The Long Dark Road

by P.R. Black

If you go, there's no coming back.

Dr Georgia Healey can't grieve. Her nineteen-year-old daughter went for a walk two years ago and vanished. The police never found Stephanie's body. The case has gone stale, but Georgia can't let it go. She knows Stephanie's out there, somewhere.

On the anniversary of Stephanie's disappearance, Georgia's ready to re-interrogate university students, lecturers, Steph's past boyfriends, everyone. She treads the exact path where Stephanie vanished. Yet the shocking truth is even more than she can handle.

When you seek the lost, be prepared for what you find . . .

Genres: Thriller

373 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 5, 2020

About the author

P.R. Black lives in Yorkshire, although he will always belong to Glasgow.

He is the author of the DI Lomond thrillers, starting at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine back in 2019. The first full-length novel, To Pay The Ferryman, is available now.

The second in the series, Jack-in-the-Box, will be published on February 2026.

Pat is also the author of six psychological thrillers, including the bestsellers The Beach House and The Runner.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story, an intense and dark story about a Mum’s obsessive desire to find out ( on the 2 year anniversary ) what happened to her daughter, Stephanie, as she seemingly disappeared whilst out on a rainy night on a ‘dark long road’
The character of Georgia ( Mum ) is a complex one and I went from admiring her to disliking her to wanting her to find out at all costs what really had happened ( I never quite jelled with the idea she was a G.P. though )
It is not a quick to get into book, there is build up and back story and not so nice characters to meet and at times I did wonder where it was leading.....and then it arrived, the ‘thing’ the book was leading to, the reason for Stephanie’s disappearance and the shocking and disturbing truth about what was happening in the town
Georgia has some fabulous narration and language and even better thoughts, I really enjoyed her actual thoughts vs what she was saying, acerbic covers it and I couldnt help but smile at her at times but as said above she is complex and its not the usual reader relationship with a missing persons relative, well wasn’t for me!
If you give this book the chance it deserves it really does turn into a fine thriller with many layers tinged with a darkness you wont forget!

8/10
4 Stars

[Vanessa Menezes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dr Georgia Healey's nineteen-year-old daughter went for a walk two years ago and vanished. The police never found Stephanie's body. The case has gone stale, but Georgia can't let it go. She knows Stephanie's out there, somewhere.

On the anniversary of Stephanie's disappearance, Georgia's ready to re-interrogate university students, lecturers, Steph's past boyfriends, everyone. She is determined to find out what happened to her daughter. Yet the shocking truth is even more than she can handle.

The premise of the book was interesting but sadly I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked to.

For most part of the book, I felt that it was kind of dull and there was nothing exciting to hold my attention. I didn't really enjoy or connect with any of the characters. The last few chapters did have quite a few twists but unfortunately they were not enough to cover my disappointment with the overall plot.

Thank You to NetGalley and Aria & Aries for this ARC!

[LIsa Noell "Rocking the chutzpah!" · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to the Publisher, Netgalley and P.R. Black. When I started this adventure into bookland, I truly had no freaking clue about how very damned odd it would get! Stephanie disappears on that long dark road. I don't like when parents and not cops try to solve mysteries. Sadly, Police are incompetent. Ah, but then there are mysteries...and blah... Honestly? From 15% I was hooked! I loved each and every tense moment! I dreamt of these characters. I know darn well that I've read some great books this year, but this story had me strung tight! I can't even say if I would recommend this book! A few people I know would love it...I think? Either way, I was like a moth to the flame!
Me? More from this author, please.

[Louise Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up to 3

Dr Georgina Healey can't grieve. Her nineteen year old daughter went for a walk two years ago and vanished. The police never found Stephanie's body. On the anniversary of Stephanie's disappearance, Georgina is ready to re-investigate University students, lecturers and Stephanie's previous boyfriends. But the truth is more shocking than she can handle.

This story starts of really well, dips for a bit in the middle then picks up again. I didn't like any of the characters. The pace is slow. The ending was well worth sticking with the book for. Overall, it's not a bad read but it did show more potential.

I would like to thank #NetGalley, #AriaAries and the author #PRBlack for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Nila (digitalcreativepages) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole premise was intriguing one about a mother going in search for her daughter in the college town nearly two years after she went missing when an old diary had been unearthed.

The concept was great, I loved the tenacity of the mother, the sheer desperation to dig deep into facts, which she had been unaware of right up to this point. I had to give it to her that some of the facts about her daughter were downright shocking, yet the mother didn’t care. She only wanted to know what happened that night.

The story went into the underbelly of the town where traditions were upheld covering the darkness underneath. There were many twists; I was completely caught in the web. But…

My niggles too caught up with me. The mother was abrasive. From her mannerisms I wouldn’t say she was a doctor, let alone a grieving mother. Characters in the book did tell me that she looked like a woman whom grief had eaten inside. But I didn’t get that vibe. She was quite crass at times, forgetting the basic idiom – you catch more bees with honey. And she was pure vinegar.

Some characters could be so abrasive to the point that the skin felt raw, but they had the determination of a bull dog. I was pulled into that one quality of hers. Rest of all the characters were icky and horrible.

The ending was explosive, and many, many culprits of many, many crimes came to the surface. Now that I reflected on the story, I had to admit, all the characters in the book had committed a crime in one way or the other.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

With its interesting premise, I was very keen to give this book by P.R. Black a whirl.

The Long Dark Road follows Georgia Healey as she returns to the town of Ferngate two years after her daughter's mysterious disappearance. Armed with new information, she is intent on finding out what happened to Stephanie, a university student. The story tracks Georgia's investigation as she talks to suspects and revisits key places from Stephanie's final days. A plethora of dark secrets and concealments of the town, Georgia and Stephanie are gradually unearthed...

The story introduces characters and sets the scene, all the while progressing towards a surprising finale. The pace picks up somewhat partway through and the suspense and twists build. Georgia's fact-finding with friends, uni students, lecturers and ex-boyfriends give rise to surprises, shocks, drama and suspicion.

The great plotting and character development by P.R. Black allowed me to become addicted to this compelling, drama-style thriller. The clever writing muddied the waters but that resulted in an even more compulsive story and my need to establish precisely what befell Stephanie became more urgent. The Long Dark Road is very highly recommended and a worthy read!

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request, from Aria and Aries via NetGalley, and this review is my own unbiased opinion.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long Dark Road is one of those books that you think you have the measure of and then it makes a fool of you, this is a good thing!

Tragically Dr Georgia Healey’s daughter Stephanie vanished two years ago, most people assume she committed suicide and that her body will eventually turn up. Georgia thinks otherwise and takes herself back to the university that her daughter attended before she went missing, she is going to go over old ground, speak to friends and lecturers, find something that the police haven’t.

She is determined, she is unwilling to believe her daughter is dead and she in unaware of what is coming.

Georgia is a character that will divide, you do feel sorry for her as of course she has lost her child however some of her actions will make you dislike her. But you know what you have to admire her dedication, she knows something isn’t right and she is going to risk everything to find out.

The Long Dark Road was an enjoyable read, it was a little slow to start but once it got going I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Pgchuis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

Georgia's daughter Stephanie disappeared two years ago while attending her old university and, while the police case is still open, they have made little progress. Then Stephanie's diary is discovered in her dorm room, and this leads Georgia to go to the university and question all her old friends/boyfriends/tutors.

Sadly I really didn't enjoy this novel, which was far too dark for my tastes. There were no likeable characters (at all) and no one had a kind word to say about Stephanie (or indeed any one else). Bad things happened to Georgia, terrible things happened to vast numbers of women, Georgia did some pretty bad things to people, and so on and so forth. The ending was disturbing and gruesome.

[Rah Elated with books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Georgia’s Daughter , Stephanie 19yr old goes walking and vanishes on the long dark road , everyone seems to believe that she committed suicide and soon her body will turn up

But 2years later , Georgia still believes differently and decides to go on a journey and track her daughters footstep onto the long dark road

I was really excited about reading this book and started it right away but unfortunately it wasn’t what I expected ... I felt like it was just going around the bush without a true direction

The book is named the road but all the time we talked about the city and if all the characters keep acting suspicious then we’ll obviously doubt the only good one .

I was completely disappointed with this one although there was a bit of a twist that made the story interesting in the last 2 chapters but it still couldn’t take away all of my disappointment

Thank you @netgalley and Aria and Aries for sending me the arc copy in exchange of an honest review
Although this wasn’t it for me .. I look forward to reading this author’s other books .

[Foxxy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an aArc of this book from NetGalley, and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Long Dark Road follows Georgia Healey as see returns to the town on Ferngate two years after her daughter's mysterious disappearance during a downpour on a backroad. She's armed this time with new information and is intent on finding out what happened to Stephanie and where her body is. The book follow's Georgia's investigation as she talks to all the usual suspects and revisits key places from Stephanie's final days. The town, Georgia and Stephanie's dark secrets start to come to light as with each new secret Georgia's resolve gets stronger.

So, maybe P.R. Black isn't for me or maybe this book isn't for me. The concept sounded interesting to me: a cold case, a family member looking for the truth, dark secrets, everyone is unreliable. However, the majority of the book fell flat and the further I read the more questions I had. For instance, the inciting action of the plot is Georgia receiving a copy of her daughter's journal from the police. As she investigates Georgia runs into the police several times. At each run-in, George tells them the new information she's discovered and ask why the police didn't look into it. Every time the police say "we did look into and it didn't lead anywhere." One would think at some point the main character would have a moment of realization- the police have been on this for two years with all the information I thought was new and got no where. What could our main character uncover in the span of a few days that the police haven't already uncovered? Also, the majority of the secrets uncovered aren't' secrets at all to the majority of the players in the story.

Georgia as a main character rang false in a lot of ways. Perhaps she was intended to be that way, but the logical jump from focused career woman to almost insane with grief over her daughters disappearance doesn't work in my brain. There are some other character motivations that are revealed late in the book I don't want to spoil for readers, but even those didn't help fill in the gap.

This thriller also suffers from one of my thriller pet peeves- pacing/groundwork for the big reveal. The big reveal comes pretty late in the story and honestly I didn't see the ending coming. Maybe I need to reread this book to see the groundwork being laid for the reveal, but I didn't see any indications of what might be coming until the reveal happened. Some may say that it's a mark of a good thriller. I disagree. Mystery and it's sub-genre of thriller require some groundwork, some clues for the reader to put together ahead of the main characters. In the case of the The Long Dark Road, it felt like Mr. Black wanted to tell the story of a grieving mother out to find the truth, then realized late in writing that this story is a thriller, I should probably have a big reveal.

Also, as other reviewers have said, the last half of this book is very dark. I would put trigger warnings, but those would give away the major plot points. If you have triggers in your reading, just skip this book entirely.

Honestly, I don't recommend this book. If you're a fan of the family thrillers without detectives, thrillers with dark subject matter, or those who want to focus primarily on character relationships instead of the msytery.

2/5 stars.

[Resa · Rating 3 out of 5]

*I received an ARC for review purposes*

A slow-burning thriller with a twist ending that almost makes up for the pages it took to get there.

Georgia's daughter has been missing for over a year, but she's not giving up the search. While the police have ruled the case a suicide, assuming the body has been lost to a swift flowing current, Georgia refuses to accept her daughter is gone. Until there's a body, Georgia will continue to look. After all, she knew her daughter--an aspiring writer--and she never would have killed herself without leaving a note. Georgia knows, in her bones, that something happened to her daughter. On the anniversary of her daughter's disappearance, Georgia returns to the town where she was last seen and starts her investigation all over again.

I normally love missing person thrillers, but unlike The Chain or What Kind of Mother Are You, The Long Dark Road doesn't pick up hours or days after the mysterious disappearance has taken place. The idea of the long-suffering, little-believed mother does make for an interesting hook, but Black doesn't lean into this potential. Georgia acts like a woman pushing through the first 48 hours, desperate to find her daughter alive. She assumes crime scenes (in a college town, at that) won't have been trampled, evidence won't have blown away or been destroyed after twelve months of weather, that witness statements won't be tainted by the false memories of time and prolonged media coverage.

In fact, a lot about Georgia's character doesn't seem real. For the first third of the book I tried to give her a break (she'd lost her only child), but throughout the story she continues to morph into someone unlikeable, disconnected from reality, and with an odd mother-daughter dynamic that doesn't feel authentic. This is, perhaps, because we only see the story from her perspective and some short, clunky journal entries from her daughter before she disappeared.

These inauthentic relationships carry through to all the characters. Personalities flip for no reason. Everyone seems one question away from a physical altercation. Witnesses snap from helpful and sympathetic to outright antagonistic with little provocation. The dialogue is circular. The plot feels like an ouroboros.

At about the 60% mark there's a revelation that changes the tone of the book and finally sets into the thriller pace I was hoping for from the beginning. From this point on there are twists, plots, and hope that Georgia may finally get some answers about her daughter. This last chunk of the book is exactly what I was hoping to read. The twists and plot shifts Black introduces here are ones I would have loved to see explored in more detail and earlier in the book.

Do I feel like I wasted my time reading this book? Not entirely. Would I recommend it? Only if you're willing to put in the effort to get to the end.

[Tayler Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once I started this book I had to finish it. The victim was a terrible person. She wrote all these nasty comments in her diary about people, but was too much of a coward to say it to their face. She also gave them mean nicknames. She was the mean girl that is a bully, but pretended to be this sweet innocent girl. She was manipulative and enjoyed the harm she caused. Her mother wasn’t any better, she thought her daughter was all sunshine and rainbows. She finds out her daughter is doing heroin because she got bored one day and she still tries to justify how great of a person she is. The mother was also weirdly jealous of college kids, and attacked them with the whole the ends justify the means kind of mantra. There was nothing to like about both of them, it was very disappointing that they didn’t get the ending they deserved. Once I started reading it I had to know what happened. I did like how the side stories thrown in kept you guessing which was important to the disappearance and which wasn’t. I liked the slow unfolding to the conclusion. I will be generous and give it 2 stars, more like 1.5

[Tove R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sounds intriguing and it had potential, but it just didn’t really carry through. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad book. It just was too slow moving and repetitive. The main problem in my opinion, is that I did not relate to a single character. I simply didn’t click with anyone. Sure, I wanted the mother to find her daughter, and peace, but otherwise she really was annoying, but very persistent, and I admire her for that.

I can see something like this happening in real life, but it quite frankly isn’t that interesting to read about. A mother is trying to find her daughter, who simply vanished. Who wouldn’t want to find out the truth? But, harassing students, drug abusers, band members, and working women, constantly following and questioning them, and annoying the police is not quite what I’d like to read about. I just think it could have been done in a different way. The book just didn’t make me feel much else that annoyance. As I said in the beginning, the book has potential, but the execution did not really work for me. 2,5 stars.

[Tamsynsbookreviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author: P.R. Black
Page Count: 405 Pages
Published Date: 5th November 2020
Genre: Mystery
Rating: ⭐⭐
Synopsis:
If you go, there's no coming back. Dr Georgia Healey can't grieve. Her nineteen-year-old daughter went for a walk two years ago and vanished. The police never found Stephanie's body. The case has gone stale, but Georgia can't let it go. She knows Stephanie's out there, somewhere. On the anniversary of Stephanie's disappearance, Georgia's ready to re-interrogate university students, lecturers, Steph's past boyfriends, everyone. She treads the exact path where Stephanie vanished. Yet the shocking truth is even more than she can handle. When you seek the lost, be prepared for what you find.
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed the beginning of this book but then I think after that it went down hill into details and stories that wasn't needed. I got confused with all the characters and all the nick names from the diary. The last couple of chapters had a few shocking moments but this book just wasn't what I thought it was I have rated this book 2 out of 5 stars.

[Sharon Wallace · Rating 2 out of 5]

Georgia Healy returns to the university her daughter Stephanie disappeared from two years previously or rather the longer dark road’ nearby.
Georgia and her husband Rod have split up and seem to be going through a nasty divorce.
Stephanie’s diary has been discovered by the police and her mother returns to the university to speak to those who knew her and uncover why their stories differ from her daughter’s account.
Georgia comes across as quite aggressive when she is meeting her daughters acquaintances which makes it difficult for her to uncover the truth.
Few of the main characters come across as likeable which makes the book difficult to read - I read this over the period of a week as I found it difficult to care about any of them, including Stephanie.
The Hunt’ was quite bizarre. The ending was totally unexpected and seemed disconnected from the rest of the story.
Not for me this book.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Synopsis:Stephanie, a student and aspiring writer goes on a walk and doesn’t return. 2 years later, her Mother Georgia is driving herself into an early grave trying to decipher the mystery that was that night. With little help from the police and her ex-husband, Georgia returns to the scene of the crime and conducts her own interviews and in this, made some discoveries that shocked her to her core

My review:I loved this! Structurally, it has everything I think a crime/thriller novel needs: dual timeline, element (but not completely) of an epistolary structure, cliff hanger paragraphs… I read it in a couple of days and it was an easy to read page turner. I will say it can get a little complicated at times due to the number of characters, but nothing a quick flick back to the previous paragraph won’t solve.

[Es the Book Hoarder · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the premise of this book, I could see where it was possibly going, felt interested at the beginning. But then it sort of lost steam and cohesiveness. The main character (the mother) seemed very out of sorts and her interaction with those who knew her daughter best seemed forced and edgy. I didn't really understand why she went through a lot of what she did in order to get to the truth, which, in the end didnt really make sense or combine with the rest of the story, so the antagonist kind of came out of the blue and was not really explained. Still it was a good idea and intriguing but for me, personally, it missed the mark.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

[Stella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well......I read it. That's really all I have to say about this book.

The story had tons of potential and the opening chapter was great. But then the rest of the book went wild - extremely slow for the first 50% and then the second half was one strange twist after another.

A missing girl, a mother who is determined to find out what happened. Georgia was, frankly, SUPER aggressive and a little off her rocker when talking to all of her daughters friends, teachers. etc. I'm quite confused how the police just let her kind of ...run wild.

Either way, it failed to live up to its potential.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

[Jill Burgin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any mystery/thriller reader will want to read a story about a mother desperately searching for her daughter in a cold case style. Who doesn’t root for the mother and feel her grief. Except this mother Georgina is brittle, avenging , unpredictable and grows more nasty as the story progresses. If I respected her, then I would love this book, but her character was hard to grasp and I doubt she really would have acted in some of the ways the author suggests. The ending was a surprise right out of left field though!

[Liz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sometimes when you start a book you just know from the writing style you won't be able to finish it. This was the case here. In the second paragraph the trees were " rendered" as shadows, and later on the "thoroughfare was girt with cobblestones". Too many adjectives, which seemed to have been culled from a thesaurus, it was pretentious and clunky at the same time and there was nothing to hook me in but a lot to turn me off.

Abandoned at p25. I read for entertainment and will no longer persevere with books that don't engage me.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book This felt like a really long book. Nothing much really happened for the the first 50%. And by then I didn't like any of the characters and kept getting confused who was who and what they did. I hate having to leave bad reviews, because I know the author put a lot of work into writing the book. Maybe better editing would have helped.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I requested an ARC of this book, and all opinions are my own.

The premise of this book was intriguing, but I felt like the execution lacked somewhat. The characters were all obnoxious, and I really didn't connect with any of them. However, I thought the story was interesting, with as many twists as the Long Dark Road of the title.

Overall, it's a decent read, and goes by pretty fast if you are looking for something to settle into on a rainy day.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been two years since Stephanie disappeared and her mother Georgia has decided that she's going to find out what happened, no matter that the police have been investigating. She takes Stephanie's diary and sets out to probe where she thinks law enforcement has not. This plot might seem familiar, as will the characters, to veteran readers of this genre but hold on to the 50 percent mark or so for things to heat up. it does get dark. No spoilers. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

[Tasha Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was kindly offered an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I have given it 2 stars.

I have read a book by this author before and really enjoyed it, so when I was offered the chance to read this, I was excited!
The premise for this story was intriguing and I couldn't wait to dive in. Unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations, the story kind of rambled along and there wasn't really much to keep me interested. It was disappointing!

[Paul Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A desperate mother, unable to grieve for her daughter, who disappeared from her University town two years ago, has returned to rattle a few cages, making use of her daughter's recently discovered diary. The early chapters were convincing, persuasive of depth of the mother's emotions. Then it went off the rails a bit, in my view, with some far-fetched elements that I found unconvincing. Before building to an exciting conclusion. Overall, I enjoyed it, so 3 stars.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The premise was interesting, but after the first 25% the novelty wore off and it got a bit boring. I skimmed the middle part and picked it back up at the 75% mark and felt like I missed nothing. I didn't particularly like any of the characters (other than the dog, Saoirse).

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars


The first half of this book did indeed feel like a long road... it was just a little dull.
But,obviously had something going for it,as I kept reading.
The second half was indeed dark... drugs,prostitution,violence.... threw it all in there.
Big pat on the back to Georgia,who never gave up.
Not a bad story,just took too long to get started.

[Leanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly don't know what to make of this book.

I found it started of quite slow and took me a while to get into. Half way through I started to enjoy but then soon lost interest. I found some of the story quite odd and didn't enjoy most of the characters.

[Sue Dunlop · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book over three days.
I have always worried something would happen to my daughter. I put myself in the mother's place and became engaged in the story. First time I have read a story by PR Black. May well read another.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent story line, though I’ve clearly read too many crime/thrillers as I guessed the end! Just felt like there was too much going on, not enough development of some of the characters and I’m not sure I liked any of them either!