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A review by brittany_tellefsen
The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel
3.0
Rating: 3.5/5
Amy Engel is not afraid to broach the dark and disturbing within her books. The Roanoke Girls was so deliciously twisted that I could not help but snort it like Crack. And while The Familiar Dark definitely has that same gritty texture, it did not have the same flair.
Set in an extremely poor town within the Missouri Ozarks, it starts with murder but is truly about the dysfunctions of one particular family. And what people will do to survive in or escape, their town.
Eve Taggert was born in one of the poorest areas of Missouri, to a very hard mother who enjoyed teaching her kids "lessons" about life that no mother should ever want their kids to learn. So Eve is no stranger to the dark.
After getting pregnant at 17, Even has spent the last 12 years of her life working in the same diner within her hometown, just trying to care for her daughter. Her circle is small, only having her brother and few other locals. Eve keeps to herself, doing what she can to survive.
But one day, she gets the news no mother wants: Her daughter Junie, along with Junie's best friend, have been murdered. And now, it is time for that hard-edged Eve, the one she put away so long ago when Junie was born, to re-emerge and find who killed her daughter.
Just like the Roanoke Girls, I did find this compulsively readable. It was very short, and from the moment it begins you are thrust into the story which maintains a fairly good pace throughout the entirety of book. It was easily digestible, not in content matter but in writing style, so I often found myself getting lost within the book, doing whatever task on complete auto-pilot as I listened.
It was also very atmospheric. Engel does a fantastic job of putting you right in the setting of the story. I could just feel the poverty and desperation of Eve's hometown. I could see the ramshackle place where her mother lived, filled with clutter, booze, drugs, and random men. I could see it all. And I appreciate that ability within the story.
I also enjoyed the fact that Engel made Eve a character who was not afraid to go there. She did not hesitate when she came face to face with her daughter's killer. There was no shaky hand. There was no questioning. There was no "'Tis better to forgive" bullshit. She did what she had to do and I enjoy seeing a female character played that way.
So, all-in-all, I still really liked this book. It was just so short, without a lot of opportunities to get to truly know the characters, that it was hard to connect with them, and that is something I've found I really need. However, I will definitely be following Amy Engel's career with great interest and I like the tone and darkness of her books.
Amy Engel is not afraid to broach the dark and disturbing within her books. The Roanoke Girls was so deliciously twisted that I could not help but snort it like Crack. And while The Familiar Dark definitely has that same gritty texture, it did not have the same flair.
Set in an extremely poor town within the Missouri Ozarks, it starts with murder but is truly about the dysfunctions of one particular family. And what people will do to survive in or escape, their town.
Eve Taggert was born in one of the poorest areas of Missouri, to a very hard mother who enjoyed teaching her kids "lessons" about life that no mother should ever want their kids to learn. So Eve is no stranger to the dark.
After getting pregnant at 17, Even has spent the last 12 years of her life working in the same diner within her hometown, just trying to care for her daughter. Her circle is small, only having her brother and few other locals. Eve keeps to herself, doing what she can to survive.
But one day, she gets the news no mother wants: Her daughter Junie, along with Junie's best friend, have been murdered. And now, it is time for that hard-edged Eve, the one she put away so long ago when Junie was born, to re-emerge and find who killed her daughter.
Just like the Roanoke Girls, I did find this compulsively readable. It was very short, and from the moment it begins you are thrust into the story which maintains a fairly good pace throughout the entirety of book. It was easily digestible, not in content matter but in writing style, so I often found myself getting lost within the book, doing whatever task on complete auto-pilot as I listened.
It was also very atmospheric. Engel does a fantastic job of putting you right in the setting of the story. I could just feel the poverty and desperation of Eve's hometown. I could see the ramshackle place where her mother lived, filled with clutter, booze, drugs, and random men. I could see it all. And I appreciate that ability within the story.
I also enjoyed the fact that Engel made Eve a character who was not afraid to go there. She did not hesitate when she came face to face with her daughter's killer. There was no shaky hand. There was no questioning. There was no "'Tis better to forgive" bullshit. She did what she had to do and I enjoy seeing a female character played that way.
So, all-in-all, I still really liked this book. It was just so short, without a lot of opportunities to get to truly know the characters, that it was hard to connect with them, and that is something I've found I really need. However, I will definitely be following Amy Engel's career with great interest and I like the tone and darkness of her books.