All the Dark Places by Terri Parlato

A savage murder rocks a quiet Massachusetts suburb, revealing the dark secrets at the center of a group of friends and setting two women - one with a traumatic past, the other a Boston police detective - on a hunt for truth in this stylish debut thriller for fans of Megan Miranda and Shari Lapena...

Snow falls softly outside Molly Bradley's home on a frigid January night. Inside, half a dozen close friends are gathered to celebrate the fortieth birthday of Molly's psychologist husband, Jay. Candlelight gleams against dark wood, wine flows, and the house rings with laughter. Everybody loves Jay, Molly most of all. Yet next morning, Molly discovers Jay dead on the floor of his office, his throat brutally slashed.

After decades working with the Boston PD, Detective Rita Myers has grown accustomed to the banality of evil--the murders that make no sense beyond bad luck or a tragic brush with the worst of humanity. But Jay Bradley's murder isn't random, or a mere crime of opportunity. Rita is convinced that someone in the couple's small circle killed him. Someone who was celebrating with them that night.

Devastated, Molly tries to make sense of her husband's death. Jay was her rock, the only person who really understood the nightmare she lived through long ago. He knew the horrors she's kept hidden even from her friends. But shocking revelations are making her question if Jay was all he seemed to be--and whether someone else knows her past too. And until Molly figures out who she can really trust, she won't be able to stop herself becoming the next target . . .

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I recently was given the opportunity by Kensington Publishing Corporation, via NetGalley, to read the debut thriller from Terri Parlato, All the Dark Places. I have to say, this debut novel is amazing.

First, we have our characters. They’re well thought out, well planned, and very well written. Do we get all of the info about each of our characters right away? No. But that actually adds to the intrigue of the book. Something bad happened to Molly as a child. While it’ll take a while for you to find out what that is, and you’ll want to know, it doesn’t detract from the story to find out when you do. No matter what it is, every character with a backstory you need to know will have that backstory told, when the time is right.

This book doesn’t beat around the bush. It gets right into the action. That is – the first big event happens within the first chapter. You don’t have to wait to find out what the big issue is going to be – it happens immediately. However, that’s not the only big issue and all of the big issues are tied together. Which makes this books plot twists all the more satisfying. Believe me, there are several twists. And just when you think you might have figured out who the big bad wolf is, you’re probably wrong. I know I was.

This book doesn’t read like a debut novel. This book reads like a seasoned novelist wrote the book. Now, is Terri Parlato a pen name for an established writer? Maybe. It wouldn’t be the first time that a seasoned author has penned a book under a pen name and it’s been listed as a debut novel. But the fact remains that until I looked it up, I had no idea this was the author’s debut novel. I even checked on Amazon to make sure it wasn’t just a debut novel for a new genre. No… this is the only Terri Parlato novel that Amazon lists. To me, this shows the author’s potential to be a big name, very soon.

If you love mysteries and thrillers with lots of plot twists, you definitely want to check this book out. I highly recommend it to all of my mystery/thriller fans and I think it might even be a good one to get started in the genre with.