'Sidney Lake traded the glitz and glam of New York’s high society for a desk job at Manhattan’s premier paranormal investigation agency, and she’s tired of paperwork.
'When an old flame mistakes her for the head of the agency, Sidney takes her chance to break into the field, but doing so means she must return to a life she left behind for good. Even the bright lights of the paparazzi fail to illuminate the dark underbelly of the city’s most privileged citizens, and Sidney quickly finds herself tangled in an intricate web of murder, lies . . . and hexed koalas.
'Finished with a career at the FBI, Mitchell Harris turned to the private sector to pursue his interest in a world of shadows the Bureau refused to acknowledge. However, one unsolved case still haunts him. A decade after he promised a young girl he would find the monster who killed her parents, Mitch’s vow remains unfulfilled. Now Sidney Lake is grown and determined to chase down the answers herself, even if it means running headlong into the darkness Mitch has tried so hard to protect her from.
'Faced with a devastating personal loss, all Mitch wants to do is retire for good. But his vow to Sidney isn’t the only oath he’s made. His powerful benefactors have their own interest in her, and Mitch begins to suspect their meeting was no accident.
'With Sidney on the road to becoming a full agent and Mitch’s past failure still heavy on his conscience, they soon discover the journey into darkness is better with company.'
Earlier this year I gave a pretty favourable review to Darkness Shifting by author Sarah L. Blair. It was a book that I'd had on my shelf for a long while but hadn't gotten around to reading, in part because I knew Sarah. I was worried that I would read her book and might not enjoy it, even though I could have just pretended that I still hadn't had a chance to read it and not mention it at all. Luckily for me I thought it was brilliant, and devoured the whole thing in a single sitting, something I rarely do.
All well and good until she tells me that she's written a prequel book whilst working on the sequel, and asked if I wanted to read it early. Of course I jumped at the chance to get my hands on it early, after all I loved the first book. It was only when I received the book that I suddenly started to think those same worried thought of 'what if I don't like it?' all over again. This time I wouldn't be able to pretend I hadn't had the chance to read it if I thought it was bad, and would have to tell her my thoughts on the book. Of course, I'm a complete idiot, and should have had more faith in Sarah's writing, as the book was great.
Darkness Loves Company jumps backwards a number of years, introducing Sidney Lake as a rookie agent instead of the veteran she is in the first book. This is a young woman who has been stuck in an office for years and hasn't been out in the field facing monsters and demons yet. I was honestly curious about what time period Sarah would set the book in. There were a number of reasons why she could have set the book during Sidney's childhood for example, or even going back hundreds or thousands of years into its past to explore the history of the universe that she had created. All of those options would have been great, and would have done a lot to expand upon the world and the lore, but there was something that seemed to be more important than world building to Sarah in regards to this book; character.
This might be a story about Sidney's first case, and her earning her stripes as an agent, but the heart of the story is her and Mitch, and their relationship. She chose to set it at this point to further explore their characters and what they meant to each other, and it was easily the better choice.
The story has two main plots, one focuses on Mitch, an important character in the first book, who gets the chance to have chapters written from his point of view here. At the start of the book he learns that his ex-wife has died in a tragic accident, and then spends the rest of the book having to deal with that. The incident makes him question his place in the world, whether he's been making the right choices, and if he should continue what he's doing or simply retire.Knowing where his choices leads him in the first book it's a little sad that he makes the choices he does here, but despite knowing that he won't retire, but carry on with the agency, Sarah instead focuses on the emotional journey he takes, rather than any mystery about what he might chose to do.
The other story sees Sidney taking on a case of her own without Mitch's authorisation, investigating into the murder of a young socialite and charity worker who was engaged to an old friend of hers. The case not only puts Sidney out in the field and gives her the chance to show that she's capable of doing the job over Mitch's misgivings, but puts her back into a social setting that she's long put behind her, one that was leading her down a pretty destructive path. It also gives us demonic koala bears, so that's a hell of a bonus too.
These two stories come together a few times when Sidney and Mitch begin to explore their relationship, something that was already well established in the first book, and shows readers how the two of them get together for the first time. And yes, as Sarah answered during the virtual book launch, there is more sex in this book than the first one. I know that this is something that's a bit of a marmite subject for some readers, as some people feel a bit weirded out reading sex scenes in the middle of their urban fantasy book, but this is a book that's designed for adults over teen, and let's face it, these people would want to bang in real life.
Whilst there's much less mystery in this book than the first, as if you've read them in publication order you'll know a lot of what's going on and where things are headed, but there's still a good central mystery to keep you interested and engaged all on its own. And I definitely would advise that you read this in publication order, rather than how it's set chronologically, as there are certain things that will definitely read differently if you come to this book with no knowledge of the first.
Darkness Loves Company didn't have the same level of excitement and mystery that the first book had, and didn't grab me in the same way, and at first I thought that was a negative thing, but I was wrong. Instead it gave me a more personal narrative that I ended up caring more about because it put the characters front and centre and gave them a real chance to come into their own.
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