Review — In the dark by Loreth Anne White

A modern adaptation to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Loreth Anne White’s thriller, In The Dark (Amazon Publishing, 2019) takes the idea of playing with people’s feelings of guilt and turns it into an escape room.

The book tells the story of nine strangers invited to a luxury spa resort in the mountains, who soon realise that it is all a scam. Only eight out of the nine guests make it to the resort, which turns out to be just an isolated mansion. Here, the guests find a rhyme, much resembling the one in Agatha Christie’s novel, describing how “Nine Little Liars soon shall be none”. They also find a checkerboard and nine human-shaped wooden carvings, one of which is beheaded. “The lodge party”, as they are called, conclude that the headless carving must represent the ninth guest, who has died hours before the trip.

The group finds several clues around the house, which are specific to a certain incident in their past and stir their fears. They assume that some criminal has brought them there to play a game of survival, because, if the rhyme was accurate, each of them would be sentenced to die.

The idea sounds rather worn-off and has been explored in many pop-culture movies, like Saw or Escape Room. However, since Loreth Anne White included Agatha Christie’s novel in her book and openly referenced it, it prevents the reader from dismissing it straightaway. The plot is unfolding within two separate timeframes, which alternate with each other seamlessly. Firstly, it opens with an aftermath of the lodge party’s experience, which is just vague enough to stir interest. Then, it sends the reader back in time when the group met each other and left for their apparent spa escape. The two perspectives complete each other, telling the story both before and after the search for the missing group, from every character’s view.

The mixture of angles and voices is handled well and the characters develop realistically, without any exaggeration or impossible traits. The style is colloquial, fast-paced, keeping you engaged and curious.

This book is perfect for busy readers, who never have time for a Barnes or Murakami. Every reader will relate to it in different ways, but once it ends, it becomes another psychological thriller.

Loreth Anne White proves to be a connoisseur of human psychology, as she creates a tragic and long forgotten past story, which, in the isolated mansion, comes to light and starts tormenting every person in the group. It shows how trauma shapes a person’s future and how you can never really get over it. In the right circumstances, trauma comes to define the people who have worked so hard to bury it deep. The book explores shame, guilt, loss, empathy and motherly love. In the end, every character becomes the victim of their own feelings. And the killer turns out to have suffered the most.

A consumer novel meant to keep you hooked to a gruesome game of survival, In The Dark exceeds its status of just an adaptation through introspection and well-managed character development.