Date Published: August 2009
ISBN: 978-0-06-165278-3
Romantic Thriller
Paperback
Reviewed by Tammy
Romantic comedy writer Margaret Carroll has turned her pen toward romantic thrillers with her first book in this genre, A DARK LOVE, the story of a woman on the run from an abusive marriage.
Caroline Hughes thought her husband was sophisticated and learned when she married him that he was insecure and beyond needy to the point of abusive. After years of living under a microscope with every step she took monitored, Caroline takes her little dog for a walk one morning and doesn’t return. She dyes her hair, drugs her dog and hops on a bus to a small town in the Rocky Mountains where she changes her name and tries to start a new life, all the while waiting nervously for the day when her deranged husband will finally hunt her down.
Margaret Carroll’s first attempt at a romantic thriller, A DARK LOVE, is reminiscent of the Julia Roberts movie “Sleeping with the Enemy”, a story of spousal abuse and the extremes both parties are forced to take. In A DARK LOVE, we learn of Caroline Hughes’ tortured life, both physical and mental, with her much older Freudian psychoanalyst husband Porter in flashbacks after she pulls her courage together and flees from him. The story then shifts between what is happening to her post-Porter and what is going through Porter’s demented head as he attempts to track his wayward wife down. The story is extremely suspenseful and frightening. Porter truly believes he loves Caroline and is trying to help her be a better wife to him. Caroline has escaped him, but knows in her heart of hearts that Porter will never stop hunting her, so she is constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The storyline moves at a fast pace, switching back and forth between Caroline and her new life and Porter and his pursuit of her. When the final confrontation arrives, readers are truly hoping that Porter gets what he deserves, a taste of his own medicine.
Ms. Carroll’s second thriller, RIPTIDE, comes out in October. This reader is eagerly awaiting it. Book lovers searching for a thriller that is light on romance and heavy on suspense are sure to enjoy Margaret Carroll’s A DARK LOVE.
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