“Death severs that most primal connection, and that leaves maybe the biggest hole of all.”
We’ve had a couple of mixed reviews when it comes to recent thriller books we’ve read here at What We Reading. After a few iffy psychological reads such as Jeneva Rose’s You Shouldn’t Have Come Here, we decided to switch things up and go back to basics with a dark, grippy crime thriller story. Which led us to pick up Terri Parlato’s debut novel, All the Dark Places. But, how did this dual-perspective whodunnit stack up against both our own expectations and some of the other thrillers we’ve tackled in the past? Join us today for our All the Dark Places book review to find out!
Date Published: 2022
Author: Terri Parlato
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 312
Goodreads Rating: 3.77/5
Overview
All the Dark Places opens with half a dozen close friends gathering at Molly Bradley’s home to celebrate the fortieth birthday of her husband, Jay. However, come the morning, Molly wakes up to find her husband brutally murdered in his office. Detective Rita Myers is brought in to investigate the crime and quickly deduces that rather than being a crime of opportunity, one of the friends is responsible.
As Rita attempts to unmask the killer, Molly attempts to make sense of her husband’s death. Jay was the only person who understood her, knowing all the horrors she had kept hidden from her friends. But, a series of shocking revelations soon make her question whether Jay was everything he seemed to be and whether someone else knows about her past. As she works out who she is really able to trust, she finds herself in the crosshairs as the killer’s next potential victim.
What Worked
The most enjoyable part about All the Dark Places is the dual perspectives. Switching between Molly and Rita allows readers to see the crime from the emotional angle of a grieving widow and the more professional angle of the detective investigating it. Both perspectives stand out from one another, they help carry the story along at a good consistent pace and, unlike most other books we review here at xxx with multiple perspectives, there was never a time where it felt like one was much more interesting than the other.
The story is delivered at a fast speed where something new or notable is introduced, helping more or less every chapter feel like it deserves its place in the story. There really isn’t much filler here. We also enjoyed how many of the chapters immediately followed one another. For example, a Molly chapter might end with her approaching the entrance of the police station; Rita would pick things up by describing her entering and the interaction that unfolds afterwards. It was also refreshing to have Rita as a 60+-year-old protagonist, her habit of drawing whilst talking, and her healthy relationship with her colleagues, including the younger ones she mentors.
What Didn’t
Easily the biggest complaint we have come out with about All the Dark Places are the characters. Absolutely none of them stand out. Readers are only given a cursory introduction to them at the start of the book, and hardly any of them are given the spotlight enough to differentiate them from one another, much less as to why they could be considered suspects in the murder.
Even at the end of proceedings when the killer is revealed, we were genuinely unsure as to which character was being unveiled.
There are a lot of different threads and paths readers are taken down, despite All the Dark Place’s relatively short length. All of these require tighter writing to bring together in a fulfilling way and ultimately, it felt like Parlato fell short in doing that. A few elements aren’t expanded on to their full potential (such as Rita’s drawing), the police never feel like they’re making much progress, and the final reveal lacks a real motivation that either feels guessable or impactful.
Verdict
All the Dark Places shows that Terri Parlato has a knack for being able to write a thriller that can grab and hold your attention. The dual perspectives and snappy chapters make this a shining example of the ‘just one more chapter’ type of thriller so many readers love. Her descriptive style of writing (especially in the first half) may be a bit slow for some, but it undoubtedly helps bring the environment to life.
Both Rita and Molly were likeable and interesting enough characters to carry the story, though Rita felt like she would have benefited from having a few of her features expanded upon.
Nevertheless, All the Dark Places didn’t ‘punch’ us in the way other great thriller books have done in the past. The suspects all blurred into each other, and the final reveal of the killer made very little sense to us. Overall, a bit of further editing to tighten things up would have gone a long way in making the book the tense, suspenseful and ultimately thrilling story it undoubtedly could have been.
Our Rating: 3/5
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
