Book Review: Dark Light by Jodi Taylor

"People tell you their darkest secrets and then regret it and then all they want to do is get away so they can pretend it never happened.”

― Jodi Taylor, Dark Light

The second book in international bestseller author Jodi Taylor's riveting new series of otherworldly thrillers. takes readers on a roller-coaster rollercoaster of happiness and sorrow with a dash of time travel for good measure.

Synopsis from Goodreads...

From the frying pan into the fire.

Betrayed, terrified and alone, Elizabeth Cage has fled her home. With no plan and no friends, she arrives at the picturesque village of Greyston and finds herself involved in an ages-old ceremony that will end in death.

And that might be the least of her problems – the Sorensen Institute would very much like to know her whereabouts. And Michael Jones is still out there, somewhere, she hopes. No matter how far and how fast she can run, trouble will always find Elizabeth Cage.

My reaction to this novel...

I've admired Jodi Taylor since reading Elizabeth Cage's first installment novel. She has a remarkable talent for making her readers experience the emotions of the characters in the book. I remember being afraid and having trouble falling asleep after reading the first book in this series. The same is true of this book. She did a good job of making me apprehensive about the first nine chapters. I felt terrible for the horrified Elizabeth Cage. It was both horrifying and thrilling, making me want to devour the novel in one sitting. Her story's premise just blew me away. It was excellent.

But following those gruesome and spine-tingling chapters, the story dragged on in the middle. The author seemed to be speeding through the episodes, happening all of them at once, and adding cheesy and irrelevant phrases in between. Nothing about it resembled Elizabeth Cage. I don't understand why the author abruptly cut such lovely portions, and I believe it would have been better if she had left them in till the end. The sections in the middle were so dull that I was tempted to skip the entire thing, even though she did return to those great events in the last chapters.

This one was quite difficult for me to complete. Has anyone else read this book and reviewed it? I don't understand why so many of the reviews were 5 stars. There are numerous unrelated side stories. I'll absolutely read the next one, but I'm hoping she gets more acquainted with these characters and their stories. I genuinely believed that this story went off the rails because the core conceit—that the protagonist, Elizabeth, had some psychic ability that an evil institute sought to harness for malevolent ends—morphed into a huge jumble of unearthly chaos. It left me feeling really unsatisfied.

I'll read the third book eventually, just probably not now. I think I still need to erase my bad impressions of this sequel before I can approach the third one with new eyes. I'm not sure whether I'll give it a high rating because I'm so disappointed, but if you've already read the first book, you absolutely must read the sequel to follow Elizabeth's adventure.

My Overall rating: ⭐⭐✨(2.5/5)

“Other people’s secrets are a burden.”

This adage is accurate. Knowing someone's secret is a great burden to bear since you must take it with you throughout your life, especially if what you know is horrifying and will destroy people's lives. You won't have any idea what to do. Perhaps you'll find yourself constantly concerned by things that, in the end, will cause harm. That is why, in my opinion, it is best if we all keep to ourselves and refrain from interjecting in others' conversations or behaviors, especially if you believe it will ultimately be detrimental to both you and the other person.