Into the Darkest Corner HC by Elizabeth Haynes

Description

Into the Darkest Corner: A Novel Hardcover by Elizabeth Haynes (Author)

Catherine Bailey has been enjoying the single life long enough to know a catch when she sees one. Gorgeous, charismatic and spontaneous, Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. And her friends clearly agree, as each in turn falls under his spell.

But what begins as flattering attentiveness and passionate sex turns into raging jealousy, and Catherine soon learns there is a darker side to Lee. His increasingly erratic, controlling behaviour becomes frightening, but no one believes her when she shares her fears. Increasingly isolated and driven into the darkest corner of her world, a desperate Catherine plans a meticulous escape.

Four years later, Lee is behind bars and Catherine—now Cathy—compulsively checks the locks and doors in her apartment, trusting no one. But when an attractive upstairs neighbour, Stuart, comes into her life, Cathy dares to hope that happiness and love may still be possible . . . until she receives a phone call informing her of Lee’s impending release. Soon after, Cathy thinks she catches a glimpse of the former best friend who testified against her in the trial; she begins to return home to find objects subtly rearranged in her apartment, one of Lee’s old tricks. Convinced she is back in her former lover’s sights, Cathy prepares to wrestle with the demons of her past for the last time.

Utterly convincing in its portrayal of obsession, Into the Darkest corner is an ingeniously structured and plotted tour de force of suspense that marks the arrival of a major new talent.

Hardcover: 416 pages

Catherine Bailey starts out as a happy, carefree young woman enjoying herself and her friends. But she meets the wrong man and slowly becomes a person who is terrorized and almost killed. The descriptions of OCD are gripping. Her fear jumps off the pages and the reader is carried along with it. Sometimes I had to put the book down to come back to my own safe reality. In The Darkest Corner is a layered suspense novel that will scare you to death.

times as I was reading Into the Darkest Corner, the refrain from that old R&B song kept replaying in my head: “It’s a thin line between love and hate…” Apologies, as it’ll now be stuck in yours for the next couple of days, but Elizabeth Haynes’ highly suspenseful and cleverly crafted psychological thriller will haunt you for much longer. In it we find our obsessive-compulsive heroine, Catherine Bailey, checking and rechecking her door locks six times, eschewing red clothing, shopping only on certain days–clearly something horrible has happened, and Haynes masterfully teases out the disturbing details, which involve a Jekyll and Hyde boyfriend. As the story unfolds, it provides subtle insight into why, despite red flags and bruises, someone would stay in an abusive relationship, and it makes you root for Catherine all the more to overcome the psychological fallout. If you’re a fan of cinematic showdowns, you won’t be disappointed. But the quietly powerful moments in Haynes’ narrative resonate even more, as she illustrates that one of the bravest things someone can do is lock the door behind her, maybe five or six times, and step out into an uncertain world again.

“Harrowing.” (New York Times Book Review)

“In this violent, gripping suspense novel, a woman with obsessive compulsive disorder lives in fear of her unstable, stalker ex-boyfriend.” (Wall Street Journal)

This book by Elizabeth Haynes was Amazon’s UK Best Book of the Year when it was published and has already sold film rights.

The story begins with a transcript from a 2005 trial in the UK which the reader will be compelled to go back and read a number of times as they travel through this riveting story.

In 2007, Catherine Bailey is a woman inflicted with a severe case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She lives in fear of everything including but not limited to serious relationships. Then the story swiftly flashes back to late 2003 where Catherine is a normal business woman living a normal live but seeking to find the right man to fulfill her life.

Every few pages the story moves back and forth through these time phases as the writer fills in numerous gaps to explain how this normal woman became one who epitomizes OCD.

In each of these time frames, Catherine becomes involved with a man. These two men, one a mysterious man with hidden motives and one a doctor who takes a serious interest in her for various reasons are vital parts of this fascinating story. She has no parents so her female friends and a sympathetic police woman also become major elements of her life.

A few warnings. This is a story of violent physical and mental abuse. It incorporates rape and other methods of physical and sexual torture. In many other books these types of plot turns would simply be for sensationalism. In this incredible tale, these plot turns are vital and fundamental to the story that Haynes is telling.

This is a long book (about 400 pages) and at around page 250, I was thinking I had already learned more about OCD than I ever wanted to know. The last 100+ pages are stunning and page turning. All of the previous pages then become more important to understand each and every dramatic twist that occurs. And actually one walks away with a strong perspective about OCD and some of the causes and effects and potential cures.

Some may criticize the conclusion as predicable and cinematic but stay tuned to the last pages to understand what separates “Into the Darkest Corner” from other novels of violent relationships. The reader will walk with a better understanding of how women deal with abuse in their lives. This book is worth reading by women and men as the story imparts some valuable lessons.

It’s a first novel by this marvelous and creative writer and she is a name to be reckoned with! Order it in advance and be prepared for a few late Summer nights of valuable and unforgettable reading.

978-0-06-219725-2

First U.S. Edition. Near mint condition.