Catherine has been enjoying single life for long enough to know a good catch when she sees one. Gorgeous, charismatic and spontaneous, Lee seems almost too perfect to be true. But there is a dark side to him and his erratic, controlling and sometimes frightening behaviour means that Catherine is increasingly isolated. Driven into the darkest corner of her world, she plans a meticulous escape. Four years later, struggling to overcome her demons, Catherine dares to believe she might be safe from harm. Until one phone call changes everything....

Elizabeth Haynes is a police intelligence analyst. She started writing fiction in 2006 thanks to the annual challenge of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) and the encouragement of the creative writing courses at West Dean College. She lives in a village near Maidstone, Kent, with her husband and son. Into the Darkest Corner is her first novel.

I LOVED this book!!!! Totally unputdownable :o) Was a bit worried at first about reading the 2 different time frames, but it worked so well :o) Great characters and plenty of suspense! Cant tell you anything about the story line as i dont want to spoil it, but lets just say , sometimes, blokes are too good to be true ;o) Dont just take my word for it..... Read a great review here >>>>> The Book Bag Review

This looked interesting when AngelChild said something about it on Facebook and she kindly sent me a copy. This will be the next thing I read. I was going to start it yesterday but after finishing Room by Emma Donoghue I felt I needed something lighter! Thanks for sending it :-)

When I started this book and it switched back in forth in time I thought this might become a bit tiring. However, it wasn't at all and in the end it helped create a sense of menace and forboding. You know something bad has happened; you figure you will be made aware of all the gruesome details as the book goes on, in the mean time you are left to imagine the worse.

The most recent time frame of this book focused on Cathy dealing with PTSD and OCD all as a result of her past. That also created a sense of menace, with some light relief with her blossoming relationship with neighbour Stuart.


Unlike many crime thrillers you come across I think this should be classed as literary fiction. The characters were credible and seemed like people you'd know. The story was well written and draws you in without gimmicks and unnecessary melodrama. I don't want to give too many details away about the plot. But one of the most chilling things about this book is how someone out going and ...well a normal person can be ground down by an abusive partner. The 'baddie' in this story is charming - so much so he can convince everyone around him that he is the victim in any crime. Throw into the mix he's in a position of authority and this makes for one very scary predicament. It's also disturbing how the system can fail people like Cathy. How on earth (in a right and just world) can someone get away with doing what Lee did and yet only go to prison for 3 years and then on release have no conditions placed on him??? Crazy.

If you like a good thriller you have to read this book! Although I found I could put it down at times because it's not always comfortable reading - a testament to how well created the characters were.

I am looking forward to reading further books by Elizabeth Haynes. I also have someone in mind for this copy!

Passing this along to Darkhorse4460 who I think might enjoy this!

Thank you isisjem. Look forward to giving this one a try :-)

I don't think I can say too much more about this book as isisjem has put it very well.

This was a gripping and disturbing read. Disturbing because it explores how easy it might be for someone to get caught up in an abusive relationship that there is simply no escape from. The combination of Lee's charm and manipulative skill and his position in society gave him a plausible means of simply getting away with... well I won't give away what exactly, but the result is terrifying.

It was also disturbing to me because it showed graphically how a 'normal' person can be driven into a state of obsessive anxiety. As a mildly compulsive and anxious personality myself, it felt uncomfortable to get inside Cathy's mind and see how she was possessed by the OCD. Of course I've never had experiences like hers but I found myself both identifying with her predicament but also wanting to scream at her in frustration.

I thought the double time frame worked very well and created an almost intolerable suspense and almost couldn't bear to know how it would all end. Needless to say I won't give it away.

Very well done first novel with great characters and a chilling believability. Very much hope this author does more like it. What an interesting job she has!!

To be released at the Oxford bookcrossers' meet on Wednesday night.

Briefly caught in the bookswap game before passing along ;-)

Passed this along after winning this back in the bookswap game! Great read, despite reading about 50 books this year it remains a stand out favourite of the year!

Picked up from the table after the bookcrossing meet in Oxford on Wednesday evening to release somewhere. It looks like a great read but I have so many other books to read that I'm resisting its charms!

If this is your introduction to Bookcrossing, welcome!

Please make as many, or few, comments about the book as you wish. The book is now yours to do with as you choose. Keep it, pass it on, but please leave the label, so we can keep in touch with what's happened to it.

If you would like to know what happens to the book if you decide to pass it on, then do join BookCrossing. It's free, private and it's great fun!

And if you do choose to join, I hope you'll consider using me Cinderess as your referring member.

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Excellent read