The Book:
Things We Do In The Dark by Jennifer Hillier
Published July 19th 2022 by Minotaur Books
Date read: June 30, 2022
The Characters:
Paris
Drew
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
When Paris Peralta is arrested in her own bathroom—covered in blood, holding a straight razor, her celebrity husband dead in the bathtub behind her—she knows she’ll be charged with murder. But as bad as this looks, it’s not what worries her the most. With the unwanted media attention now surrounding her, it’s only a matter of time before someone from her long hidden past recognizes her and destroys the new life she’s worked so hard to build, along with any chance of a future.
Twenty-five years earlier, Ruby Reyes, known as the Ice Queen, was convicted of a similar murder in a trial that riveted Canada in the early nineties. Reyes knows who Paris really is, and when she’s unexpectedly released from prison, she threatens to expose all of Paris’s secrets. Left with no other choice, Paris must finally confront the dark past she escaped, once and for all.
Because the only thing worse than a murder charge are two murder charges.
The Twist:
Paris was Ruby’s daughter. Ruby is a famous convict who killed her husband in cold blood. She was up for release and blackmailing Paris. Everyone thought Ruby’s daughter Joey died in a house fire, but it was another Asian stripper whom Joey had been friends with named Mia. Mia’s boyfriend was in a gang, and he had given her some cocaine that she wouldn’t give back. He killed her in Joey’s apartment. Joey found Mia but Mia died before she could do anything to help her, so Joey decided to burn the house down to escape her old life. She found Mia’s stash and used that to start her life as Paris.
Elsie had killed Jimmy. She tried to convince him that they should be together, and Jimmy’s Alzheimer’s caused him to say something nasty to her in response. In anger, she threatened him with his straight razor. He lunged at her and she accidentally cut his femoral artery, and he bled out almost instantly.
Paris had murdered Charles, not Ruby. Ruby had stabbed him 16 times but he wasn’t dead, so Paris/Joey finished the job with Charles’s daughter’s ice skate.
The Ending:
Drew and Paris went to meet Ruby. The understanding was that Paris would pay Ruby off in exchange for Mia’s ashes, but she tricked Ruby into giving her the ashes before she gave her the money. Drew had recorded Ruby violating her parole, so she was arrested again.
The Review:
I loved this book! I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about it, other than that the cover looked right up my alley. Jennifer Hillier has been on my list to check out for a long time, and now I am certainly going to need to go read her backlist.
I was able to guess the twist pretty easily, but I do read a lot of thrillers. This didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the story at all. I really enjoyed the in-depth examination of Paris’s dysfunctional childhood and how she got to be where she is. I’m all for family drama, even when it’s dark, and the multiple murder mysteries that unfolded in these pages. I also find thrillers focused around sex work to be extremely interesting–if you liked this aspect, also check out Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski.
Drew was my favorite character, and I do wish we got to see more of him and his podcast. I think the podcast aspect could have made this audiobook even better!
This was a well-paced, interesting thriller, and I can’t wait to read more by Hillier.
“There is a time and place for erect nipples, but the back of a Seattle police car definitely isn’t it.”
Audio Review: This is the first audiobook I’ve listened to that was narrated by Carla Vega. I enjoyed the production, and thought Vega’s narration did a great job of adding an air of mystery to the story.
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