Still Dark by Alex Gray

Val Penny ♦ April 22, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

I recently treated myself to Still Dark by Alex Gray. She is a Scottish crime writer whose books I have enjoyed in the past. Several are reveiwed on this site including Five Ways to Kill a Man https://bookreviewstoday.info/2015/09… and The Darkest Goodbye https://bookreviewstoday.info/2017/07….

Still Dark follows on from The Darkest Goodbye. Indeed, although this crime thriller has a cracking beginning. The main protagonist, Lorimer, witnesses a horrifying incident which affects his pschyche very badly. Eventually he accepts that he needs professional help to get over the trauma.

While he is receiving treatment, Lorimer sees a news programme on television in which he sees the man who he believes was involved in the crimes he investigated in The Darkest Goodbye.

From this point on, the large tract in the middle of Still Dark really requires the reader to have read the earlier book. DC Kirsty Wilson re-appears and provides Lorimer with ‘legs’ during his treatment.

This book disappointed me. It was as if Still Dark was really the second part of the earlier novel. I felt cheated. I always thought Alex Gray respected her readers, but this book was a bit of a pot boiler: although it did have a satisfying conclusion. I cannot recommend Still Dark.

Val Penny