Into the Darkest Corner [Kindle Edition]

This book by Elizabeth Haynes was Amazon's UK Best Book of the Year when it was published last year and has already sold film rights. It deserves to be a best seller in this country in July.

A quick no spoiler recap and a few warnings in this review.

The story begins with a transcript from a 2005 trial in the UK which the reader will be compelled to go back and read a number of times as they travel through this riveting story.

In 2007, Catherine Bailey is a woman inflicted with a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She lives in fear of everything including but not limited to serious relationships. Then the story swiftly flashes back to late 2003 where Catherine is a normal business woman living a normal live but seeking to find the right man to fulfill her life.

Every few pages the story moves back and forth through these time phases as the writer fills in numerous gaps to explain how this normal woman became one who epitomizes OCD.

In each of these time frames, Catherine becomes involved with a man. These two men, one a mysterious man with hidden motives and one a doctor who takes a serious interest in her for various reasons are vital parts of this fascinating story. She has no parents so her female friends and a sympathetic police woman also become major elements of her life.

A few warnings. This is a story of violent physical and mental abuse. It incorporates rape and other methods of physical and sexual torture. In many other books these types of plot turns would simply be for sensationalism. In this incredible tale, these plot turns are vital and fundamental to the story that Haynes is telling.

This is a long book (about 400 pages) and at around page 250, I was thinking I had already learned more about OCD than I ever wanted to know. Also the plot seemed to slow down and some of the elements became repetitive. However, the last 100+ pages are stunning and page turning. All of the previous pages then become more important to understand each and every dramatic twist that occurs. And actually one walks away with a strong perspective about OCD and some of the causes and effects and potential cures.

Some may criticize the conclusion as predicable and cinematic but stay tuned to the last pages to understand what separates "Into the Darkest Corner" from other novels of violent relationships. The reader will walk with a better understanding of how women deal with abuse in their lives. This book is worth reading by women and men as the story imparts some valuable lessons.

It's a first novel by this marvelous and creative writer and she is a name to be reckoned with! Order it in advance and be prepared for a few late Summer nights of valuable and unforgettable reading.

This book may be different from any book you'll read this year. It's harsh and gripping. It alternates chapters between two different time periods but with each one you feel you're on a roller coaster heading for disaster.

Catherine Bailey starts out as a happy, carefree young woman enjoying herself and her friends. But she meets the wrong man and slowly becomes a person who is terrorized and almost killed. The descriptions of OCD are gripping. Her fear jumps off the pages and the reader is carried along with it. Sometimes I had to put the book down to come back to my own safe reality.

This book is not for faint at heart but it is a very good book. And the ending leaves you thinking.

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In The Darkest Corner is a layered suspense novel that will scare you to death. What's so frightening about Darkest Corner is that it can and does happen to people every day. Who wouldn't be attractive to a drop-dead gorgeous man who's absolutely obsessed with you? Who isn't looking for the perfect mate, who cares where you are all the time? Who cares what you wear to the point of distraction? Who makes all your friends green with envy?

And what happens when that obsession turns frightening instead of flattering? Haynes has written an amazing debut novel that will keep her readers up far into the night as they try not to see similar behavior to Lee Brightman in their own mates. A character worthy of the plucky heroine, Cathy Bailey, Lee is the perfect date when she first meets him. Physically perfect right down to his clear blue eyes and golden blonde hair, Lee makes Cathy the envy of all of her friends. The relationship starts out perfect. Lee is the kind of man Cathy's been looking for all her life, until little things start to happen. Maybe the sex was a little rough one time, or maybe Lee is a little tiring about the red silk dress he's first seen Cathy in, insisting she wear it would be inappropriate to do so.

With the line between falling in love and obsession so thin, Cathy doubts herself when she starts to think that Lee might not be so perfect after all. When she tries to tell her friends, they brush her off, doubtless because they wish they had a man was perfect of their own.

While there are many books that follow the same sort of plotting, what sets Darkest Corner apart is Cathy's Obsessive Compulsion Disorder(OCD). Funny when you think about it, she comes down with a disorder that causes her to check the locks on her house to the point of ruining her life, when it's Lee's obsessive behavior that causes the disorder in the first place. Maybe OCD should be labeled Obsessive Compulsive Behavior Caused By Some Jerk With Serious Mental Issues, but that might be too many initials. Getting rid of the idea that someone a person just comes down with crazy coping mechanisms.

OCD is mapped out carefully in Darkest Corner, and shows how it can be overcome, something that sets this book above the usual run-of-the-mill girl being stalked by crazy boyfriend. Also, the time line goes back and forth between before Cathy's near murder by Lee, and her coping with her OCD afterwards. Great plot device.

I really liked this book because unlike other books where a woman is abused and then rescued, Darkest Corner shows the heroine going into the deepest corners of her own shadow side and finding the strength to make it back out to the light. How Cathy was chosen by Lee probably because her parents were dead, leaving her with only her girlfriends for backup, and that didn't turn out well.

Great book to have on a plane, or to give to the girlfriends knowing how much it will spook them. And who doesn't like to be the first to discover a new author?

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This novel alternates between the past when Cathy meets a handsome, charismatic man, Lee and begins a relationship with him that quickly turns violent and controlling -to the present when she has OCD and post-tramautic stress syndrome and tries to start a relationship with a new man.

This story has been told many times before and there is really nothing new here. Even more disappointing was that there were so many things that I just didn't buy. I really didn't buy that all her friends that she had known for years would not believe or help her when she told them about Lee--and also that Cathy allowed herself to be such a victim. In the present, I really didn't see what these men saw in her . . . I mean unless she was so breathtakingly beautiful or something, why did Stuart and his friend think she was so wonderful . . . wonderful enough that Stuart would put up with all of her weird behaviors and keep pursuing her. Also, I can't believe that Stuart kept pooh-poohing her concerns when strange things are happening in the their apartment building, when he knew that her psycho boyfriend had been released from prison. But most of all, I found Cathy to be very weak and unlikeable and when she finally does decide to stand up for herself, she does it so stupidly that I still don't think much of her.

I gave this book three stars because it did keep me interested enough that I finished the book.

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I know I am about to rack up on the "No, this was not helpful" review clicks, but I want to be honest. Here it goes.

I wasn't crazy about this book. Did it grip me, yes. Did I read it quickly and stay interested the whole time, yes. I just did not care for the heroine. She was just not that likable to me. She starts off a party girl who sleeps around and drinks so much that she admits that she doesn't remember a lot of it. Her parents have died, so I guess that is her reason for that behavior. It, unfortunately, made me just not care for her that much. All she does is party and sleep with people in the first part of the book. I have read about party girls before, but somehow they come off better than this heroine did. When the hero starts to fall for her, I kept wondering why. Even when she is somewhat better managing her OCD, I wondered why does he like her? Another issue that I had was her friends. NO ONE believes her. Are you kidding me? Not one friend feels the need to really look into her claims? That bothered me. The switching back and forth between times did bother me at first, but once I realized there was a pattern, it was no big deal.

As far as good things, the author does shine in some spots. I thought it was an interesting look at OCD and PTSD. The author did a fabulous job of describing how a person with these symptoms would live. You can feel the heroine's panic and need for the routines. The way the author explains the reasons behind all the little quirks helps to make you see how someone cold easily fall into an OCD tendency. The mystery itself was pretty good. I kept thinking about the movie "Sleeping With the Enemy" because they are somewhat similar. Again, the heroine was just more likable in that movie.

Don't get me wrong, this is a very compelling book. I wanted to keep reading, but I felt I could have enjoyed it even more.