A review by minimicropup
The Dark by Emma Haughton

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Setting the Scene: 🇦🇶 A research station near the South Pole in Antarctica
POV: We follow a doctor fresh from a recent break-up of a long term relationship seeking to get away from reminders of the incident. They apply to a last-minute posting at the Antarctic South Pole research station. 
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
  • Amateur sleuthing, sneaking, snooping
  • Mysterious death, who-to-trust closed circle murder mysteries
  • Unsettling long winter night in isolated Antarctic research station
  • Touches on elements of isolation, survival, community, conflict, fragility, overcoming the past, and opportunity.
 
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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕
 
🎬 Tale-Telling: The story is told from the first-person perspective of Kate, our main character. Her thoughts, ruminations, poor judgement, and inability to read the room made the story fascinating but sometimes crossed into frustrating. Overall, it felt realistic but allow for some suspended disbelief as we near the ending. 
 
🤓 Reader’s Role: We’re stuck in Kate’s mind seeing everything through her eyes, hearing her thoughts, seeing the trainwreck that is her life, and watching her try to piece together the puzzle (sometimes painfully so as she seems to be on the lower end of common sense and emotional intelligence!).  
 
👥 Characters: See above – Kate makes a lot of personal misjudgements and confusing choices. Some of that can be explained by her personality and addictions, but regardless of where she is in her intoxication levels, she seemed like the same person with the same ability (er, inability) to navigate social constructs. It was at least consistent. I don’t think you have to like her, but was hard to constantly be in her head. The other cast of characters took me awhile to get a handle on because they’re introduced in a haphazard way (X is cheerful. Y has dark hair. Z is a meteorologist). But they each had their own personalities and quirks, and I enjoyed figuring out who was capable of what. 
 
🗺️ Ambiance: The isolation and survival situation were at the forefront without being shoved down our throats. The Antarctic was also a main character with its inherent dangers and unknowns. The research station gave us claustrophobic closeness and was the perfect setting where a small incident could escalate to a life-threatening crisis. I went on a YouTube binge of Antarctic research station tours, it was so fun and I think the setting was well-captured. 
 
🔥 Fuel: Kate’s subjective lens colors everything, so a large part of the story is us wondering what is really happening versus what’s a product of her overactive imagination, intoxication, or misinterpretation. I like that most of the incidents could have rational explanations as well as more nefarious ones, which kept us guessing and gave us plenty of red herrings. Later in the story we get some high-stakes survival that started to feel over-the-top, but it didn’t ruin the book. Kate’s mysterious past where she would ‘bait’ us by bringing it up in her inner monologue then nope out of giving us any context didn’t work for me. It didn’t serve the story keeping that hidden and if anything, us knowing could have added suspense and much needed sympathy for why she is the way she is. 
 
🚙 Journey: The plot starts with the promise of an intriguing adventure, but the withholding of the main character backstory and her sometimes exasperating behavior sometimes made it feel stuck in a rut. Despite this, the setting and unfolding mysteries kept me reading, with gradual building of higher stakes and suspense.
 
Random Thoughts
🤓 What worked: The Antarctic backdrop. The unique and captivating setting with lots of opportunity for mystery and drama. The tension between the characters, the darkness, and isolation. 
🫠 What didn’t: Kate’s actions, especially her inability to connect the dots or grow from her experiences. The lack of another perspective for us to view her and the situation from—or at least a peek into the minds of her fellow researchers.
 
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Content Heads-Up: Medical (death, decomp; not too graphic, on page). Pregnancy (graphic; on page). Drug use and addiction (prescription). Alcohol use. Cannabis use. Violence (fighting, gun, weapons). Mental illness (depression, anxiety, PTSD, hallucinations; recall and feelings of).
Rep: Turban-wearing, Black, White characters. Lesbian, gay, heterosexual characters. Diverse cultures/countries of origin. Cisgender.
 
👀 Format: Kindle
 
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