No Other Darkness: A Detective Inspector Marnie Rome Mystery

Sarah Hilary

Aug 2015 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

“The DI Marnie Rome series [is] one to watch.” —Shelf Awareness

The gripping follow-up to Sarah Hilary’s acclaimed debut Someone Else’s Skin, No Other Darkness finds mystery’s “impressive new cop-heroine” (The Times, London) on a case that hauntingly echoes her own family tragedy. Detective InspectorMarnie Rome and her partner Detective Sergeant Noah Jake are investigating the recent discovery of two dead boys in a bunker beneath a London garden. Terry and Beth, under whose garden the bodies were discovered, have two children of their own, and are also fostering a difficult boy named Clancy. Clancy reminds Marnie of her foster brother Stephen, who murdered her parents. Is Marnie’s past blinding her to the truth? Only one thing is certain: when Terry and Beth’s biological children vanish, Marnie can’t waste a moment finding them.

Ratings and reviews

No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary is a British suspense/thriller novel. It is the second book in the DI Marnie Rome series. DI Marnie Rome and her team are called to investigate the deaths of two children. Terry Doyle was creating a vegetable garden in the backyard of their home on Blackthorn Road when they discovered a manhole. When Terry opened it up and went down the steps, he found two bodies lying on a bed. They turn out to be two little boys, Archie and Fred who have dead at least five years. They were put in the bunker with toys and canned food. Who would have put two little boys in a hidden bunker and left them there? Marnie, DS Debbie Tanner (the flirt), DS Ron Carling (the pessimist), DS Noah Jake (dedicated and smart), and Fran Lennox (forensics and coroner’s office) will have to work hard to figure out who put those little boys in harm’s way. This case will bring up feelings from Marnie’s past. She was just getting over the death of her parents who were murdered five years previously. They were killed by their foster child who has never told Marnie why he killed them. Their current case involves a foster child named Clancy Brand. He is fourteen (same age as the kid who killed Marnie’s parents). Is Clancy involved in the murder? Are the two cases connected in some way? Then when Terry Doyle’s two children turn up missing, the team will have to work quickly to solve the case. No Other Darkness was an interesting book, but it did not engage me. I was disappointed in it. I think it went on way too long and the writer just put too many elements into the book. After a while it got a little confusing. I give No Other Darkness 3 out of 5 stars. There are some rambling paragraphs were Marnie is thinking (I could have done without them). The book also leaves us with unanswered questions (which probably means they will be answered in other books) which I found disappointing. I prefer for everything to be wrapped up in one book. No Other Darkness can be read without having read the first book in the series. I received a complimentary copy of No Other Darkness from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. The review and opinions expressed are my own.

About the author

SARAH HILARY lives with her daughter in Bath, England, where she writes quirky copy for a well-loved travel publisher.