Dark Circles

 

I received a copy of this release from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Dark Circles

Author: Caite Dolan-Leach

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Release Date: 5.10.22

Publisher’s Summary 

An embattled actress turns to podcasting when she becomes entangled in a dark conspiracy at a spiritual retreat in this absorbing mystery about fame, violence, and our morbid fascination with murder--from the acclaimed author of Dead Letters.

Olivia Reed needs a break. She doesn't want to think about her name plastered on tabloids or be reminded of her recent meltdown on a Manhattan street. Her micromanaging publicist has just the thing in mind: a remote retreat in Upstate New York--the House of Light. It's not rehab; it's a spiritual center, a site for seeking realignment and personal growth. There will be yoga and morning meditation, soft bamboo-blend fabrics and crystals to snuggle.

But Liv will soon find that the House of Light is filled with darkness. A prickly local, Ava, informs her that something twisted is lurking behind the Light's veneer. There have been a series of mysterious suicides committed by women caught in the Light's web, and no matter who Ava talks to, no one believes her. To get the truth out and put her celebrity to good use, Liv starts a podcast, seeking to connect the dots and expose the Light's true intentions. Because beneath the glowing skin of the Light's inhabitants lie rotten souls, and Liv starts to wonder if anything--even her own life--is how it appears.

Caite Dolan-Leach brings her tantalizing voice, gift for atmosphere, and a cast of delightfully devious and absorbing characters to this riveting novel of suspense.

My Review

Actress Olivia (Liv) Reed, upon urging by her manager Jess Meisner, checks herself into a spiritual center to relax and recover but instead finds herself investigating the employees of the center, missing girls, and the company (cult?) behind it all. She pairs up with a fellow retreat attendee (Ava Antipova, from Dead Letters) to start a podcast to share the information she begins gathering on the Seneca Girls "three other young women in a twenty-mile radius of this place who have turned up dead of an apparent suicide on an equinox or solstice in the last five years." I love alternate media being included in a story and Dark Circles has touches of podcasts (complete with ads), tweets, Instagram posts, and Reddit threads. Liv also carries a lot of guilt, trauma, and suspicion from her mother's disappearance many years ago. The whole story is very twisty-turny, dark, and kept me on my toes as I read. There was also great commentary on pop culture, and social media, but I found  Liv's (i.e. Dolan-Leach's) commentary on the continued objectification of women even after their deaths especially profound: 

"This obsession with young white female bodies is intertwined with the control exerted over them: we never stop looking at them, critiquing them, venerating them, dominating them. Especially when they’re dead. So when I read or hear about a story where someone has annihilated a female body—or, better yet, several female bodies, ones that maybe look like mine—I feel, in a strange way, less crazy. Less paranoid. Because I can feel the hatred, but I’ve been told so many times that it’s in my head, that I’m exaggerating or confused. But when I hear a story of a man destroying women simply because they are women, I feel vindicated for this state of vigilance I’ve existed in my whole life."

As Liv gets closer to the answers about the deaths, I began to really be awed by Dolan-Leah's ability to tell a story with so many details, connect seemingly unrelated topics in a way that is absolutely mesmerizing, and weave in bits of her previous work as well. I loved Caite Dolan-Leach's "Dead Letters" and "We Went to the Woods." Dark Circles was no different. Dolan-Leach manages to tie little threads between all her novels but they are not necessarily grouped together as a series--more like a treat for those who've read the previous works.  

Dark Circles has cemented Caite Dolan-Leach into my "auto-buy" author category. I am eagerly awaiting what she brings next.