Darling

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

Title: Darling

Author: Mercedes M Yardley

Publisher: Black Spot Books

Release Date: 8.23.22

Publisher’s Summary 

Darling has its demons.

Cherry LaRouche escaped the claws of Darling, Louisiana at sixteen. When she is forced to return after her mother’s death, Cherry and her children move back into her childhood home where the walls whisper and something sinister skitters across the roof at night.

While Cherry tries to settle back into a town where evil spreads like infection, the bodies of several murdered children turn up. When Cherry’s own daughter goes missing, she’s forced to confront the true monsters of Darling.

My Review

Pitched as "The Lovely Bones meets The Lottery," Darling's summary had me instantly interested. However, the novel fell a bit flat for me. I rated this a solid 3 stars because there is a great story here but this story should have had a serious round of edits to make it into a shorter novella. I loved that this story featured a "flawed" female main character. Cherry has made some mistakes but she loves her kids. I also loved that the author chose to include a character based on her own son. Cherry's son has a heart condition and possibly autism. This aspect was extremely well written, from his actions to how other characters respond to him. The story itself is a great rural noir read, similar to Chevy Stevens and Laura McHugh. The main problem was wading through some of the details and repetitiveness that made the first 75% of the story drag somewhat. Then the ending felt like too much happening all at once, but not in a "wrapping everything up" kind of way. There is also the whole aspect of the supernatural. There are references to different supernatural occurrences but then they aren't really dissected. Are these instances supposed to be metaphors for the human condition? Finally, everyone keeps calling everyone "darling" and the town's name is Darling, but there is never a big "aha" connection here--totally a missed opportunity!