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This Dark Town #3
Us and Them
The final instalment in the trilogy. The last time we saw Kate Stone, she was pregnant and deeply involved with the CFP church. Now, through her eyes we start to see just how widespread and dangerous this group is, and how convoluted and sophisticated their plans. Kate has to go to extreme lengths to stay alive and sane, and her strength and determination is challenged in unimaginable ways. Other kidnapping victims come out of the woodwork, and the detectives on Kate's case start to connect the dots. It is much, much bigger than anyone could have imagined, and far more sinister. Kate's twin, Lydia knows that she is key in finding her sister, and surprises everyone - especially herself - when she finds the power to connect with Kate and become an instrumental part in breaking the CFP, and making one final attempt to bring her sister home.
211 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 30, 2018
About the author
Marguerite O'Callaghan
10 books14 followersHi There! Thanks for checking me out on Author Central! I am so excited to be here, and able to share my works of fiction with you all!
I started writing full time a couple of years ago, when I threw myself into completing the 'This Dark Town' trilogy, a mystery thriller series that's set in present-day London (and parts in the US). Now, I really can't imagine doing anything else except writing every day! I'm working on two new books right now - a dark psychological thriller, and another lighter project about social networking and vloggers! I'm also planning to release audio versions of the This Dark Town trilogy in 2019 and am developing a pilot script for a television series of the trilogy.
My background is in television, where I worked as a producer/interview director on various true crime drama shows, often helping survivors of crimes to tell their own story in their own words for the first time.
I am originally from Cork, Ireland, and moved to the UK in 2007, and fell in love with London. The city inspires me, and definitely feels like home for now!
I started writing full time a couple of years ago, when I threw myself into completing the 'This Dark Town' trilogy, a mystery thriller series that's set in present-day London (and parts in the US). Now, I really can't imagine doing anything else except writing every day! I'm working on two new books right now - a dark psychological thriller, and another lighter project about social networking and vloggers! I'm also planning to release audio versions of the This Dark Town trilogy in 2019 and am developing a pilot script for a television series of the trilogy.
My background is in television, where I worked as a producer/interview director on various true crime drama shows, often helping survivors of crimes to tell their own story in their own words for the first time.
I am originally from Cork, Ireland, and moved to the UK in 2007, and fell in love with London. The city inspires me, and definitely feels like home for now!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 16, 2020
4.5⭐️Stars for this exciting, dark, disturbing, and informative psychological thriller!!
This is the last installment of the trilogy series This Dark Town by Marguerite O' Callaghan!!
N.B: For the best experience readers should start from the first part of the series. I have posted my reviews for the first and second part down below:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... (for This Dark Town:1 When You're Gone)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... (for This Dark Town:2 The House in the Woods)
"From now on it's us and them, us on the inside, and everyone else on the outside, and you'll never be part of the outside, as you know it, again"
This is the last installment of the trilogy series This Dark Town by Marguerite O' Callaghan!!
N.B: For the best experience readers should start from the first part of the series. I have posted my reviews for the first and second part down below:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... (for This Dark Town:1 When You're Gone)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... (for This Dark Town:2 The House in the Woods)
"From now on it's us and them, us on the inside, and everyone else on the outside, and you'll never be part of the outside, as you know it, again"
In the concluding part of the book, the author reveals many dark secrets connected to the cult and the Church of the Family of Prophecies (CFP). Barbara Stone's (Kate and Lydia Stone's mom) secret has been revealed and now the horrific truth about the CFP is no longer a secret. The search for 18 years, famous model Kate Stone, Lydia's conjoined twin sister is still on, at a personal level but for detective McCarthy, it's been a lost case. Lydia is seen still battling with her dreams and her fierce twin telepathy, thus still carrying on the quest to find her sister. She has even taken the aid from Ida, the psychic at many levels and her boyfriend, who has supported her quite lovingly. The incidence has ramshackle Brian completely and he has been struggling to accept the loss of his daughter and the separation of his loving family, specially of his wife, who was his best companion .Amidst all this, some new information turns up with a ray of hope. Is Kate Stone still alive? or has she been the victim of a horrific crime? or has she turned into a criminal herself?
While reading the three books I felt, that the three installments have given justifiable information about individual topic in each of them. In the first part, readers will get a good amount of information about fetish world and sadomasochism. A topic which sparks interest and is quite debatable. The second book speak voluminously about psychics and their energy visions. The character of Lana Nowicki, the cult expert helping the detectives has been a planned addition. I liked that the author has not only relied upon Ida, who is not a professional but also deftly introduced someone, who is a reputed professional and has earned degrees in the same field, at least to make the concept believable. The third book reveals a lot about twin telepathy, psychic connections between them and how conjoined twins (Siamese Twins) connect to each other. It is important to quote here what I found while reading about twin telepathy.
(Siamese Twins Ultrasound from https://austinpublishinggroup.com/)
The book "The Encyclopedia of Superstitions," (Metro Books 1961) by folklorists E. and M.A. Radford it is noted that "It is a very common belief that twins, especially identical twins, are united by a strong bond of sympathy that each knows when danger or misfortune threatens the other, even when they are separated. In the same mysterious way, any special state of happiness or wellbeing in one of the pair is reflected in the feelings of the other. It is often said that if one twin dies, the other will not live long thereafter." (Ref: https://www.livescience.com/45405-twi...).
I have dedicated a special paragraph to twin telepathy because until the readers get a good hold of the concept of this, they may struggle to understand the message of this book. The mystery has been greatly solved due to this fact and it has been highlighted from time to time through Lydia’s dream visions about her sister Kate.
“Dreams were one of the main ways she felt close to her, and although they had been upsetting, they were also a connection to Kate”.
In this part, the secondary characters like detectives Davies, Jared, Maclaren and Julia Ross have played vital roles and I am happy to see that Davies has acted quite responsibly in this part. The transformation from a rookie, casual character to serious detective of Davies is intriguing and off course worth the praise!! A host of new characters other than the detectives have been introduced in this part and readers may feel overwhelming at first thus struggling to remember the names and their connection to the story. However, they should not forget, that the plot is large and the crime is not only limited to the disappearance of a girl but the author is talking about a religious group/cult which is blemished and infamous!!
“This wasn’t just a religious group with a ridiculous prophecy, it was a business with money and power”
It involves people from higher power and authority and they are widely spread, involved in kidnapping, human trafficking, baby farming, raping and murdering innocent people.
Amongst all the characters, Lydia has not stopped surprising me till the end. Her determination and her love for her family and sister is worth mentioning. I think readers will love to know her for sure. Ida has been like a grandmother exuding warmth and love, through her support till the end. Brian tried to be a good father and the return of Barbara from her fragile state to a steady state, supporting Lydia in the final quest is laudable.
The author in one hand has shown the love of the sisters and the family and on the other hand has shown the extreme cruelty of another world. So readers will get to see two worlds with different people and different mindset. Criminals doesn’t need any introduction and I hope this book shows criminal mindset in a different distorted, disturbed manner. It is disgusting to know their logic and their crooked thought process. To understand these lines, readers have to read the whole series off course!!
There is an emotional angle in the story, which shows the separation of a mother from her infant and this reminds me of Lisa Jewel’s “Then She Was Gone”. I felt the whole incident very heart wrenching and touching.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
There are few places in the digital edition of the book where readers can find some small mistakes, as in name of the characters, or in grammatical ways.
Overall: The whole trilogy series has been a roller coaster ride, with various happy and sad moments. It is an excellent read, enriching me with many information. The plot as a whole has been described in detail and the best part is that you get habituated to the characters which gives you a feeling of continuity. Sudden twists and strange encounters are suspenseful, at few instances, readers may feel gripping tightly to the book and may desire to finish the series at one go!! I finished it within a week and hope once you start reading it, you’ll also do the same. Readers please do not forget to read the Epilogue at the end of the book, which is bound to surprise you!!
Off course I will Recommend This Series!!
Happy Reading!!
February 27, 2019
Scary amazing
Brilliant books, I bought the first one as I thought it would be good but had to get the remaining books, I was addicted to them, how this family would survive , what they were going through, the sad thing is the events in this book do exist and are still ongoing, can’t wait to see what this amazing author does next
Brilliant books, I bought the first one as I thought it would be good but had to get the remaining books, I was addicted to them, how this family would survive , what they were going through, the sad thing is the events in this book do exist and are still ongoing, can’t wait to see what this amazing author does next
March 6, 2022
the third book went back to being not that good and not that interesting. the whole series is building towards a big ending that we never got.
February 13, 2019
Wow, on÷ of the best books I ever read.
I could not stop until I read a all. Totally enthralling, just read and never knew what would happen. Hope there is a sequel, cannot wait
I could not stop until I read a all. Totally enthralling, just read and never knew what would happen. Hope there is a sequel, cannot wait
October 25, 2020
Thrilling trilogy
As soon as I finished the first book in the trilogy I bought the second, then the final.
These aren’t it stand alone novels, the story is told in three books. I read all three in about a week, I just had to keep following the twists and turns. Unfortunately the story is all too believable. Young women do go missing and there are cults whose members do inexplicably cruel acts to fulfil whatever whims the crazy cult leaders dream up.
The first two books are very well written. The author reveals little about the characters, other than the protagonist, just enough to keep the reader in suspense.
The premise seems well researched, this is as important as the writing itself.
The third book continues the suspense but as the ending nears, the writing seems rushed and somewhat empty of the thought that had gone into it previously.
This trilogy compares well to other novels in this genre, and despite the relative triteness of the ending, is deserving of four stars.
As soon as I finished the first book in the trilogy I bought the second, then the final.
These aren’t it stand alone novels, the story is told in three books. I read all three in about a week, I just had to keep following the twists and turns. Unfortunately the story is all too believable. Young women do go missing and there are cults whose members do inexplicably cruel acts to fulfil whatever whims the crazy cult leaders dream up.
The first two books are very well written. The author reveals little about the characters, other than the protagonist, just enough to keep the reader in suspense.
The premise seems well researched, this is as important as the writing itself.
The third book continues the suspense but as the ending nears, the writing seems rushed and somewhat empty of the thought that had gone into it previously.
This trilogy compares well to other novels in this genre, and despite the relative triteness of the ending, is deserving of four stars.
August 4, 2021
Us and Them ( This Dark Town Book 3)
By the way this store ends it sounds like Melvin Todd gets his hands on his daughter because he calls her " Little Mouse" same words he used to call Kate when he held her in captivity. Or if this is someone else that the Detectives have miss entirely and this church ( CFP ) of illegal adoption and trafficking ring in the UK and Europe are still in operations because it sounds like this dark tell is still happening. Are we going to see a book 4 coming out soon..?
This is a disturbing, gripping page-turner, it pulled me in further and further, I did stay up reading it all night long, this does give you a sense of menace throughout and found the narrative very addictive. Definitely a five star series ..
Cindy Riley
By the way this store ends it sounds like Melvin Todd gets his hands on his daughter because he calls her " Little Mouse" same words he used to call Kate when he held her in captivity. Or if this is someone else that the Detectives have miss entirely and this church ( CFP ) of illegal adoption and trafficking ring in the UK and Europe are still in operations because it sounds like this dark tell is still happening. Are we going to see a book 4 coming out soon..?
This is a disturbing, gripping page-turner, it pulled me in further and further, I did stay up reading it all night long, this does give you a sense of menace throughout and found the narrative very addictive. Definitely a five star series ..
Cindy Riley
April 12, 2020
Although I somewhat enjoyed this series I'm very disappointed in the ending. I reread the ending several times and I'm pretty much feeling like I just don't know much of anything. I definitely feel a bit ripped off by this book, I purchased book 1, was sucked in and needed answers so I was basically forced to purchase book 2 and then I said enough is enough and I just borrowed book 3 from my digital library access (free Thank God). I'm glad I didn't spend another dime on this simply because it just left me with WAY TOO MANY unanswered questions which really annoys me.
I just want answers...is that too much to ask 🤦
I just want answers...is that too much to ask 🤦
February 23, 2019
Final Installment!
This Dark Town 111: Us and Them is the conclusion of a page turning thrilling series. Brilliantly plotted by the author Marguerite O'callaghan showcasing the evilness of a cult. Kate Stone is a twin who has been kidnapped by the psychotic cult leader, who has been taken because Kate's own mother had been promised to the leader but she had escaped their evil. The prophecy was to have a son with the dark haired beauty. Really great trilogy.
This Dark Town 111: Us and Them is the conclusion of a page turning thrilling series. Brilliantly plotted by the author Marguerite O'callaghan showcasing the evilness of a cult. Kate Stone is a twin who has been kidnapped by the psychotic cult leader, who has been taken because Kate's own mother had been promised to the leader but she had escaped their evil. The prophecy was to have a son with the dark haired beauty. Really great trilogy.
February 20, 2019
Great end to a trilogy!
The story plot with its twists and turns were so well written. . Once I started reading I was hooked! Great use of characters & plots, focusing actual events that are happening worldwide. My only suggestions that instead of dragging it out into three books, rtf he story could have been told in one. I definitely want to read more of her work!
The story plot with its twists and turns were so well written. . Once I started reading I was hooked! Great use of characters & plots, focusing actual events that are happening worldwide. My only suggestions that instead of dragging it out into three books, rtf he story could have been told in one. I definitely want to read more of her work!
February 23, 2019
Unputdownable!
Excellent story and likeable characters. 3 books were needed to complete the story, which was a little misleading, as I kept having to buy additional books to continue the story, but very good character development for the good and bad guys. I definitely look forward to other books by this author.
Excellent story and likeable characters. 3 books were needed to complete the story, which was a little misleading, as I kept having to buy additional books to continue the story, but very good character development for the good and bad guys. I definitely look forward to other books by this author.
April 25, 2019
Tip of the iceberg
Just finished this third book of the trilogy. It's a little better than the first. I like that it touches on the enormity of human trafficking. Kate's feelings of fear and rage were well presented in a choppy manner that is described by victims.
I liked the happy ending.
Just finished this third book of the trilogy. It's a little better than the first. I like that it touches on the enormity of human trafficking. Kate's feelings of fear and rage were well presented in a choppy manner that is described by victims.
I liked the happy ending.
August 7, 2019
Perfect ending
I said it all in my reviews of books 1 & 2. Just to reiterate this series is fantastic. I only have 1 whinge!! It's finished. Maybe a book 4 & 5 could be wrote Marguerite. Thanks for keeping me so enthralled for the last couple of weeks, it truly was a pleasure to read them 💖
I said it all in my reviews of books 1 & 2. Just to reiterate this series is fantastic. I only have 1 whinge!! It's finished. Maybe a book 4 & 5 could be wrote Marguerite. Thanks for keeping me so enthralled for the last couple of weeks, it truly was a pleasure to read them 💖
February 19, 2019
Excellent read!!!
I don’t usually do reviews but this was such a wonderful trilogy....I would highly recommend to everyone! Very impressed with this author and looking forward to reading more from her!
I don’t usually do reviews but this was such a wonderful trilogy....I would highly recommend to everyone! Very impressed with this author and looking forward to reading more from her!
February 20, 2019
Interesting thriller for sure.
All my projects were put on hold till I read the last book. Good thriller. Kept a quick, interesting pace throughout the book. Many characters , many twists, and not so far from a reality that could exist.
All my projects were put on hold till I read the last book. Good thriller. Kept a quick, interesting pace throughout the book. Many characters , many twists, and not so far from a reality that could exist.
March 8, 2019
LOVED THIS SERIES!!
I read all three books in a week. I was hooked after starting the first book. The story continues till the end of book three. The characters are great and the story line is quick, so much packed into three books. I highly recommend!!!
I read all three books in a week. I was hooked after starting the first book. The story continues till the end of book three. The characters are great and the story line is quick, so much packed into three books. I highly recommend!!!
March 10, 2019
I thoroughly enjoyed this three book page turner. The author self-published and it’s a shame that she didn’t take the time time to edit it properly. Spelling mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, and even a name error. But her imagination and details in a rich storyline made this a worthwhile read!
March 16, 2019
Suspenseful read.
Very good. Suspenseful. I was somewhat disappointed that the ending had no mention of Jared or how his relationship with Lydia developed. Kind of left me hanging.
Very good. Suspenseful. I was somewhat disappointed that the ending had no mention of Jared or how his relationship with Lydia developed. Kind of left me hanging.
March 18, 2019
The final book in the trilogy, this was fast paced with a lot going on - I did find the ending a little unrealistic and a follow up would have been great perhaps 1/2 years in the future for the family.
Also - not sure on the epilogue - is this leading onto a second series?
Also - not sure on the epilogue - is this leading onto a second series?
February 25, 2020
The ending to the trilogy.
Mostly enjoyable. I'd be interested to read more by this author perhaps. Hopefully some stand alones. Kate and lidya are great characters who were believable as twins.
Mostly enjoyable. I'd be interested to read more by this author perhaps. Hopefully some stand alones. Kate and lidya are great characters who were believable as twins.
April 18, 2020
Great trilogy!!
I loved the story but very much disliked having to read three books to get the whole story. I really like how this author writes but probably won't read any more of her books because I won't know when they will end.
I loved the story but very much disliked having to read three books to get the whole story. I really like how this author writes but probably won't read any more of her books because I won't know when they will end.
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June 15, 2020The weakest of the trilogy. I definitely felt the book could have been shorter. There was a lot going on and so the character development didn't feel as good as the first novel.
Still mostly enjoyable.
Still mostly enjoyable.
July 24, 2020
Great series. Likable characters. Couldn’t put it down, read right through all 3 in a few days. I know this was fiction, but I am sure this could be happening somewhere in this world. Will definitely look for more of this author’s books.
November 11, 2020
Great Read
This book was suspenseful from the beginning to the end, you just couldn't put it down. The characters , plot and story line, made for a great book, can't wait for the next one. Highly recommend it.
This book was suspenseful from the beginning to the end, you just couldn't put it down. The characters , plot and story line, made for a great book, can't wait for the next one. Highly recommend it.
July 9, 2024
Possible spoiler so don’t read if care!!
Third book in and you really want closure for the characters and then there is a twist at the end!!
I usually don’t want books to end, but this one I did. I wish the author just finished the series here.
February 21, 2019
Unforgettable
Enjoyed this series very much wish their story would continue kudos to you Marguerite going to check out your other book I'm sure they will be as good as this one
Enjoyed this series very much wish their story would continue kudos to you Marguerite going to check out your other book I'm sure they will be as good as this one
February 27, 2019
Awesome Book
Exciting and captivating. Her style is so good and makes it so easy to read. Definitely recommend to anyone who likes thrillers.
Exciting and captivating. Her style is so good and makes it so easy to read. Definitely recommend to anyone who likes thrillers.
March 1, 2019
Excellent. Easy reading and definitely hold your interest to the very end. It is a cliff hanger to the very end.
April 23, 2019
Holy crap the epilogue though!!
May 4, 2019
Good read
The ending could have been better. Some characters for left hanging at the end. Other than that it is a good book.
The ending could have been better. Some characters for left hanging at the end. Other than that it is a good book.
September 3, 2019
Really good series.
Intricately woven plots. Well balanced characters. You have to read the whole series. Well edited too! I will read more by this author.
Intricately woven plots. Well balanced characters. You have to read the whole series. Well edited too! I will read more by this author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews