The Dark Beneath the Ice by Amelinda Berube – ARC Review

 

My Rating ~ Four stars

TO BE RELEASED: 7 August 2018

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Format: E-Book

Pages: 336 pages

Source:  Received from Sourcebooks Fire via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Available for pre order here:  

Book Depository  |  Amazon Au  |  Booktopia  |  Angus & Robertson

Blurb

Black Swan meets Paranormal Activity in this compelling ghost story about a former dancer whose grip on reality slips when she begins to think a dark entity is stalking her.

Something is wrong with Marianne.

It’s not just that her parents have finally split up. Or that life hasn’t been the same since she quit dancing. Or even that her mother has checked herself into the hospital.

She’s losing time. Doing things she would never do. And objects around her seem to break whenever she comes close. Something is after her. And the only one who seems to believe her is the daughter of a local psychic.

But their first attempt at an exorcism calls down the full force of the thing’s rage. It demands Marianne give back what she stole. Whatever is haunting her, it wants everything she has—everything it’s convinced she stole. Marianne must uncover the truth that lies beneath it all before the nightmare can take what it thinks it’s owed, leaving Marianne trapped in the darkness of the other side.

 

Review

 

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an E-ARC of this book to review via Netgalley.  

Marianne’s life hasn’t quite been going to plan.  She quit dancing after succumbing to the pressure of not being good enough, her parents are getting a divorce and her mother has been hospitalised.  Sent to live with her aunt until things calm down, strange things start to happen around her.  She has tried to stay invisible at school, but when one too many odd occurrences happen, she seeks out the outcast of a girl who’s mother is a psychic.  Ron turns out to be just the type of friend Marianne needs, but when they decide to try and confront the entity head on, things go from bad to worse.  This mysterious entity wants something Marianne stole from it, but Marianne’s sure she doesn’t know what it is.  As the paranormal activity gets more and more violent, Ron and Marianne need to find out what is going on before it takes over Marianne’s life.

This book was scary.  I don’t usually read scary books, especially paranormal type scary (axe murders and human killer books are fine though, go figure) but this one just sounded too interesting to pass up!  I was hooked right from the beginning.  It was so disconcerting that both Marianne and her mother didn’t know if they could trust themselves, and everyone keeping their own secrets caused people to jump to the wrong conclusions all the time.  I find psychological horror to be the most frightening subject to read in books.  Having nowhere to turn for help, due to the thought that no-one will believe you and admitting anything that’s going on could just earn you a one way trip to hospital is just terrifying.  I really enjoyed this book, but I kind of wanted the ending to be different somehow.  I wanted the explanation to be, well it’s impossible to say without spoilers, but just something more I guess.

Overall though, I was thoroughly frightened and it took me longer than normal to read because I gave up reading it at night (so I could sleep with the lights off). 😀

 

 

 

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