I hit about half way through I couldn’t put the book down.
The ending has left me wanting to find out more!

I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Raven Books for letting me read this advanced copy.

The mystery and darkness kept the novel tense with the suspense building throughout. I enjoyed it overall.

Theatre critics may have a reputation for being failed actors, but Vivian Parry gives the performance of her life every time she steps outside her front door. Living for the few hours a day that she loses herself in the theatre, Vivian spends the rest of her time writing razor-sharp reviews and numbing herself with alcohol and pills. But when Vivian agrees to give an interview in the hopes that it will help her get the promotion she dreams of, the interviewer seems to see right through her performance, before vanishing and leaving Vivian with questions she can't bear to leave unanswered. As Vivian disrupts her carefully ordered life to investigate her interviewer's disappearance, she finds herself losing her grip on what is real and what is just theatre.

Here in the Dark is a slow-burn thriller that took me a little while to get into, but by the second half had me completely gripped. Vivian is a fascinating character, and I enjoyed the way the story peels back the layers on her life. For the first half of the book (and this isn't a long book), I found the writing engaging, the characters interesting, and the plot promising, but the reveals a little slow. But once I reached the halfway point, I was completely unable to put this book down.

The plot summary of Here in the Dark hits some familiar beats, but the story always felt real and interesting, and I particularly loved the references to the theatre, which give depth to the story. Protagonists seeking a way to numb their existence don't always appeal to me, as I find them unrelatable, but I was completely invested in Vivian Parry. I loved her ambiguity and unlikability, and I felt fully immersed in her thoughts and experiences. There are lots of things to love about this one - for me, I particularly enjoyed the scene with the Private Investigator - but its the ending that I can't stop thinking about.