Reviewed by Mike Dixon for Readers' Favorite

It’s every parent’s nightmare. Children grow up so quickly and their bodies mature much faster than their minds. A new and exciting world beckons and some are ill-prepared for its dangers. Nineteen-year-old Brooke was attracted by the bright lights and excitement of Seattle’s nightclub scene and vanished. The frail college student failed to return to her lodgings. To make matters worse, she didn’t have the vital supplies of insulin needed to keep her alive. Deeply shocked, her mother, Marissa, reported her daughter’s disappearance to the police.

Like police all over the world, they were inundated by reports of missing persons. They pointed out that Brooke was a college student and not tied down by curfews. Marissa refused to take their assurances seriously. Media reports indicated that a serial abductor was at work. She wasn’t going to wait for the police to act. Marissa plunged into the glitzy world her daughter had entered and mounted an investigation of her own.

I was seized by Chris Patchell’s compelling style of In the Dark. I’m not a fan of prologues in mystery thrillers. However, this one set the scene to perfection. Right from the start, we knew that something appallingly sinister was underway. What remained was to read on and discover just how evil it would be. Patchell has a range of styles. She is poetic when the need arises. Violent when the rhythm changes. Her words flow to suit the scene and you are left wondering what will come next. A great book!