The Darkness Within

by J.W. Holmes

After the body of a young woman is found washed up on the shore of the quaint New England town of Piscator Bay, Detective Meredith Greene is tasked with solving the grisly murder. She is joined by a detective up from Portland - a troubled man, who may know more than he lets on. Together they will delve into the seedy underbelly of what they thought was a pristine, and peaceful town.Once it is over, and after all is uncovered, will they still have hope for their futures, or will they witness such evil that any goodness in their hearts is shattered forever?

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Ebooks

188 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2024

About the author

Multi-genre author from Christchurch, New Zealand. His passions include music, film, embroidery, and occasionally writing.

Reviews

[Tammy Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it!!

[RedFlower · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was an interesting read infused with an action packed plot. Throughout the story there are clues to a terrible crime, before it's finally revealed. Throughout the story, time is of the essence in finding the perpetuator of this particularly devastating murder.

Meredith is the main female protagonist and she's insecure, but she's trying very hard to change the direction of her life in a positive manner. Whereas, Len is casual even though he really likes Meridith.

This story took me on a journey of love where second chances in life are gifted to those who are brave enough to take them.

I recommend this book and writer to everyone into this genre.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella was entertaining and interesting. Detective Meredith Greene is tasked to solve the gruesome murder of a local woman. This is the first murder of Piscator Bay, New England in quite a few years and Greene’s first murder. A detective, Daniel Lipton of the Portland PD is residing in town and volunteers to assist in the investigation. A lot happens in this novella including a love story, a burglary of a local store, a strip club investigation, the investigation of a local wealthy family, to name a few. Although there were some grammatical errors noted and some sentences felt clumsy this was a good book. i would have given it a 3 1/2 ⭐️ rating if i could have. i recommend this to those who want a quick and interesting read.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a thriller with an eerie atmosphere that sparked my interest. As I read on though, I found I didn't really feel any connection with any of the characters, or with the story itself. The writing was good, it just didn't really work for me.

Thank you to Booksprout and the author for a free copy to review.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story follows Detective Greene and the investigation of a murdered young woman. Alongside a detective from outside of town, Greene uncovers the dark truth of her home turf as she investigates potential suspects. The perspectives switch to Lipton so readers can view both sides of the story. The story is visually descriptive.


I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Goose B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it. I definitely thought this was going to be more of mystery book but you find out who the killer was almost right away. Other than that, I thought this was very good story. There was some filler scenes that I didn’t necessarily understand, like the break in at the bookstore. I do wish it had a bit more “detective” scenes. Overall, it was a good, easy book to read.

[Martyn Davies · Rating 1 out of 5]

At least it only cost 99p

Reads like an unedited first draft. And not a good one. The Darkness Within is poorly written, with paper-thin characters walking through a bad plot. It contains no surprises, and lots of irrelevant chapters. I skimmed it and wished I hadn’t wasted the short amount of time I spent on it.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good story. It kept going, didn't slow down. Just kept you wanting to flip each page. I want more of this.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Timothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

could not finish

I very rarely dnf a book, but this one was an exception. The writing is very stilted, the story is shallow, and the author clearly has no concept of how police procedures work.

[Ruby Racicot]

Couldn't stop...

A great read, with believable characters. Didn't want it to end. Green, the main character was intriguing and real. Her love interest Len, was the kind of person to envy with his outlook and understanding.

[Deb Abbott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

I really enjoyed this book. Good development of characters. I felt great sympathy for Greene. The book moved fast and kept my interest.

[LYNN MCNAMARA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book!

This book has an interesting storyline and believable characters. The book is fast-paced and leads the reader along, making it hard to put the book down!

[Evelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good mystery with surprise ending. Only thing I didn’t like was the writing style which made it seem like closed captioning with description of events like on TV.

[Hunter Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot. The only thing that took me away was the few grammatical errors in the writing. Still a pretty good read nonetheless.

[Barbara Mcanally · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but dark

The book was very emotional; the girls in the night club just accepting their fate and not trying to do anything about the abuse.

[Jackie Simons]

Read 3/25

[Colleen Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick captivating read

This was an excellently written story that captivated you early on and kept you hanging on trying to figure out what’s going to happen next.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing tale

Compelling story which kept me coming back to it every chance I had. The characters are described in such detail that I had a picture of each in my mind.

[Connie Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great story.

This story kept me reading. I often quit if a book is too slow or dull or jump ahead to the last few chapters. I read every word of this!

[Martin 4 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simpleton. High school writing. Nonsense. Amazon give it free. I understand. I never pay for this

[Kelly Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The pass or fail test of a book is whether the author can write a sentence. This one is a fail and a DNF. Within the first few pages there are comma splices and sentence fragments. I tried to stick it out for a chapter, but the chapter was just too long.