Into the Darkest Corner

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Darkest Corner has been compared to S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep. Watson even blurbs Darkest Corner, calling it “intense, gripping and utterly unputdownable.” I am a huge fan of Before I Go to Sleep— I found it, quite literally, “unputdownable,” and it kept me up all night. Its premise of not knowing who you really area is terrifying. urn:lcp:intodarkestcorne0000hayn_n9e9:epub:51732da9-3c27-47f6-ba05-0b83a09d907e Foldoutcount 0 Identifier intodarkestcorne0000hayn_n9e9 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t4cp90j6p Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780956251572 In October 2003, Cathy meets a somewhat mysterious but totally gorgeous man named Lee. He’s closed-mouthed about his job, but charms her friends, and as she gets involved with this enigmatic figure, a man who can be loving and vulnerable, but also rough and controlling, her life changes in major ways. A debate Catherine has with herself during an early split with Lee is whether the sex - sex she considered, at least initially, as great - was grounds for reconciliation. For perseverance. I have rarely detested a character as much as I do Lee. He’s just creepy and controlling. For example, he switches around the knives and forks in Catherine’s kitchen drawer. When Catherine demands to know why he did it, he replies, “I just wanted you to know I was looking out for you.” Catherine admits she feels uncomfortable without knowing why, and that was one point when I wanted to just yell at her — how can you not know why that creeps you out? Talk about the heebie-jeebies! To Catherine’s credit, she does ask him not to do it again instead of just letting it alone.

Into The Darkest Corner: Haynes, Elizabeth: 9780062197252 Into The Darkest Corner: Haynes, Elizabeth: 9780062197252

The story was partly inspired by my work as a police intelligence analyst. At the time I was producing a quarterly report on violent crime and as part of this I read a lot of accounts of domestic abuse. I was guilty of having very fixed ideas about violence in the home and the sort of people who were victims of it, and this stereotype was challenged in every way by the reports I was analysing. I’d always thought of domestic abuse as something that happened to ‘other people’, but it affects many couples and families from every part of society and is often very well hidden. In the book, Cathy’s friends don’t realise what is going on right in front of them, partly because they have no experience of violence – it’s something that happens to ‘other people’. Certainly for me the presence of sex - regardless of the degrees of satisfaction - is a dealbreaker. While I’m sure there are relationships that are are functional - are satisfying - sans sex, I’m not particularly interested in one.The gripping tale is told in an alternating narrative that switches between the two timeframes: dates are clearly marked so that it is easy to distinguish the “when” of events. There are also two court transcripts that explain certain incidents. Haynes gives the reader a riveting plot with a twist or two, several nail-biting climaxes and some bombshell revelations that will have them gasping. Into the Darkest Corner was the third of my annual ‘Nano’ novels and it was the first one that had something like a proper ending. I wanted to write about how it felt not to be believed, and the story evolved from that idea. Many writers plan their stories carefully before they start, but I have a tendency to get bored and distracted, and my solution to this is to let the story grow as I write it. That way the ending is a surprise to me, and writing about it is exciting and fresh. Of course, it takes much longer to edit than if I’d planned it properly. What’s the one thing - the only thing - that in most relationships would be considered unacceptable to source outside of the dyad?

Into the Darkest Corner – HarperCollins Into the Darkest Corner – HarperCollins

Into the Darkest Corner is a difficult book to read, and I mean that as a testament to how amazing it is. Haynes has crafted a terrifying, emotional, claustrophobic story of abuse. My copy (photo on the left) is filed with Post-It notes and marginal scribbles, mostly comments like “Argh! You liar!” referring to Lee. Rarely have I marked up a book so much — Darkest Corner has provoked that much from me. Crime Thriller - Yes General Crime (including known murderer) - Yes Who's the criminal enemy here? - crazed lover/family member If story PRIMARILY about main chr. being hunted... - hunted by dangerous boy/girlfriend/spouse Is Romance a MAJOR (25%+) part of story? - Yes Main Character Gender - Female

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Equally worth asking, how fantastic does a relationship need to be to compensate for bad sex? If the coupling is warm and trusting and romantic, does it really matter if the sex is all a bit crap?

Into the Darkest Corner on Apple Books ‎Into the Darkest Corner on Apple Books

Like all of the books I tend to crow about, Elizabeth Haynes’ Into the Darkest Corner can spawn any number of juicy conversations. Haynes does an amazing job of putting us in Catherine’s frame of mind. It was terrifying to see Lee’s controlling tendencies escalate, to the point that even when Catherine realizes how much she needs to escape this relationship, it’s already too late. Several times in the margins, I’ve written “how to escape?” The story at times felt claustrophobic — Catherine’s experience of being trapped by Lee felt so real that even I, who knew he’d be convicted in 2005, saw no way out.

Writing Style Accounts of torture and death? - very gorey references to deaths/dead bodies and torture Into the Darkest Corner’ is a real slow burn of a dark psychological thriller. Told in a dual timeline we switch between the past confident Catherine and the present terrified one as we gradually learn what has happened to her. This contrast between past and present is incredibly effective in showing the damage inflicted by domestic violence, gaslighting, and coercive control.⁣ So on one level I’m completely convinced that you can’t get everything you want or need from one person. To assume that your partner can satisfy all of your intellectual/emotional/physical needs is setting yourself up for failure.