Drawn Into Darkness

By Nancy Springer

Darkness lies closer than you think....

Liana Clymer is running away—from her divorce, from her past, from herself. Leaving behind everything she knows, she finds herself ensconced in a fuchsia-colored cottage in the swampy hinterlands of the Florida panhandle. Far from the grown sons who don’t return her calls, her only companion her dog, Liana decides to put her best foot forward and get to know whoever lives in the blue house across the street, the only neighbors within sight of her new home.

But minutes after a teenage boy, Justin, answers the door and wins her over with his shy kindness, his face appears on the TV screen and is immediately recognizable as that of the child who was taken from his parents two years ago. Worse, Justin’s abductor has no intention of letting Liana go.

A powerful will to live—and to save Justin too—seizes hold of Liana. She will fight tooth and nail to survive. But does she have what it takes to thwart a wily, depraved psychopath for whom abuse is a way of life...and killing is routine?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Nov 5, 2013
• ISBN: 9781101626535

Nancy Springer

NANCY SPRINGER is the author of the nationally bestselling Enola Holmes novels, including The Case of the Missing Marquess, which was made into the hit Netflix movie, Enola Holmes. She is the author of more than 50 other books for children and adults. She has won many awards, including two Edgar Awards, and has been published in more than thirty countries. She lives in Florida.

Reviews for Drawn Into Darkness

[rtb_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Review by JenI picked this book up at the library. I found it while scanning the shelves looking for something new to read. The fact that it was paranormal and the first book in a series (Soul Gatherers) were pluses. So I picked it up and started to read.It look a little while for me to really get where the book was going. It starts out introducing the reader to our hero, Lachlan, by dropping us right into the middle of one of his "assignments" as a Soul Gatherer. However, it's not really explained what he's doing at this point and that left me quite confused. And let me tell you, it's not a good thing to have me confused within the first 10 pages of a 300 page novel. But I stuck with it.Then we meet Rachel, our love interest, and her daughter Emily, an angst ridden teen. Their strained relationship sends Rachel to Lachlan for advice and support. But, of course, Rachel doesn't know about this paranormal world Lachlan lives in, but it drawn into it anyway.So, this book reminded me a lot of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters. You have a "god" (Death vs Artemis) who collects souls of people, which lands them working for the god pretty much unwillingly as a way of redeeming themselves. And then there is the hoard of demons (daimons) who are the nemesis of the "good guys".After the slow start, I really got into this book and ended up reading the second half non-stop. I enjoyed it, but found it to be lacking if you compare it to the Dark-Hunters. However, it is the first in a series, so a lot of setting up of the world and introducing the major players is necessary and therefore all that extra narrative can be forgiven.All that said, I will likely hunt down a copy of the sequel, Bound by Darkness, to see where Annette McCleave is going to take this series.