National Book Lovers Day 2021

 

 

The Dangers of an Ordinary Night, By Lynn Reeves ~ 3.5 Stars

Tags

Addiction, Adult Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Trauma

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: November 9th, 2021

288 Pages

Synopsis: Perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and Megan Abbott, Lynne Reeves’ The Dangers of an Ordinary Night is an exploration of the explosive family secrets that are often hidden in plain sight.

On a chilly fall evening at the prestigious Performing Arts High School of Boston, best friends Tali Carrington and June Danforth go missing after auditioning for a play. They’re last seen in grainy, out-of-focus surveillance footage that shows them walking side-by-side. Two days later in a town south of Boston, Tali is found disoriented and traumatized by the ocean’s edge, while June is pronounced dead at the scene.

Tali’s mother, Nell, is so bent on protecting her daughter from further emotional harm that she enlists the help of Cynthia Rawlins, a renowned therapist for families. Meanwhile, Detective Fitz Jameson is assigned to the investigation and dives into the lives of high-performing students who may be harboring dark secrets.

As Nell, Cynthia, and Fitz confront their own contributions to the tragedies and scandals that beleaguer them, their lives turn out to be more deeply intertwined than they’d ever imagined. And they must decide what lengths they’re willing to go to protect the people they love while also saving themselves. (Goodreads)

Although The Dangers of an Ordinary Night wasn’t a perfect read for me, it was quick and entertaining and I wound up enjoying it for the most part. My main complaint concerns the characters (of which there are many) who are all unlikable and while they aren’t exactly one-dimensional, they’re not terribly complex either. As a result, I found myself unable to relate or emphasize with them as I would have liked. The plot itself fares much better and adding to the intriguing mystery is Reeves’ atmospheric style of writing. There is more than one crazy twist, and this, in addition to the fast pace, kept me turning the pages despite my issues with the characters. The ending is also a tad far-fetched, but not enough to spoil the story. The Dangers of an Ordinary Night has some flaws, but it still managed to keep me engrossed on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. I will definitely try the next book that Lynn Reeves comes out with.