Review: What’s Done In Darkness by Laura McHugh

What's Done in Darkness by Laura McHugh
Published by Random House Publishing Group on June 22, 2021
Genres: Fiction, Literary, Psychological, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Goodreads

When Sarabeth's father "found God," he packed up the family and moved them to a remote homestead in rural Arkansas. Now forced to wear her hair long, dress modestly and follow strict rules, Sarabeth looks forward to turning 18 and moving out of the house. Her parents are desperate for her to marry and start a family when all Sarabeth wants to do is enjoy the freedom of her youth.

That dream of freedom is shattered when she's abducted by a masked man.  A week later she's set free, left on the side of the highway in her bloodstained slip.  Blindfolded and drugged while captive, Sarabeth is unable to shed any light on the identity of her captor. Her family whisks her away, acting as though the abduction never took place.  The hospital and local law enforcement do nothing to preserve the evidence.  Fortunately, Sarabeth is given a chance to leave and start a new life. 

Five years later, Sarah now works at an animal shelter.  She desperately tries to keep the trauma of her youth behind her and keeps her true identity a secret.  All of that is threatened when she receives a call from an investigator named Nick Farrow.  He's convinced two recent cases of missing young women have striking similarities to Sarah's case. Reluctantly, she joins Nick and returns to the very place she tried to forget, desperately hoping to remember something that could lead to the location of the missing girls.  

McHugh has written a perfectly paced psychological thriller! I’m not one to enjoy thrillers with a lot of extra “fluff,” or filler that is used to add page length or word count. Nothing is wasted in this thriller; the pacing is on spot and tense with never a dull moment.

The structure and point of view in this thriller is important; McHugh uses these intentionally to keep this a tightly packed read that isn’t at all lacking in character development. Watching a new, stronger Sarah return to the place she fled while simultaneously reading what led up to Sarabeth’s abduction allows readers to see the vast growth Sarah experienced in a few short years. Sarah/Sarabeth wasn’t only held captive by an abductor, she was held captive by the lifestyle choices her parents inflicted upon her. Adherence to rules was more important than her well-being. Women were not seen as equals; their sole purpose in life was to marry & have children, to perpetuate and continue the lifestyle.

It wasn’t at all surprising to see that her new life involved saving those who cannot save themselves; innocent creatures forced to reproduce for the gain of others It was a full-circle moment for Sarah to embrace her new life, and it wasn’t until she uncovered the devastation that was taking place, even now, that she could move on and truly recover.

All in all, a truly chilling and captivating read. Highly recommended.