This popular 2021 thriller is the debut novel from Jessica Huntley, a self-published and traditionally published author of psychological/suspense thrillers. She self-published her first book in April 2021 and hasn’t looked back since. She now has a publishing contract with Inkubator Books and is writing full time, trying to bring her readers one book every three months! .
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. They all make a blood oath to conceal the death and pretend to have knowledge of their missing friend.
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. Unbeknownst to Amber, her former friends have also been suffering from their own psychological nightmares, each trapped and twisted into people they no longer recognize.
Then a piece of evidence is found from the day of the accident, 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. By making a reversing blood oath, they put themselves in even greater turmoil, and the secrets they’ve held from each other become exposed.
The Darkness Within Ourselves is an unpredictable, haunting story revolving around four characters connected by a dark secret from their youth. The book is well paced and easy to follow, but it does include many flashback scenes that require careful reading or listening to fully appropriate and understand the whole story. Although some of the characters are unlikable, the story’s dual timeline and multiple POVs make this book quite multi-layered and unputdownable.
The story toggles back and forth between the four characters at the time of a tragic event in their adolescence and their present-day haunted adult lives. The main protagonist, Amber, has intense sleep paralysis accompanied by a malevolent entity known as The Creature. The others suffer their own living nightmares: Brooke has “The Fear,” causing her agoraphobia; Jordan lives with “The Bad Man, who makes him violent; and Tyler sees “The Black Shadow,” which depletes his life force. There is a good balance of supernatural elements and mental health issues woven together that make for a highly original and compelling story. That being said, readers should be aware that the story does include triggers and dark subject matter, including depression, anxiety, hallucinations, agoraphobia, PTSD, sleep paralysis, anger issues, guilt, and suicidal ideation.
One criticism would be that there are a few too many flashback scenes that somewhat interrupt the flow of the story. Some of the backstory could instead have been woven into the dialogue of the characters. The story also has many unpredictable moments, especially as “The Darkness” seems to be winning its battles over the characters and they are at their wits end. The mystery surrounding Kieran’s death is kept a mystery right up until the end, and readers will likely get fully invested in knowing the truth. The ending doesn’t provide satisfying resolutions for the characters, but knowing that this is the first book in a series definitely sets up for an exciting continuing storyline.
Narrator Candace Fitzgerald does an excellent job narrating this audiobook. Fitzgerald maintains a constant tone of eeriness and tension throughout the story, keeping listeners on edge and fully engaged. Her portrayal of “The Darkness” is especially effective and haunting, giving the audiobook a very supernatural feel. Fitzgerald also provides very distinct and authentic voices for all of the characters, giving the feel of a multicast production. In particular, her performance of Amber is especially intense and emotional, especially during the disturbing scenes that involve “The Creature” and the danger it imposes on Amber’s daughter. Fitzgerald’s narration is also well paced, effectively changing the tempo during many of the flashback scenes to fully capture the stark contrast of the characters from past to present. Fitzgerald creates a thrilling, unstoppable listening experience, and listeners will likely be eager to hear more of her narration in the sequel, The Darkness That Binds Us!
Overall, this is an engrossing, thrilling book with powerful messages about the devastating effects of long-held guilt and unresolved trauma on a person’s mental health. Huntley cleverly crafted a story that encompasses these messages, along with an addictive mystery storyline, making for a very entertaining audiobook. The audiobook, expertly narrated by Candace Fitzgerald, is the recommended format for enjoying this one. It’s also good to know that Fitzgerald narrates the sequel, which has now been released, so it’s a great time to binge both audiobooks back to back!
