The Familiar Dark

The Roanoke Girls was one of my books of its year so to say I was keen to get into The Familiar Dark would be putting it mildly.

For good reason it turns out – this novel is short but packs one hell of a punch, I devoured it over two sittings, one of those books you feel rather than read. Main protagonist Evie immediately grabbed my soul, a young mother determined to do better than her own, who none the less suffers the most unimaginable loss. Her grief, her anger is palpable, Amy Engel’s razor sharp insightful prose creating layer after layer of emotional resonance.

This is the tale of one woman’s journey out of, then back into darkness – the cleverly authentic setting is deeply integral to forming the people who live in it. The loss of her daughter drives Evie back towards those toxic relationships she tried to leave behind, her one focus to destroy the life that destroyed hers and took her daughter, every step of the way you are right there with her.

Deeply held secrets come to light, The Familiar Dark is full of very bad people who occasionally do the right thing and seemingly good people who hide their own demons, every nuance of human nature is here wrapped up in a hugely addictive piece of storytelling. The end, when it comes, is extraordinarily horrific in its reality and leaves you melancholy and full of feeling.

This was brilliant. All the way. Don’t miss it in 2020.

Highly Recommended.

When I read The Roanoke Girls a few years back I liked It, but I loved The Familiar Dark. The Familiar Dark was raw and powerful and left me wanting more. It was one of those books you finish and want to read it again straight away.

One of the things that was impressive about it was that the basic outline of the story is quite basic – a mother wanting to avenge her daughter’s death – but the execution felt unlike anything I had ever read.

Amy Engel managed to create a setting for the story that oozes hopelessness and desolation. Barren Springs is exactly the kind of place you would expect this story to be set. It is remote, isolated and has stunning views but underneath it all there is a seedy background of corrupt policemen and meth dealers.

When twelve-year-old Junie and her best friend are found murdered in a local playground Eve knows that she can’t rely on the police to help catch the killer. She has spent years trying to distance herself from her meth-addicted, white trash mother but now she must go back to her roots in order to find and take revenge on her daughter’s killer.

The author doesn’t shy away from the gruesome in depicting the children’s deaths.

“They died during a freak April snowstorm, blood pooling on a patchy bed of white. Afterwards, people said the killer must have kept an eye on the gathering grey clouds. Taken them as a cue to strike and picked the moment when everyone else huddled indoors…Izzy died first, dark brown hair tangled over face and one eye peering out between strands…Junie waited for a third blink that never came, watched blood unspool in the space between them.”

Eve works in a local diner and is speaking to her friend Louise about the friendship between Izzy and Junie. I like the way the author uses this conversation to illuminate the reader as to the unusual nature of this friendship.

“Those two are thick as thieves,” Louise said, and I didn’t miss the slight note of disbelief in her voice. I was used to it by now, understood that girls like Junie and girls like Izzy didn’t usually run in the same crowd. Especially not in this town, which might as well have a neon strip painted down the middle. Poor white trash on this side. Do not cross. Didn’t seem to matter that 90 per cent of the town was stranded on the wrong side.”

When Eve’s police officer brother Cal shows up at the diner, she immediately knows something is wrong. She reads the signs in his hesitating to get out the cruiser and in his body language before he even enters the building.

“Look at me,” Cal said, gentle but firm. His big-brother voice. I raised my eyes slowly, not wanting to see, not wanting to know. Cal’s eyes were red-rimmed and swollen. He’d been crying, I realised with a little electric jolt. I couldn’t remember ever seeing Caleb cry, not once in our shitty shared childhood.”

Eve knows before he speaks what he is going to say. Her childhood has prepared her to acknowledge the darker side of life.

“Is she dead?” Next to me Louise sucked in a sharp breath. That one sound letting me know that I’d gone a step too far, made a leap that Louise never would have. But Louise hadn’t grown up the same way I had. No money, yeah. Food stamps and government cheese, yeah. But no violence. Not raised in a double-wide that stank of random men and meth burners. Not strange faces and too much laughter, most of it jagged and mean. All of it nestled in the armpit of the Ozarks, a place only fifteen miles down the road but so backwater, so hidden from the wider world, that it felt like it’s own dark pocket of time.”

The whole process of identifying her daughter is made worse by the adversarial nature of her relationship with the local sheriff, sheriff Land. Everything he says and does gets her back up. Some of the things she says to him help reveal more of Eve’s troubled past with her mother to the reader.

“I thought that was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard. Women might not act out as often as men, but there were capable of anything, could be as awful and vicious as men when they wanted to be. I knew firsthand the violence that live inside women.”

Eve quickly realises that the police are not going to find the killer, so she decides to take matters into her own hands and in doing so she brings herself into contact with her abusive ex Jimmy Ray.

Barren Springs was the perfect depressing and bleak setting for this book.

“Here it was still the same old merry-go- round of drugs and poverty and women being chewed up and spit out by men. People in other worlds could wear black evening gowns and give speeches about equality and not backing down, but out here in the trenches we fought our war alone and we lost the battles every day”

One of the things that struck a chord with me the most whilst reading The Familiar Dark was the author’s observations on press conferences.

“I thought about all the press conferences I’d seen over the years, parents trotted out for missing kids, killed kids, abused kids. Everyone feels sorry for those parents, those mothers, until they don’t. Until the mothers don’t cry enough or cry too much. Until the mothers are too put-together or not put-together enough. Until the mothers are angry. Because that is the one thing women are never ever allowed to be. We can be sad, distraught, confused, pleading, forgiving. But not furious. Furious is reserved for other people. The worst thing you can be is an angry woman, an angry mother.”

Eve blames herself for not teaching Junie that the world is a dark place and wonders throughout the book if she could have done more to save her.

“I wondered if maybe a mouth like I used to have might have helped help save her. Maybe she’d have been more likely to scream. To tell someone to go fuck themselves. To fight back. Or maybe it would have only meant the knife moved faster. Truth is there’s no good way to navigate being female in this world. If you speak out, say no, stand your ground, you’re a bitch and a harpy, and whatever happens is your own fault. You had it coming. But if you smile, say yes, survive on politeness, you’re weak and desperate. An easy make. Prey in a world full of predators. There are no risk free options for women, no choices that don’t come back to smack us in the face. Junie hadn’t learnt that yet. But she would have eventually. We all do, one way or the other."

The Familar Dark is one of my favourite books of this year.

When I first read Amy Engel's The Roanoke Girls, I was intrigued by how she managed to take such a dark and taboo subject and turn it into a story which was, if not what you would call entertaining - stories of abuse seldom are - then at the very least intense and compelling to read, or in my case listen to. I was drawn to the complexity of the characters and of the way in which the author captured the essence of the small town existence. with The Familiar Dark we are treated to a story which is just as chilling, just as complex and completely engrossing from the very start.

This is the story of single mother Eve, whose daughter, Junie, is attacked and left to die in the town park, alongside her best friend Izzy. Two twelve year old girls struck down by an unknown killer, but was it someone that Eve knows or just a random stranger who took their lives? As we navigate the days following the murders, Amy Engel takes us on a roller coaster ride of emotion and suspense which had a devastating impact on not only the characters, but me as a reader too.

Eve is a very complicated character. Raised by a mother who had little compassion for her or her brother, Cal, she was someone who fought hard to do better by her daughter. Turning her back on the negative influences in her life, she was someone you could see rally tried and in spite of the fact that she could come across as emotionally distant, unable to display her feelings in the same open and git wrenching way that Izzy's parents did, I really did feel for her. The author has made her a character I could understand, even in her atypical reactions, and someone I was swilling to find the truth. She is strong, determined and focused, a product of her upbringing - perhaps even more fierce because of it.

She was a stark contrast to the people around her. Her brother, Cal, was a far more emotional character. He had. the caretaker role over his sister, stepping up when their mother wouldn't and stepping in when her attentions became violent. It was quite fitting that he became a police officer, the most together and honest of the lot of them, or so it appeared. He was the polar opposite of the Chief, a man who made the right noises about finding the killer, but someone who, nonetheless, makes the skin crawl.

This book has all the hallmarks of a dark domestic noir, the author keeping the reader on the hook with a variety of shady characters, skin crawling situations and suspense that kept me guessing until the last pages. There is a strong theme of family here - both the positive and the negative - Amy Engel never once shying away from portraying all aspects of family life. There were so many aspects that I could identify with, so many elements of the story that I feel will resonate with, and in some cases shock, the reader, that it gave a really authentic feel to the tale. It is a tough story when the murder of two children is not necessarily the hardest part of the story to read.

This is not a story of hope. There are few warm and fuzzy moments within the story, those that do surface relating to the warmth of the bond between Eve and Junie, rendered all the more emotional and powerful when put in the context of what she has lost. This is a story of the powerful nature of unconditional love, of how people may surprise you when pushed and the sacrifices that people are willing to make for those they love the most. The author keeps those surprises coming, right to the last page when it finally becomes clear that the motives of certain characters are not what you may have expected.

Yes this story is harsh at times, the narrative tinged with a deep melancholy that will have an impact upon you long after you turn that last page. There is an strong sense of place that is derived from the text and a truly authentic voice that is also tragically beautiful. In spite of everything, the very tortured nature of the story, I found that I didn't want to turn away. I wanted to keep reading - needed to know that Eve found justice for Junie. I knew that this would be a challenging read but it is a book I definitely recommend that you pick up.

My thanks to Hodder and Staughton, Amy Engel and NetGalley for the Arc.
Not a word wasted here, utterly raw, grief heart-breakingly observed. I suspected who carried out the murders but the story is so well told it didn't matter. Brilliant.

The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel opens with an unusual start to this harrowing tale, it begins at ‘the end’, it’s a powerful and haunting start to the book, and leaves the reader in no doubt that it will not be a ‘happy ever after’ kind of read. The authors poetic prose seem almost at odds with this stark plot, that features drug abuse, rural town poverty and abuse, and yet the two blend perfectly together creating a spellbinding story about the complexities of family relationships, and how even the most dysfunctional families can pull together in the face of adversary.

Set in the small rundown down town of Barren Springs in the Missouri Ozarks, tells the heartbreaking and brutal story of Eve, a young mother whose daughter is one of two 12-year-old girls found murdered in the towns dilapidated park. The only way Eve can stop herself drowning in grief is to seek vengeance for her daughter's murder, a path that leads Eve to the town’s seedy criminal underbelly. A path that will open up old childhood wounds, as Eva’s own traumatic past comes back to haunt her. Eve’s relationship with her mother is based on neglect and abuse, she’s always been determined to become her mother’s daughter, but without Junie, and with vengeance firmly on her mind, Eve finds that she is more like her mother than she cares to admit.

The author vividly describes the experience of growing up in Barren Springs, a dirt poor town, where people live in trailers, patched up with tape, it’s town people are mostly drug addicts, and people live hand to mouth, living for their next fix of crystal meths and heroin. The town is as much a character as Eve. The town feels claustrophobic, seedy, and unclean, it’s a town everyone wants to escape from, but poverty and addiction keeps them in its clutches, it’s a place where the life is sucked out of you.Eve is a character that immediately finds her way into your heart, as her grief takes her through a spectrum of emotions, you feel her anger, and her pain, and her need for vengeance, these emotions are raw and intense, The relationship between Eve and her mother is a difficult one, and yet a bond is created through grief and wanting to do the right thing in the most appalling situation.

Despite its subject matter this book has a hidden depth, it explores the complexities of relationships, and dysfunctional families with sensitivity and incredible insight. Amy Engel’s visceral style of writing makes each of her novels very memorable, and The Familiar Dark And Eva tragic tale will stay in my thoughts for a long time. If you are looking for the ‘usual whodunnit’ then this may not be the book for you. If you enjoy a book that is very much character driven, with a dark heart then look no further. Highly recommend.

This review maybe altered slightly and edited prior to publication on my blog

I really loved The Roanoke Girls so was thrilled to get a chance to review Amy Engel's next novel The Familiar Dark which was equally brilliant..

The book starts with the devastating news that Eve Taggert’s daughter, Junie aged 12, and her best friend, Izzy, have been murdered in the local playground. Eve is a feisty, single Mum who is close to her brother, Cal. They grew up in abject poverty in a trailer park in Barren Springs, Missouri where their mother, Lynette, a meth addict, still lives with various boyfriends coming and going over the years. Eve has worked hard to become a different person since she had Junie and has kept her daughter apart from her grandmother.

Eve is overwhelmed with grief and distress at the loss of her only child and vows to find out who did it. Cal can help somewhat as he is in the local police force but when things aren't moving as fast as Eve would like she frequently gets herself involved in dangerous situations as she becomes more and more desperate and more and more determined to find out who killed these two girls.

There are lots of twists and turns in this book and it’s very fast paced. I did guess who the killer was about a third in which was a little disappointing and I felt the writing could have disguised this better. Or maybe I have just read too many books of this genre and now sense where things are going. I do love this author though and can thoroughly recommend this book and I look forward to many more by her,

With thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

An absolutely phenomenal story. I loved the Roanoke Girls. It was and still is one of my favourite books Ever. This book is as equally as great. Highly recommended xx

Set in a small rundown down in the Missouri Ozarks, this is a heartbreaking and brutal story, mostly centred on Eve, a young women whose daughter is one of two 12 year old girls found murdered in the down's dilapidated park.  
This is a quite short book but not a single word is wasted.  The descriptions of the town are incredibly atmospheric and the history of Eve's life and family situation is devastatingly sad.  I usually see twists and endings coming a mile away but not this time.  A brilliant book and one that will stay with me for some time to come.

I thought I knew what to expect from this book, but I was was wrong. It is gritty and punchy and very dark, with a strong streak of morality running all the way through it, despite the actions of most of the characters not being particularly moral or kind.
Eve Taggert is a woman trying to drag herself out of her harsh upbringing. She only has her brother who is on her side and the kindness of her employer. Her daughter, Junie, is what motivates her to do better than her own mother, a hard and unforgiving meth addict. The drabness and harshness of the Ozark town she cannot escape looms always in the background, but she’s doing ok until the unthinkable happens and Junie is murdered, along with her best friend Izzy.
I was rooting for Eve all the way through this novel and along the way I gained a grudging respect for her mother and her ex partner too.
Exhilarating and graphic, I read this in two sittings, unwilling to break off before I saw Eve find what she was seeking.

This is a powerful, emotional and nerve-wracking thriller, set in the Ozarks Mountains in Missouri. When Eve's daughter is murdered, she has nothing to lose in her quest to find the killer of her daughter and her friend Izzy. With the help of Cal, her police officer brother, Eve sets out to trace her daughter's killer. This book will shock you with it's dark realism but it is unique and well written with some very interesting characters. I have no hesitation in giving 5* and would recommend reading it for the eye opener into poverty and struggle in small town America. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Any Engel follows up the brilliant Roanoke Girls with the equally brilliant The Familiar Dark. Set in the atmospheric Ozarks amid the poor and downtrodden, the drug addicts and the drug makers this story of a mother hell bent on the revenge of her daughters murder on a local playground is unputdownable and a must read. Thanks so much to the publisher and netgalley for the arc.

After reading and loving “The Roanoke Girls” I was very excited to get the chance to review “The Familiar Dark” and had prepared myself for a late night!!

Eve Taggert is working in the diner when her brother Cal a policeman, arrives to give her the traumatic news that her Daughter Junie aged 12 and her best friend Izzy have been discovered in the playground with their throats slit!!

Eve grew up in a trailer in the poor area of Missouri in the small town of Barren Springs, her mother Lynette a meth addict with numerous boyfriends. Eve distanced herself from Lynette as she wanted a better quality of life for her daughter, one where she would grow up feeling safe and loved.

Eve’s world is plunged into despair at losing her daughter, how can she carry on without her. Eve wants answers even if it means she has to dig for it herself,putting her own life at risk. Eve’s grief soon turns to anger and she is prepared to do anything to get her hands on the murderer even if it means going to her mom for assistance and returning to her childhood home.

I was addicted to this book and it’s twists and turns along the way. It is gritty and dark but told in a gripping way that you are swept along by the journey desperate for the girls to get the justice they deserve.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

I had an inkling that this would be good as I loved The Roanoke Girls. It didn’t disappoint. I love the way this author writes, very different from most authors I read at the minute.

Izzy and June, two young girls are found murdered. Why would anyone kill two innocent girls in such a brutal way? This story follows Junies Mum as she tries to work out who’s responsible.

Very well written, and with a surprising ending. This author always reminds me a bit of Virginia Andrews.

As you know this book begins with death. Engel absolutely shredded my heart with Eve's grief over her daughter Junie. The writing is raw and bleak- there's no sugar coating or fanciful wording, just a solid punch to the chest.

I liked Eve instantly for her strength and determination. I'd hoped from my previous read of Roanoake Girls that Engel would again be generous on character development and I was NOT disappointed. I do love a good underdog so I was invested in Eve from the outset.

I was strangely drawn to Eve's mother too. Though an abusive, neglectful criminal, something about Lynette's loyalty and fierce no-f*cks-given attitude to survival made her an enjoyable character. She is the devil on Eve's shoulder if you like.

Written in first from the perspective of Eve, The Familiar Dark tells the story of a woman raised in a violent abusive home and her fight to avenge her daughter's murder without succumbing to the darkness she believes she has inherited.

My heart ached for the characters in this novel, both the good ones and the ill intentioned.
I absolutely loved it.

Amy Engel follows the brilliant The Roanoke Girls with this superb gritty, tragic, character driven, emotionally nerve wracking, atmospheric mystery set in the Missouri Ozarks in the small town of Barren Springs, a place barren of hope and opportunities in a desperate poverty stricken community, plagued by the social ills of drink and drugs. Single mom, Eve Taggert, works in a diner, a product of a tough and hard upbringing with a volatile and cruel meth addicted mother, and an older brother, Cal, who is now a police officer. She has tried to do her best for her beloved 12 year old daughter, Junie, ensuring that she did not grow up in the same circumstances as she did. The novel opens with the harrowing brutal murder of Junie and her best friend, Izzy, their throats cut, at the run down playground.

Eve's world collapses, torn apart by a unimaginable grief, she is plunged into the darkest of nightmares. She doesn't trust the sherriff to get to the bottom of what happened to Junie and Izzy and hunt the killer in their community. In response to the horrors of her situation, she turns her energies, fuelled by a vengeful fury, to get to the truth of what happened to Junie. Nothing is going to stop her, not the obstacles strewn in her path, Eve sheds any veneer of civilisation, willing to step into the fires of hell for justice. She traverses the town's underbelly, where no-one can be trusted as we learn of the details of her family and her traumatic history.

Engel writes a powerful story of loss, grief, lies and secrets, violence, misogyny, survival, the strength of female relationships, what it is to be a mother, and community. This vibrant novel is beautifully written and crafted, claustrophobic, melancholic, but if you are looking for a crime driven mystery, then this is possibly not a read for you. The author is far more interested in the characters, the flawed humanity, the place and the community. A tense, disturbing and suspenseful read that I recommend highly. Many thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for an ARC.

Good grief this is as dark and as brutal a tale as you will ever read - no spoilers but I did not see it coming

Set in the backwaters where everyone knows everything about you it’s as claustrophobic and dangerous as the woods

Excellent depiction of heart visceral grief

A must read

Published by Hodder and Stoughton on 31st March 2020. I was given an early advanced reading copy of this book in return for an honest review.

In a small town beset on poverty in Missouri, two 12 year old girls are found murdered in the park with their throats cut.

Eve Taggarts daughter is one of them and desperate with grief she takes it upon herself to find out what happened to her little girl.

Eve is no stranger to the dark side of life having been raised by her hard edged mother who dragged them up showing coldness and abuse instead of love and protection. With her daughter Junie gone she has nothing to fear and nothing to lose and needs her mothers cruel brand of strength if she is to get to the truth surrounding her daughter’s death.

I read The Roanoke Girls last year, or rather I listened to it on Audible on my long commutes to work and loved every single word of it so it’s no surprise that i really enjoyed this book also.

This is a powerful and emotional read from start to finish with an ending I never imagined or seen coming at all. It’s very dark and paints a translucent picture of poverty and neglect in a small town where people dont think much of themselves or become much.

This is a highly addictive read with twist and turns and is horrific in parts that I felt so sorry for Eve, for the life she has lived and the loss she has suffered. It’s down to earth, real life grit that I didnt want to end. Amy has a real nack of drawing you in to the story she is telling. A definite must read. You can pre-order it at Amazon

Janine at Jewellbooks

I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of The Familiar Dark set in the fictional Ozark town of Barren Springs.

When Eve Taggert’s 12 year old daughter, Junie, and her best friend, Izzy, are found murdered Eve is determined to find the killer by any means.

The Familiar Dark is not normally the type of novel I would choose to read as the synopsis makes it sound like vigilantism rather than a more regular investigation but I liked The Roanoke Girls and decided to take a chance. I really loved it as the author has a distinctive voice that really appeals to me. I think the term rural noir applies.

The novel is told in the first person from Eve’s point of view so the reader is dealing with a woman torn apart by grief and consumed with revenge. She is prone to impulsiveness and charges around town half cocked. In between her history is revealed in all its inglorious detail. It isn’t pretty but it’s raw and honest. I found it compulsive reading as it really made me feel, sometimes brought to tears at her difficult relationships and other times to laughter at her spunk and determination.

I loved the atmosphere of the novel, the poverty and what it makes people do, the uncompromising hardness of the characters as a result of never catching a break and beneath this the support and understanding of people with similar life experiences. I’m not sure if I’ve explained that well but the name of the town seems to sum it all up, the barren existence with a spring of humanity.

This is not a long novel but it seems the right length for the tale it has to tell. The plot is absorbing as Eve searches for answers, uncovering secrets and exposing human weakness. There are plenty of twists and OMG moments so nothing is wasted.

The Familiar Dark is a great read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

I really enjoyed this book so much. It has a really great plot, superb main characters and I read it in one sitting. I would highly recommend this book.

Eve Taggert grew up poor and feral with her brother Cal spending all their time trying not to turn out like their hard as nails, drug addict mother. Fatherless and loveless things turned around when Cal became a much respected officer of the law and Eve became a mother to Junie. Becoming a mother was the making of Eve, showing her daughter the love she never experienced.
When Junie and her friend Izzy are brutally murdered with no obvious leads or motives Eve takes matters into her own hands. Money,drugs and illicit encounters make for a page turning thriller. With Eve looking for answers she questions what she is becoming. After everything is she still her mother’s daughter?
After reading The Roanoke Girls I knew this would be a fab yet sometimes dark and uncomfortable read and I was right.
Highly recommended 5 stars

This was indeed a “dark”story, atmospheric and gripping but incredibly sad.
Two 12 year old girls are murdered in a park of a small American town, Barren Springs. In fact barren is indeed an apt description of the place. It contains many bleak characters scraping a living, several involved in drugs including one of the girl’s grandmothers,
Eve Taggart is the mother of murdered Junie and she resolves to try and find her daughter’s killer herself as she feels the police are not doing enough. Eve has been brought up dirt poor by her single mother who made her childhood unbearable. A succession of boyfriends, drugs, violence and life in a trailer ensures that Eve and her brother, Cal, leave as soon as they can. She has tried to do better for her own daughter but feels that it has done no good as she wasn’t there when Junie really needed her.
Eve remains close to Cal who has become a police officer and he has helped her as she struggled to bring up Junie alone. She no longer speaks to her mother and has kept Junie as far away from her as possible.
None of the characters in the book are as they seem- all have a dark side and secrets they are keeping. The reader feels for Eve who struggles with her grief and channels it into finding the killer in order to gain some closure. She has to unlock her hard core which she has kept hidden for many years in order to protect her daughter but now she needs it to find the truth.
There is only sadness in the story, it looks at the underside of small town America and the choices those with little are forced to make.
The men in the book are mostly predatory and misogynistic. The #metoo movement has not reached this town. Only Cal seems thoughtful and kind, supporting Eve through her grief.
This was a well written, evocative novel with interesting characters which was quick to read- I managed it in the course of a day whilst on holiday. Recommended.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Familiar Dark treads much of the same ground as Engel's previous novel, The Roanoke Girls - rural poverty, family secrets, the legacy of abuse and childhood trauma - to similarly brilliant effect. She particularly excels at creating entirely believable characters; in the case of Eve, the reader feels the utmost sympathy for her even while her actions seem reprehensible. This is a short novel (I read it in the space of a couple of hours), but wholly absorbing and heart-breakingly sad. Highly recommended.

Gosh, but, this is so good! I enjoyed The Roanoke Girls by this excellent author, but, this is even better.

A heart wrenching story of the murder of two young girls and a mothers personal investigation.

It’s set in a strange, out of the way small town in America and the trailer park environment adds to the almost claustrophobic sense throughout the book. Amy Engel has a way of writing that pulls you in and won’t let go and this book really got under my skin and I couldn’t stop reading and thinking about it and the characters .

A beautifully written, poignant tale with soul.

Full 5* amazing read from me. When I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it and couldn’t wait to get back to it and now I’ve finished, I feel lost, in the best way.

Thanks so much to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to preview this incredible book. A must read in 2020.

The Familiar Dark certainly is dark, I finished it not quite sure if I'd just read it or if someone had battered me around the head with it. When a book begins with a description of 2 young girls bleeding to death you kind of get the hint that you're not in for a comfortable read. Eve is a former wild child, from the wrong side of the tracks who gets pregnant after a one night stand ,straightens herself out , leads the best life she can and works hard to bring up daughter Junie the right way. At 12 years old Junie and best friend Izzy,from a local middle class family are the victims of the murder at the beginning of the book. A grief-stricken Eve,not thinking the local police...including brother Cal are doing enough to solve the crime ,tries to find the killer on her own. What follows is a tale of white trash America as Eve returns to the roots she's so desperately tried to leave behind convinced that the answer to her girl's death lie there. It's a world of meth labs, sleazy strip joints, perverts, corrupt small town cops and a former abusive and criminal boyfriend. Eve's estranged mother ,like many of the other characters,lives in a run down trailer living a life of sex with whoever wants sex,drink and drugs and is the redneck mom from hell.
Like Amy Engel's previous book,The Roanoke Girls, this is a very powerful book with some deeply flawed characters.....to put it mildly. It's raw and the brutal nature of such communities is laid wide open, everyone knows who the criminals are and that the local Cops are bent but that's just the way it and like much that goes on it's best not to speak of such things. It might be grim but it;s also superbly written and a great story, albeit one with very few light moments along the way . Eve is a great character, many of the others are pretty awful but there is a glimmer of something decent that comes from some of them as they try to help her in their own way.
Gripping stuff, I hadn't intended to read it one hit but that's exactly what happened. It's raw,gritty and downright unpleasant in places but it's a book you won't forget in a hurry and Ms Engels has another well-deserved massive hit on her hands.

Thanks to Amy Engel, Hodder and Stoughton and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

WOW
I loved this book.
Full of interesting characters who sparked emotions of all kinds.
The story follows the murder of two young girls in small town Missouri and the quest of one of the mother’s, Evie , to find out who killed them.
The plot follows the people involved in Evie’s life since she was a young girl growing up poor on the edge of town.
A beautifully written book which keeps you reading until the end.
The reader really gets to care about Evie, her daughter Junie and the family of Izzie who also was murdered.
It depicts life in a small town anywhere in the world and draws you in to all their lives.
Great ending.
5 STARS.

An unusual sort of crime novel that is not just about solving the murder but also trying the best to survive trauma. Losing a child is a loss that cannot be understood by people who haven't, especially in horrific circumstances. However, this book depicts the struggle incredibly well. Also is utterly excellent at describing dysfunctional families and how we can do our best to grow out of them. I truly believe that Eve would have succeeded at that had it not been for the murder. A fantastic novel that wrecks your heart.

First of all, I would like to say that Amy Engel's book The Roanoke Girls was surprisingly one of the most interesting books I have read recently. Very unsettling but beautifully written, I started reading and couldn't put it down till the end. That is why I had high hopes for her newest book The Familiar Dark. The books starts with the death of two 12-year old girls. The main protagonist is Evie, a young mother determined to discover the truth about what happened. Amy Engel does not disappoint, this is another powerful and beautifully written story that I would highly recommend! Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this fantastic book.

Thank you to Netgalley for this advanced reader's copy. Loved, loved, loved this book. Devoured it in one sitting. This dark thriller dealing with murder, abuse and poverty, kept me engaged and wanting more.

A beautifully written dark thriller set in a small town in the Missouri Ozarks. The story opens with the murder of two girls, best friends Junie and Izzy, in the town's neglected playground. Junie's mother Eve is devastated by her daughter's death. Junie was the one good thing that happened in Eve's life and she is determined to discover who is responsible for her daughter's murder.
Eve has had a very tough life, coming from a family that was always dirt poor. Her mother helped run a meth lab and was prone to violent outbursts. Her brother Cal redeemed himself by becoming a police officer. Eve is determined to discover the truth. She learns from one of Junie's school friends that Izzy was friends with an older man and Junie had been desperate for Izzy to end the relationship.
Despite being warned off the case by the town sheriff - one of the many men who mistreated her when she was younger - Eve continues to dig deeper. She's a tough single mother who was fiercely protective of her only child and didn't want Junie to suffer as she had. As she investigates Junie's murder, she has to deal with people who hurt her badly and are hiding dark secrets from the past.
Her anguish at the death of her daughter is summed up in this stunning line: "That's another thing no-one tells you about dealing with death, how afterward the only voice you can hear is your own reminding you of everything you did wrong."
This is a relentlessly grim read which details the realities of life in a town untouched by the American Dream. Recommended.

My thanks to the publisher, Hodder & Stoughton and to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.