This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis

This Darkness Mine by Mindy McGinnis
ISBN: 9780062561619
Published by HarperCollins on October 10, 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Horror, Thriller, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
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Mindy McGinnis, award-winning author of The Female of the Species and A Madness So Discreet, returns with a new dark and twisted psychological thriller—perfect for fans of Gone Girl and Fight Club.

Sasha Stone knows her place—first-chair clarinet, top of her class, and at the side of her Oxford-wearing boyfriend. She’s worked her entire life to ensure her path to Oberlin Conservatory as a star musician is perfectly paved.

But suddenly there’s a fork in the road in the shape of Isaac Harver. Her body shifts toward him when he walks by, and her skin misses his touch even though she’s never known it. Why does he act like he knows her so well—too well—when she doesn’t know him at all?

Sasha discovers that her by-the-book life began by ending the chapter of another: the twin sister she absorbed in the womb. But that doesn’t explain the gaps of missing time in her practice schedule, or the memories she has of things she certainly never did with Isaac.

Armed with the knowledge that her heart might not be hers alone, Sasha must decide what she’s willing to do—and who she’s willing to hurt—to take it back.

Characters: 8, Although toward the end it ranges into a too-extreme-to-be-realistic scenario, the characters felt real to me- in flaws, in behavior, and in expression. They’re seen through the eyes of the MC, who is an over-achieving perfectionist with basically zero compassion, so they’re presented pretty starkly to the reader. The MC herself strikes a somewhat sympathetic chord initially- she’s in high school, under intense pressure, a musician and scholar with dreams. I’d assumed her perfectionist tendencies came from some early life trauma (little bit of projecting there by me) and that the start of her spiral was a mental breakdown. Because it’s told in first person, there’s a hefty chunk of the book where it’s unclear whether the MC is a reliable narrator whose bizarre experience is difficult for others to believe, or legit insane in a way I actually found quite believable.

Atmosphere: 10, From the pressure to defend your first chair status to the dining room wall damaged by scooting her chair back into it over the years, to the sterile symphony of hospitals and beyond, the world felt real, immersive, and current. It’s a contemporary setting, but McGinnis has a way of crafting the world through her MC’s eyes that draws you in and makes you feel part of the plot. This is one reason why I keep reading her books.

Writing: 9, In parts it gets a tad bit purple, but knowing that the MC truly believes herself to be special, it didn’t break immersion for me to experience her ego-based view of her life. Even her lack of compassion felt believable (and not a sign of something wrong, to a point). There is some pretty intense body horror, and the language used to paint that scene was intense and gruesome to the point of making me nauseous. I thought the language felt conversational with a good balance between internal monologue, plot, and external communications.

Plot: 9, At the end, it veered into Midnight Horror Film territory, which I didn’t dislike but it painted the whole story into a slightly different genre than I was expecting. I thought the ending was beautifully creepy along those same lines, and the plot did keep me guessing for a good chunk about what was going on. It gradually becomes less about the mystery and more about the unraveling, so if you enjoy plot more than character journey, it might not strike you as it struck me.

Intrigue: 9, I definitely stayed up too late multiple nights to read “just one more chapter”. And had to watch Crime Scene Kitchen to cleanse my brain of that body horror, so I didn’t go to bed with those disturbing images in my dreams. Pretty ideal for a Halloween-season read!

Logic: 7, Although I was on board for the switch from mystery to horror, the climax scene is physically impossible. That said, a hallmark of horror is presenting us with villains who do the impossible, so it fit with the vibe of the book and served a point with where the MC was at, mentally, at that point. Still, I took a point for having that moment where my brain jumped from the story, albeit briefly, to “no way”.

Enjoyment: 9, It was shocking, it was compelling, it was disturbing…pretty much everything I wanted it to be. And though it’s unlikely to stay with me the way The Female of the Species did, it provided some relief to my concerns that I might indeed be a villain in my life.

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