Today I’m going to be reviewing The Darkness Within Ourselves, Book1 in The Darkness Series by Jessica Huntley.

Here’s the blurb

Running and hiding won’t save you because The Darkness lives within … and it will never stop hunting you.

Amber and her four best friends are about to reach their teenage years when the unthinkable happens; one of her friends, Kieran, is killed in a freak accident.

Twenty years later, Amber no longer speaks to her friends and is still haunted by that day in the form of severe psychological issues, including sleep paralysis, insomnia and hallucinations of a terrifying entity she calls The Creature. But it isn’t just in her head; it is real.

Unbeknown to Amber, her former friends have also been suffering from their own psychological nightmares, each trapped and twisted into people they no longer recognise. Then a piece of evidence is found from that day and Amber and her former friends are forced to relive the events leading up to Kieran’s death, learning truths along the way that they would rather not know about themselves.

Can they work together to rid themselves of their demons and find out what really happened to Kieran all those years ago?

Review

Amber and her friends are out and about doing what kids do.. not looking for trouble but trouble finds them..and one of the group, Kieran doesn’t make it home that fateful day.

Many years later we learn the group was never the same after that day.. they are no longer the close group of friends they used to be. Not only that but each have been struggling with the darkness that’s been within them since that day.

A piece of evidence shows up one day that means the case is going to be reopened and the truth may finally come out. This spurs Amber on to try and reconnect with the group.

Where did the evidence come from? And what does this mean? Should they tell the truth after all this time?

As time passes, and the group reconnects they learn of their individual struggles and the effect Kieran’s death had on them all. What is the darkness really? And why is it different fro each of them? Is there anything they can do to rid themselves of the darkness that has been following them for years? Will the truth set them free?

Oh wow, what a plot. It’s a mixture of psychological and supernatural. I don’t want to spoil the plot but the idea of the darkness was fascinating. It’s a manifestation… its how they are coping with the guilt and pain within themselves and just like the darkness we can all suffer at times it’s not always a battle you can win.

I loved the development of the characters and their individual battles, It allowed me to quickly get invested in the outcome.

The plot moves at a good pace and chapter lengths are spot on meaning it was a quick and fun read but what really gave it the extra umph was the few twists thrown in along the way.. where the evidence came from.. what the darkness is.. those twits added an extra bit of excitement.

I think what really made this book the 5* for me was the battle against the darkness, it’s a battle on two fronts, internal and external, to not let it win.

In my typical fashion I’m late to the party so more than excited to know the series continues.

As we approach the darker nights this is the perfect, scary, phycological/supernatural thriller to get stuck into.

5/5 Stars

To find our more head to Amazon or Goodreads