REVIEW: Dark Sky Island

Dark Sky Island
Author: Lara Dearman

Dark Sky Island is the second book in the Jennifer Dorey series. Jennifer is a reporter for a newspaper in Guernsey. In this new story, skeletal remains are discovered on nearby Sark Island. Sark is only about 9 miles from Guernsey, but it's a very different place. It's what they call a "Dark Island'' -- the only one in the world in fact. No streetlights. No cars. No airport. No light pollution. Tourists who visit there can have a view of the night sky like no other. DCI Michael Gilbert, a love interest of Jennifer's mother, is also on the island. He's reported from Guernsey to investigate the remains because Sark doesn't have a police force of its own. Turns out the skeletal woman was murdered. The case turns out to be much more complex than just a decades old skeleton, pulling in the death of Jennifer's own father and a long-ago disappearance.

This story had me engrossed from start to finish. I love how the author wove in local island superstitions like the Beast Man and the Tchico black dog along with the more modern dangers like drug traffickers. The story moved along at a fast pace with plenty of twists and suspects. I enjoyed the characters. Jennifer is a strong woman and a great reporter, but has her faults which she is trying to deal with. Michael Gilbert is an aging cop dealing with job stress, a budding relationship and his friendship with a reporter who won't stop nosing into his cases. I have not read the first book, The Devil's Claw, in this series yet, but I enjoyed this second book enough to back-track and read it.

The setting for this story reminded me a lot of the small town I grew up in. Same politics. Same attitude towards strangers. And the same resistance to modernization. There are only 450 residents on Sark Island. They resent outsiders and resist change. Superstitions, old legends and island gossip can hide many things....but also cause local issues to blow up into much bigger problems. This local atmosphere, plus discovery of human remains and other criminal elements at work on the island made for a suspenseful, thrilling story. I'm definitely looking forward to more by this author!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Crooked Lane via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**