Dark Rooms

unlike The Secret History, this book has some problems i was prepared for it, since so many of the reviews on here have been thumbs down people expecting a donna tartt or a gillian flynn and getting something altogether different and i can t say i hated it it s a very fast read, and it was a fine summer diversion, but it takes some frustrating shortcuts down build the suspense roadca baker is sixteen when she is murdered on the grounds of chandler academy, a prep school in hartford, connecticut [...]

5 snarky, jagged and twisted psychosexual stars 2016 Honorable Mention Read with High DistinctionThis is an ancient Greek tragedy in a contemporary private school New England setting.This book absolutely blew me away It is sooo raw, soooo sordid and yet so poignant.A 17 year old girl is murdered and her older sister seeks out her killer.Do not let the casual contemporary tone fool you This book is full of primordial emotion primitive lusts and humans acting out their id impulses in a myriad of w [...]

If this book did nothing else it made me so incredibly grateful for the mother I have Not that my family was perfect by any means but the mother in this book is a piece of work Seriously she makes Joan Crawford look like a nominee for mother of the year grace is the eldest, the quiet sister, the good one Nica, one year younger is popular, considered by many to be wild Despite these differences the sisters were close, so when Nica doesn t return home one night and is found dead the next morning i [...]

If 2015, so far, has been the year I ve started being selective about psychological thrillers post Girl on the Train disappointment and discovered that I seem to like all the films everyone hates and feel ambivalent towards all the films everyone loves, it might also become the year I finally abandon my persisting affection for any story that resembles, or is compared to, my favourite book, The Secret History The latest disappointment in what s becoming a very long and uneven line of such stori [...]

Well, thank god that s over.I ve read than my share of one and two star books lately, so I really wanted to like this Actually, I thought it was going to be amazing But it was just awful.Whose bright idea was it to compare this book not only to The Secret History and Sharp Objects, but also Twin Peaks The main character jumped to basically every single conclusion she made And she had flashbacks all the time, usually in the middle of talking to someone The writing style was so annoying My GOD it [...]

Murder, drug addiction, rape, sex, illicit affairs, secrets and lies, messed up family dynamics Really too much going on here for my taste Too many twists, turns, and red herrings made this into a story that was so busy that it detracted from the overall effect I would have given only two stars but there was something really original in here that deserves the extra star view spoiler The mother and her own especial artwork, endlessly photographing her daughter, Nica The background story of the ph [...]

Haunting, poetic and addictive, despite the teenagers who act like they re 25 rather than 16 I don t even know if I can say that, considering I m 25 and I m nowhere near as deep or mature as the sisters in Dark Rooms and the convenient clue finding that crops up in almost every one of these types of novels The privileged prep school murder story has been done to death, but I don t think I ll ever really get tired of it And this one does bring some fresh aspects to the table the mother daughter a [...]

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars I hauled my body along, through the trees, over the fence, toward what I knew knew because it was there, all of it, in that piercing mechanical wail, knew because it was prophesied in my dream, as elusive as a scent, a shadow, a ghost, knew because it was written in the very blood flowing through my veins would be as bad as it gets Grace and Nica both attend Chandler Academy, a private boarding school in Hartford, Connecticut where their parents are also teachers Grace w [...]

The jacket description makes this book sound like a home run sixteen year old prep school student Nica has been murdered The case is closed, solved tidily without much fanfare, but Nica s sister Grace thinks the real killer is still out there She sets out to uncover the truth about her sister s death, but she s going to have to dig through a whole lot of dirt before she reaches it Let me stress that a LOT of dirt.It s that sordid, seamy quality that kept me engaged in Dark Rooms despite some adm [...]

The only thing I want to say about this book is that I understand the reason people are so upset about view spoiler the rape scene and the fact that Grace ends up forgiving and starting a genuine relationship with Damon hide spoiler I actually hated that part too It upset me when I first read it, especially when view spoiler Grace claims the sex wasn t forced, but foolish That sentence just made me think of all these scenarios of actual rape where girls and women are questioning if they deserved [...]

I feel like this book should not have been published This was at best a first draft, I don t know how all of these fragments and typos escaped the editor The toed the line between fantasy land and reality the entire book Not to mention this whole book made me sort of uncomfortable Grace had an unhealthy obsession with her sister to the point of Bates Motel incest The only reason I completed this book was because I wanted to see how the author tied up loose ends So the entire time the father was [...]

Did you hate how clever and charming and well written Veronica Mars was Did you find Bella Swan to be too nuanced and well written a first person narrator Is your favorite episode of Law and Order SVU the Season 5, episode 15 Families this would be a spoiler Do you love Mary Sue narrators Then you will love this pop culture pastiche masquerading as a noir with no stakes and the weakest rape apology I ve ever read in my life.

Lili Anolik s Dark Rooms pretty much defied all of my expectations I had anticipated something along the lines of Donna Tartt s Secret History and Tana French s recent novel, The Secret Place, but was pleasantly surprised by the strong and gritty protagonist, and an unpredictable story Dark Rooms centers around Grace Baker, who attends a Connecticut prep school with her younger sister Nica When Nica is found murdered, the case is solved quickly, but Grace finds herself unsatisfied by the finding [...]

I need to cite this book as an example of something about the book world that I find maddening, and also remind myself that I have to stop buying into the blurb game I chose this book because it was described as all of the following Megan Abbott meets Twin Peaks fantastic , for fans of Marisha Pessl great and Secret HIstory meets Sharp Objects are you kidding me AWESOME Sign me up i MUST REMEMBER THAT THIS IS MARKETING BOOKS DESCRIBED AS X MEETS Y ARE NEVER GOING TO BE EITHER X OR Y AND IT S A W [...]

Don t make my mistake and be seduced by the well written synopsis It s about the only thing that s well written about this book DR is poorly written Not only does it use up every gender socioeconomic status sexual orientation addiction grief coping mechanism trope that s out there, the author has no sense of voice Her characters are supposed to be either high school juniors and seniors or college freshmen They all sound like they are in their mid twenties It s not so much their actions given tha [...]

As the ending of Dark Rooms drew near, I could almost hear the voice of George Benson, but with the lyrics just a wee bit altered Let me haunt you one timeHold me closer, now you re mineLady, haunt me one last timeLady, haunt meHo, haunt me, lady.Indeed Nica Baker is the most haunting schoolgirl character I ve encountered since Megan Abbott s Beth Cassidy, but while it takes us a while to find out that Beth is ill fated, Nica is dead, suddenly violently, the very beginning of this story Tho Dar [...]

Well, this was awful Normally I feel guilty for giving a book such a low rating, but this book was not just bad, it was offensive I had the same problems as everyone else First of all, Dark Rooms is nothing like The Secret History, Dark Places, Sharp Objects, Twin Peaks, or any of the other edgy mysteries out there But hey, at least it wasn t hailed as the next Gone Girl like every other book But a misleading blurb is not the offensive part The offensive part is that view spoiler reeling from th [...]

DNF 4%Ain t nobody got time for that amount of description I do not need to know what what the doors of a balcony look like followed by the rails of the balcony Just fucking call them balcony rails Boom Done Ugh.

Thank you to William Morrow for my advance reader s edition of Dark Rooms, by Lili Anolik.Dark Rooms has been variously promoted as a combination of Twin Peaks, Megan Abbott, and The Secret History To me, these descriptions didn t fit the book, and so, I felt disappointed.There is a little of the wonderful creepy, quirky, hallucinatory quality of Twin Peaks, especially in one scene at the end of the novel, but the strangeness that made Twin Peaks so unique is lacking in Dark Rooms.In the same wa [...]

Dnf at 25% I have no desire to continue reading this, maybe I ll come back to it another time.ybe not.

Oh, Dark Rooms I wanted to love you The synopsis sounds just up my alley and I heard Marisha Pessl comparisons Pessl being my favorite author But while I compulsively tore through this novel, and it succeeds as a thriller insofar as it makes you anxious to discover the ending, it is a deeply flawed novel Like holy moly, do I have issues with it.First of all, there is no reason based on the text for Lili Anolik s debut novel to be titled Dark Rooms Literally nothing of import happens in a dark ro [...]

Damn, you guys that one was rough Two wretched suspense novels in a row are making me wonder if I ve lost the ability to enjoy books, or at least choose them.First, this book has nothing in common with either Sharp Objects or The Secret History, nor does it have any of the atmosphere you would expect from a novel set in the ambiguous and claustrophobic world of an exclusive New England prep school That s my fault for being sucked in by a publisher s blurb, and I will confess I was just excited t [...]

I picked this book up because Flavorwire highlighted it for fans of Veronica Mars It s certainly true that the plot is almost exactly same as the first season of the show murdered sister instead of best friend , but Dark Rooms lacks the wit, character development, and nuance that made Veronica Mars so compelling.All the characters feel sketched out and underwritten Most frustratingly, I never felt like I knew Grace, or understood her choices Moments that should have made me feel like new layers [...]

Kirkus Reviews glowed about this book and I know they re really tough and quality critics When it specifically said In the process, she begins to find her own identity, an identity that is for the first time separate from her sister s As much as this is a crime drama, it s also a coming of age novel I became very interested I gave it a try and was hooked from minute one Total surprises and quality writing The author brings a consistent suspense throughout AND the writing is so good Since the boo [...]

Amazing Couldn t put it down Got my hands on an ARC and flipped I want a movie.

Grace Baker has always been the girl who causes no trouble She is a good student, she is a dutiful daughter, and she is a loyal sister If here is drama to be found, Grace leaves it to her younger sister Nica.Until, that is, Nica is murdered.The police think they identify the culprit, so Grace, her parents, Nica s friends, and the school community where they live should find peace, right Peace is a difficult commodity, however, when the real killer is still running around.It isn t that Grace s li [...]

My immediate thoughts after reading Lili Anolik s Dark Rooms 1 Wait, that s it 2 Seriously, that s freaking IT 3 That s bullshit.4 Well, I guess that s one weekend I can never get back.I should have known I was on a roll I was reading some good, some not so good but entertaining books and then I read Dark Rooms and my streak came to a screeching halt I knew within reading the first paragraph I wasn t going to like it but I kept trudging away My instincts were right.Dark Rooms is a murder mystery [...]

This novel was marketed as Megan Abbott meets Twin Peaks The Megan Abbott part has to do with the troubled teen girls at the center of the book, Grace, and her murdered sister The Twin Peaks part has to do with Grace having full blown conversations with her dead sister, and showing up to a party dressed like her I guess it s not VERY Twin Peaks, just trippy and disturbing, but that s where I think the blurb comes from ANYWAYS.I liked this book a lot It fits into two of my favorite genres, myster [...]

The Secret History meets Sharp Objects Not so much The premise of this book was great But the writing was awkward, the flow of the story jumpy The people were bizarrely one dimensional, even the motivations of the main character felt wooden The descriptions were off, too For example, there were constantly descriptions of photographs taken from behind one of the characters photos of her back but then it would go on to describe her facial expression in detail Small thing but it annoyed me And the [...]

Sometimes after I finish a book, I ponder on it for a few days and grow to appreciate it even Not in this case, though I find that as time passes, the irritated I get with this book It started off very promising And I was very intrigued with the mystery of who killed Nica I even had trouble putting it down, so I lost a couple of nights good sleep as a result However, it could have been so much better if some parts had been left out such as the rape scene involving the main character, Grace I [...]