Dark August: 4 Stars

Dark August written by Katie Tallo is a psychological thriller and mystery novel. Below is a brief summary along with my overall thoughts on the book and recommendation.

Summary

Dark August is told from the perspective of Augusta (Gus) Monet. After hearing the news of her grandmother passing away Gus picks up and leaves what little of a life she has makes the trip to Ontario, Canada. Upon arriving, Gus discovers her grandmother, in an attempt to make up for her ill-treatment of Gus has left everything, including her house to Gus. Within her first week of living in her grandmother's house, memories of her past quickly flood in. The death of her mother, the abandonment from her grandmother, memories Gus has spent the past ten years trying to forget.

Unable to hide from her past any longer, opens herself and her mind to everything she attempted to block out. Gus discovers an old trunk of hers that her mother, a former policewoman had apparently left for her. In the trunk are old case files of an unsolved investigation her mother was conducting before she died in a car accident ten years ago.

Picking up where her mother left off, Gus begins to pull on a string that has long since, remained untouched. A mysterious fire, suspicious deaths, and missing persons leave a trail for Gus to follow in an attempt to find the answers her mother was looking for all those years ago.

The closer Gus comes to solving her mother's case, the more intense the danger becomes. Gus soon realizes her mother's death may not have been an accident and the people who came after her mother are still alive and have set their sets on her. Regardless of the danger closing in around her Gus continues to search for answers and avenge her mother's death.

My thoughts

I very much enjoyed Dark August by Katie Tallo. I thought the story had a great mix of thriller and mystery added into one. There's always a part in a mystery novel when a character goes off alone and you think to yourself "Why would you do that?! You are asking to get killed!" However, I thought Tallo did a great job of addressing that in her novel. There were plenty of times Gus went off by herself into an extremely dangerous situation however, she acknowledges that she knows she shouldn't be doing this on her own but her desire for the truth is stronger than her fear. I always appreciate when the author uses realism even in far-fetched situations.

The only thing that hung me up throughout the book was Gus constantly either passing out or falling asleep. Some of them were understandable, like when she drank too much or had had very little sleep and was overcome with the stress from traumatic memories resurfacing. However, there were several instances in the book where she simply fell asleep. Does she have narcolepsy? I can't imagine being in such high-pressure and life-threatening situations and continuing to fall asleep. Again, I do understand how everything she is going through and being forced to remember would be exhausting but that part did throw me a little throughout the novel.

Other than the problem with staying awake I did very much enjoy the novel. The story was upbeat, interesting and kept you on the edge of your seat trying to guess the outcome. If you're a fan of thriller/mystery books I'd highly recommend giving Dark August by Katie Tallo a read.

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