Review: The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel

The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, thank you to Dutton for providing me a copy of this book.  I've had this ARC on my backlog for longer than I'd like to admit, but am slowly  making my way through the titles in my backlog.  I'm so sad that it has taken me so long to read this.  I ended up listening to the audiobook as this has been out since March of 2020.  As always all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I loved this!  I found it hard to put down.  This is a gritty mystery, and while I'm not typically a fan of books involving kids I was spellbound by this.  It isn't particular gory or graphic, but it has alot of content warnings.  This follows Eve in the wake of the murder of her 12 year old daughter.  Eve has lived a hard life, but she loved her daughter and tried to be the best mother she could be.  When her daughter and best friend are murdered, Eve promises to avenge the girls with the brand of cruelty she was raised with.  She launches her own investigation, and she isn't ready for what she finds.

While this is filled with twists and turns, it has been a long time since I wasn't able to figure out what was going on and predict the ending.  This had several surprises that I didn't see coming.  This book isn't very long, the audiobook was just under 7 hours, but the author did a great job keeping the plot straight forward and doesn't over complicate things.  I really liked the underlying story about Eve's family dynamics and the interaction she had with her mother.  While her mother isn't exactly a likeable character, she shaped Eve into the woman she needed to be to seek justice for Junie and  Izzy's deaths.  This is a powerful story about grief, motherhood, poverty, and so much more.  Engel did an amazing job writing a great mystery that really pulls on your emotions.

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