After the Darkness

Feb 04, 2012 Danielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've been a fan of Honey Brown's writing since Red Queen, which was a fantastic thriller, and After the Darkness is another winner. It has the hallmarks of Honey Brown's writing - highly visual, perfectly paced, full of tension and her deep understanding, and compassion for, the Australian male psyche. What was new for me in this book is the deep sense of discomfort I felt while reading. It's not just the psychological tension, which is razor wire sharp, but also witnessing the character's attem...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Tsana Dolichva rated it 5 of 5 stars

I picked up After the Darkness by Honey Brown for a few reasons. First, I'd heard very good things about her debut novel Red Queen (which I still want to read but have yet to get my hands on), second, it was only $3 on iBooks, third, it sounded like something I could count towards my new Aussie Horror Reading Challenge and finally, I read the sample and had to keep reading. This review contains vague, non-essential spoilers.

After the Darkness is the story of married couple with three kids, Trudy...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Heidi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, fav-thrillers, kindle, aussie-author, want-to-read-more-from-this-author, favourites-2013

After the Darkness is an extremely well crafted and suspenseful psychological thriller which kept me reading until late into the night, unable to put the book down before I could find out the outcome. What begins as the last day of a wonderful holiday for a loving married couple, Trudy and Bruce Harrison, soon turns into a nightmare when they innocently stumble into the lair of a depraved sexual predator and killer, disguised as an art gallery and tourist attraction along Australia’s scenic Grea...more After the Darkness is an extremely well crafted and suspenseful psychological thriller which kept me reading until late into the night, unable to put the book down before I could find out the outcome. What begins as the last day of a wonderful holiday for a loving married couple, Trudy and Bruce Harrison, soon turns into a nightmare when they innocently stumble into the lair of a depraved sexual predator and killer, disguised as an art gallery and tourist attraction along Australia’s scenic Great Ocean Road. Drugged, abused and traumatised the couple barely mange to escape with their own lives, but with the burden of Bruce having killed their attacker in their struggle for survival. With Bruce having fared worst in the attack, his shame and reluctance to tell the whole story stops them from contacting the police until days later. However, the couple’s story is met with disbelief by authorities, who are unable to find anything sinister in the location described. Which only leaves one explanation: the killer had not acted alone, and someone may still be out there, watching them ….

For me, the strength of the story lay in the way the author explores how extraordinary things can happen to innocent, ordinary people, irrevocably changing their lives forever. The slow unravelling of the normal life of an everyday law-abiding couple, and the events which finally push them across previous held boundaries of moral and ethical guidelines and beliefs, chilled me to the bone. So plausible was the author’s plot, and so well explored were the thoughts and feelings of the novel’s main protagonists, that I could easily put myself in their shoes and feel their utter sense of terror and disbelief as things slowly spin out of control, like a small pebble dislodging a huge landslide. Decisions made in fear and out of self-preservation soon have horrific consequences the couple would not have been able to imagine in their darkest nightmares. Interspersed with descriptions of ordinary family live, the events unfolding take on an even more sinister character.

With its setting in Australia, the story seemed even more real to me, conjuring up vivid images of the places described in the book. I had to blink to remind myself that I was reading the book in the safety of my own home. To call the plot simple would be doing it a huge injustice, but its seeming simplicity, or ordinariness, is its greatest asset. This could easily happen to any of us, which makes it more terrifying than a lot of the graphic action packed thrillers I have read this year. This is a brilliant, suspenseful novel – highly recommended to any lover of psychological thrillers. I will be looking out for more from this author.

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Apr 15, 2012 Merilyn Porter rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is the second Honey Brown novel I have read this year the first being The good daughter which I thought was good without being great. After the darkness was far more compelling and managed to keep me amused whilst languishing in bed with a cold for 2 days. Bruce and Trudy are Mr & Mrs Perfect with the 3 well adjusted children, the country house and the successful property development business and quite frankly I wanted them dead by page 3. They are returning from a romantic holiday with...more

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Feb 27, 2013 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Adult thriller genre is interesting to dip into for a change every now and then, and this little book (291 pages, so not so little really) is a cracker. An Australian writer, too, to make it even more worthwhile.
After the Darkness tells a much less conventional and predictable tale than your normal thriller - its a taut psychological study of how a couple react to the attack on them.

After an initial panic attack and attempt to cover up their accidental murder of their attacker, partly bec...more The Adult thriller genre is interesting to dip into for a change every now and then, and this little book (291 pages, so not so little really) is a cracker. An Australian writer, too, to make it even more worthwhile.
After the Darkness tells a much less conventional and predictable tale than your normal thriller - its a taut psychological study of how a couple react to the attack on them.

After an initial panic attack and attempt to cover up their accidental murder of their attacker, partly because of Bruce's humiliation at having been raped (I'm not spoiling it, this has all happened by page 50) they try to report the incident to police, but the accomplice they suspected of being in the house has covered up all evidence of the crime and the police find nothing, so they have no option but to try to return to their normal lives, as parents of teenagers, as husband and wife. But nothing will ever be the same again.

The story of the aftermath of the attack rings so authentic that it is almost like having an evil puppeteer invading your own brain telling you more than you ever wanted to know about how all this feels - like Stephen King at his best, creepy and invasive. Trudy and Bruce's perspective on life is permanently twisted, they don't see anyone the same way that they did before, they dress differently, defensively, and see friendships either as a threat or as counterfeit and unobtainable. Their paranoia grows and I believed their fears completely - everybody new who comes into their lives could be connected with the event. In times of stress, Bruce finds himself instinctively replaying and reenacting the attack on him. Nobody can understand what has happened to this lovely happy couple.

Here' s an example of Honey Brown's amazing writing:p 205: we went to Tyler Street. Bruce drove. I heard and felt the car's noises an jolts as though from far away. My ears picked up strange new inflections and unusual tones n everything. My eyes were wide and dry. I was seeing the world through a different lens. The night air spoke to me. It pressed its chill through the windscreen an imprinted a cold tale against my face
I could go on with more, but it would take up too much space. This woman can write like the clappers. If you ever dip your toe into the odd thriller, I recommend this one.(less)

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Mar 31, 2013 Simone rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: great-aus-reads-2013, aww2013

In After The Darkness Honey Brown has created a stunning psychological thriller that ensnared me within the first few pages and held me captive right until the last word.

Trudy and Bruce Harrison have enjoyed a lovely few days away and are heading home to their teenaged children. On a whim they stop at a gallery that is hidden on a quiet, rural road. Almost immediately they realise that something is not quite right, but before they have a chance to gather their thoughts they are swept into a nigh...more

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Nov 01, 2012 John rated it 1 of 5 stars

Soapy homophobic drivel set in coastal Victoria. A dull middle class couple, a career woman and a respectable (?) property developer visit an art gallery on the coast where they are abducted and assaulted by a gay man.

The irony of a developer of blocks of flats living in a 10 acre rural property appears to be lost on the author. Despite being middle class, they are apparently quite happy for their daughter to aspire to being a chef – one of the crappiest jobs around.

You can tick off all the curr...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Brenda rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-release, aussie-authors

After a wonderful weekend of relaxing together on their little holiday, Trudy and Bruce Harrison were meandering their way back home along the Great Ocean Road, when they spied a small sign advertising an art gallery with ocean views. Trudy’s Mum had agreed to have the kids (teens) another night, so they didn’t have to rush home, and they decided a coffee break would be lovely. Trudy was unsettled though, and tried to persuade Bruce to continue on, but he wanted to check it out, which was probab...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, review-books, thriller

The problem I had with an earlier book of Honey Brown's was that whilst the thriller aspects of the book really worked, I was less convinced by the post-apocalyptic scenario and the happy ever after ending. AFTER THE DARKNESS solved those personal prejudices, and presented me with a thriller that worked on just about every level.

I just love thrillers that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, that present a scenario that's unexpected, quietly disconcerting and extremely worrying. Parti...more The problem I had with an earlier book of Honey Brown's was that whilst the thriller aspects of the book really worked, I was less convinced by the post-apocalyptic scenario and the happy ever after ending. AFTER THE DARKNESS solved those personal prejudices, and presented me with a thriller that worked on just about every level.

I just love thrillers that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up, that present a scenario that's unexpected, quietly disconcerting and extremely worrying. Particularly where the tension ramps up, the outcome's not immediately apparent, and the resolution ambiguous. AFTER THE DARKNESS takes a pretty normal married couple, successful in their business, happy in their family life and their love and relationship together, and in one seemingly innocent outing, rips that into little tiny itty bitty shreds. It then takes these two traumatised individuals, Bruce and Trudy Harrison, and makes everything a whole lot worse.

Whilst the ramp up is nicely paced, what really works in AFTER THE DARKNESS is the realness of the whole thing. Of course a holidaying couple would take a short bypass to an art gallery on the road back home. Of course they would fail to recognise the menace until it was too late (not everyone goes around expecting the worst after all!). Of course they would do whatever it took to save each other. Of course they would struggle to talk about the shocking situation they found themselves in afterwards. Of course they would react when the threat continues, and of course they would do what ever it takes when the threat gets too close to home.

All of which adds up to one of those much touted, and often not achieved, "unputdownable book". But AFTER THE DARKNESS truly was very difficult to put down. The writing is taut and subtle, the tension is built within the reader's head, as it builds in the characters lives. There are clever differences in the plot which give Brown options to explore the couple's individual and combined reactions and relationships giving the book a refreshingly different outlook. The characterisations aren't stereotypical - Bruce and Trudy may be a married couple, but their roles and reactions aren't limited by their gender and standard expectation. There's cross-over and ambiguity in their reactions, actions, and responsibilities. It's that realness thing again - they seem like very real people, in a very real scenario that's spiralling rapidly.

It's actually not that often that I find myself immersed in a book that I truly can't put down. Not only was AFTER THE DARKNESS one of the best thrillers of it's kind I've read in a long time, it gave me a chance to work long and hard on some good "can't sorry... reading" excuses.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie... for the review on my site.(less)

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Oct 13, 2012 Erica Tonkin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book had all the elements for a really fantastic psychological thriller but it fell waaaaaay short. Ms Brown set up the plot and characters well, but then it just sort of meandered along with no real "OH WOW" moment. There was no edge-of-your-seat climax and every time the story looked like it was going to provide that rug-pulled-out-from-under-you moment, it just tapered off and I was back to wondering why I was still reading the book. Towards the end,I found myself caring very little abou...more

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Apr 27, 2012 Bree T rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, aww2012, crime, library-reads, mystery, suspense, thriller

Trudy and her husband Bruce are returning home from a holiday down the Great Ocean Road when they see a sign for an isolated ocean view gallery. On a whim they decide to stop in and see it, finding only a man named Reuben who gives them carte blanche to explore the very unusual house and its strange artworks. Trudy and Bruce are a little uneasy and decide that it might be time to hit the road again and remove themselves from this weird house and its even weirder occupant.

A decision to have a cup...more Trudy and her husband Bruce are returning home from a holiday down the Great Ocean Road when they see a sign for an isolated ocean view gallery. On a whim they decide to stop in and see it, finding only a man named Reuben who gives them carte blanche to explore the very unusual house and its strange artworks. Trudy and Bruce are a little uneasy and decide that it might be time to hit the road again and remove themselves from this weird house and its even weirder occupant.

A decision to have a cup of coffee before leaving is a big mistake. When Trudy and Bruce escape some hours later they are battered and bruised, barely conscious (Bruce) and almost blind (Trudy) and Reuben is dead. They struggle with what they should do – go to the police or keep it quiet? They go home to their three children, trying to keep themselves together but the cracks are showing early. They try to go about their normal lives but the events of the clifftop house are creeping into their everyday routines. When someone new inserts himself into their world, Bruce is immediately suspicious. Before too long Trudy and Bruce can no longer tell if their memories of what happened that day are true or distorted, nor can they know who they can trust. Suspicion is everywhere, danger lurks around every corner, exposure threatens every minute.

Bruce decides to take drastic action, to not be a victim any longer. To hunt down those he believes are posing a threat to him and his family and eradicate them forever. Trudy wants to know the truth, she wants to remove herself from a bad situation but she’s a little worried about Bruce’s state of mind. What happens will change their lives once again and further push the boundaries for how far two people are prepared to go to protect themselves and those around them once a line has been crossed that can never be taken back.

After The Darkness is an interesting read. The first part of the book packs an immediate punch with Trudy and Bruce visiting the strange house/gallery on a clifftop and remarking on the oddness of the layout and the weirdness of the man in residence. They find themselves in a worst nightmare type scenario, drugged and assaulted and looking like they’re going to be murdered whenever Reuben is finished doing…whatever it is he’s going to do with them. Desperation helps them escape and I think the novel steps up a gear here, not action-wise, but psychologically. The deconstruction of both Bruce and Trudy’s state of mind in different ways due to the trauma and some of the difficulties and mind-games they face after, is exquisite. They attempt to keep up appearances for the sake of their children but their attempt is shaky at best, the children easily seeing through the facade and struggling to try and understand just exactly what is wrong with their parents.

There is so much to like about this psychological thriller. Bruce and Trudy are Joe And Jane Average Australian Couple, middle aged-ish in their 40s with three children. They’ve worked hard to build a property development business and even with the downturning market they’re doing quite well. They’ve taken a holiday to relax and enjoy themselves away from their children, some ‘couple time’ and connect. I enjoyed their teasing dynamic, their light-hearted happiness and the way they used the strength they had as a pair to escape their horrific situation. I thought the portrayal of them as a couple and also as individuals after the event, when they are back at home was also spot on. Their kids are typical teenagers, the family dynamic as a whole very believable and realistic. The kids know the parents are keeping secrets from them but they don’t know why and there’s resentment.

The slow sliding mental stability of both Bruce and Trudy is likewise well done without being overly dramatic or hysterical. The trauma manifests in different ways – Trudy becomes claustrophobic, wanting, needing doors and windows open, feeling like things are closing in around her. Bruce becomes aggressive, pro-active, determined not to be a victim. Given what happened to him in the house, that definitely rang true as a really realistic way in which someone like Bruce would deal with that sort of episode. A reassertion of his masculinity, his ability to protect himself and his family, a determination to never be seen as weak again, to never be weak again.

Then this book takes a bit of a turn. It becomes darker, seedier, the actions not justifiable like the ones at the beginning of the book. I went from liking Bruce and Trudy, from sympathizing with them to viewing them warily. The actions left a sour taste in my mouth and an icky feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was definitely not the way I expected this book to go and I think the shock helped contribute to the way I felt about it. It’s very well written, very well paced and extremely well thought out even if it became distasteful and uncomfortable for me to read. That may have been the point, to push the boundaries for what the reader felt comfortable with, what they experienced throughout reading this, to see just how far sympathy could go for two people that had been through something utterly horrific.

I think this book would make a really amazing movie – I could see it all in my head when I was reading it.(less)

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Jan 05, 2013 Jess rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: aussie-authors, own-read

After the Darkness is a compelling psychologically thriller set predominantly after a traumatic experience whereby Bruce and Trudy Harrison find themselves facing the unbearable task of trying to move on from a brutal attack in which they barely escaped alive from.

Trudy and Bruce Harrison are making slowly making their way home after a quick get away when fate steps in and has other plans. Having survived the brutal attack by a man named simply as Reuben in what is meant to be an art gallery, t...more After the Darkness is a compelling psychologically thriller set predominantly after a traumatic experience whereby Bruce and Trudy Harrison find themselves facing the unbearable task of trying to move on from a brutal attack in which they barely escaped alive from.

Trudy and Bruce Harrison are making slowly making their way home after a quick get away when fate steps in and has other plans. Having survived the brutal attack by a man named simply as Reuben in what is meant to be an art gallery, the pair return home visibly shaken and worse for wear believing that the worst is over. After all what is a few cuts and bruises and torn off nails when the other option was almost certainly a horrendous death at the hands at unyielding mad man? Believing themselves lucky to be alive, the pair makes a pact to not tell anyone about what had transpired, not their three teenaged kids, their parents, nor the police. Especially not the police. However, back in suburbia fate has other plans for them as shame and fear from what they had experienced, seen and done quickly casts doubts upon their decisions and relationships as they constantly find themselves ill equipped to face the constant pressures of family, work commitments and even the presence of each other.

Although a thriller, majority of this novel is set in the aftermath of the horrific experience that ultimately changes the lives of Bruce and Trudy Harrison. While it is constantly acknowledge that the experience was harrowing and they were lucky to be alive, life post event, just trying to survive and live a normal life proves to be the most difficult task at all. Especially when paranoia and self-doubt raises its ugly head causing the pair to make irrevocable decisions that will forever haunt their lives. Honey Brown’s writing is strengthened by this inclusion of this aftermath and it is this primal focus of the aftermath that really sets this story apart from others within the same genre, ultimately putting the novel somewhat ahead of similar narratives in terms of delivery and depth while challenging the notion of happily ever after. After all who can fulfil the requirements of a lifetime of happily ever afters if the past will not leave them alone?

The focus of the narrative has been well thought out, and is cunning in its creativeness and the way it plays out. Nothing is ever as it seems and yet based on events that you know HAVE transpired, you can’t help but align yourselves with the struggling Harrison clan. Brown’s prose sets the reader up to ask the questions of what would you do in a similar situation? Could you be as strong, or ill-informed as the Harrison’s are depending on your standpoint? Would you be able to see the folly of your ways to prevent yourselves from making similar mistakes or would you be helpless in face of the downward spiral your life was unexpectedly taking? Could you admit your short-comings and failings, or are you doomed to be trapped by them?

Overall this narrative was chilling, confronting and devastating on all fronts. The writing was effortless and Brown has proven herself a master of the art of suspense, with an unfailing eye to the psychological concepts of boundaries and what it means if we were to ever cross those self imposed black and white lines.

You know the saying ‘it was like a car crash that you just couldn’t look away from’, this narrative is like that – for all the right reasons. The writing is superb, the actions harrowing, the effect devastating. A must read for any thriller fan.
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Jan 10, 2013 Deborah Biancotti rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: writer-women, aww2013

There's a line somewhere late in AFTER THE DARKNESS, about how brutality somehow manages to make a mockery of everything that isn't brutal.

That's what this book is about. It's a mockery of the non-brutal, told with such disarming conviction that you find yourself believing even the most outrageous circumstances, the most horrifying details. The book also, in a way, mocks the brutal, as each act of brutality ends in more chaos, more unexpected horror. More... darkness.

For me, somewhere around c...more There's a line somewhere late in AFTER THE DARKNESS, about how brutality somehow manages to make a mockery of everything that isn't brutal.

That's what this book is about. It's a mockery of the non-brutal, told with such disarming conviction that you find yourself believing even the most outrageous circumstances, the most horrifying details. The book also, in a way, mocks the brutal, as each act of brutality ends in more chaos, more unexpected horror. More... darkness.

For me, somewhere around chapter two, the word 'masterful' appeared inside my skull and kept pulsing, dully, like dirty neon intermittently thereafter. Because this is a masterful book. Every time I thought I'd managed to work out where the story was going, the story did just that. It went there. For a chapter. It moved into the narrative I'd pictured the book becoming, & then it went right on out the other side - with everything worsening at each turn. The book then veered into new directions - new examples of violence or chaos, new badness, new misery. And like one of Pavlov's subjects, I was hooked. I would guess again. And again. I was completely at the author's mercy for this story (& frankly, there's not a lot of that in the book).

This is a savage psychological thriller. It's smart, it's sexy - yes, sexy - it's frightening, and it's beautifully, convincingly written. I loved this book, & I hope Brown does a dozen more just like it.

One of the great pieces of verisimilitude in this book (I dunno, are we writers the only people who use 'verisimilitude'? I so often can't find another word that matches it) is the family life. The cosy, awkward life of Trudy and Bruce and their three teenaged kids. The details of homework, horseriding, schooling, cooking, and visits to Gran's. The way this is threatened. The life that comes 'after'. And the other kinds of threats, not just of violence, but destruction of a kind - from the people that prey on the weak.

I can't say much: I don't want to give it away.

I wasn't a fan of the title at first, but I became convinced. During chapter 1, I thought I knew why it was called AFTER THE DARKNESS: because the book is not about what it appears to be about in chapter 1. It's about what comes *after* that. But by the end of the novel, I realised the title was even smarter than that. Because there is no after. When the darkness enters, there is only ... darkness.

#aww2013 no.04(less)

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Dec 21, 2012 Helen McKenna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian, aww2012-challenge, great-aussie-reads-challenge-2012

Trudy and Bruce Harrison seem to have it all – a happy marriage, three healthy children and a successful business. Then one afternoon as they are returning home from a trip away they make the fateful decision to stop at a Gallery on a lonely, country road. What happens there changes their comfortable life in an instant and sends them on a journey that will test everything they thought was safe in their world.

Right from the beginning you get a sense of reality about this novel – that something l...more

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Mar 15, 2012 ALPHAreader rated it 5 of 5 stars

A weeklong getaway; no kids, no work just each other. Bruce and Trudy Harrison are the envy of their friends; they haven’t had infidelity or financial struggles like other long-term married couples. They have three lovely teenage children and a booming property development business in affluent Delaney. And they are still very much in love – so much so, that they take a week every year to just be together.

On the last day of their getaway, Bruce and Trudy spot a sign for the Ocean View Gallery, an...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: aussie-author, provided-by-publisher

I'd been wanting to read After The Darkness for months and Thrill Week finally provided the perfect opportunity. I picked it up to read a few chapters before bedtime and found myself, at 3am, turning the final page.

In After the Darkness, Trudy and Bruce Harrison are on their way home after a relaxing week away when a sign for the Ocean View Gallery captures their attention. Stepping inside the unusual building they are confronted by a maze of rooms and disquieting sculptures of glass, wood and s...more
I'd been wanting to read After The Darkness for months and Thrill Week finally provided the perfect opportunity. I picked it up to read a few chapters before bedtime and found myself, at 3am, turning the final page.

In After the Darkness, Trudy and Bruce Harrison are on their way home after a relaxing week away when a sign for the Ocean View Gallery captures their attention. Stepping inside the unusual building they are confronted by a maze of rooms and disquieting sculptures of glass, wood and stone. They dismiss their feelings of unease, admiring the breathtaking vista of the ocean, and accept the gallery owner's offer of coffee. Just minutes later, Bruce is unconscious and as Trudy fights to rouse her husband she is blinded with chemical spray and then bound. Disorientated and terrified the couple are at the mercy of their sadistic captor but with strength born from abject fear they manage to kill the man and escape. In shock, Bruce and Trudy return home, collect their children and try to piece their lives back together but they are haunted by those few hours in the house on the hill and their once charmed lives begin to spiral out of control.

The opening chapters of After the Darkness are gripping. Lulled into complacency by the pleasure of a leisurely drive along The Great Ocean Road and the normality of browsing an art gallery on a warm, sunny day the terror Bruce and Trudy encounter is a sharp, shocking contrast. The first person point of view includes the reader in the journey, I know my own heart began to race as the the drug began to take effect and Trudy's confusion turned to desperate panic. Brown captures the psychological horror of being powerless, facing seemingly certain torture and death at the hands of a mad man. I breathed a sigh of relief at their escape but as the title suggests, it is what comes after that is the focus of this novel.

"I think a part of me knew even then we weren't leaving, not really. Some things you don't escape from."p50

As their bruises ripen and the immediate shock fades the horror does not recede as they hoped and the Harrisons' struggle with the facade of ordinary life. Reaching out to the police results in their claims being summarily dismissed. That leaves the Harrison's with few options and Brown allows us to witness the couple's slow disintegration from post traumatic stress. Both of them operate in a kind of fog, going through the motions but crippled by flashbacks and paranoia. They make poor decisions that exacerbate their feelings of loss of control. Trudy is led astray by a new tenant in one of their properties, Bruce thinks only of making someone pay. Normality blurs - truth and lies, right and wrong, everything tainted by frustrated fear and anger until Trudy and Bruce spiral into the darkness they so desperately tries to escape. This novel reveals it is not enough to just survive a terrible event, it must be overcome.

It should be noted that in an unusual move it is Bruce, not Trudy, who is the target of their sexually predatory captor, allowing Brown to explore a type of victimology rarely featured in fiction. It is Bruce's shame that drives his reaction to the incident, a desperate need to deny what had happened to him coupled with the eventual need to reassert his masculinity with aggression and control. It is his shame that ensures Trudy's silence and her guilt at escaping the worst of the abuse in the gallery.

Once begun, I couldn't put After The Darkness down, caught up in the story of the Harrison's inexorable slide towards destruction. The pacing is compelling, the creeping tension superb and the journey unpredictable. After the Darkness is a stunning psychological thriller that examines the stain on the soul true terror leaves behind.
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Jun 01, 2012 Madeline rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: women-s-weekly-great-read-books, fiction

This book was a hard one to get into and then a hard one to put down. However I am still undecided as to if I liked it or not. It was well written but the story was horrible and I'm not sure if I liked the characters. Because of that I feel my opinion of the book is somewhat biased.

If you like, crime thrillers with a twist you will definitely like this book, I just think it was a bit too different to what I normally read to really enjoy. I can see why it was listed as the Women's Weekly Great R...more

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Apr 03, 2012 Cathy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I also put off reading this for a little while, as I thought it was going to be darker than Honey's two previous books. I couldn't delay it any longer! Once I started I didn't put it down & polished it off in an afternoon.
This is a riveting read once again & is a very different story to her other 2 books. Using my sister's words "It is brilliant, disturbing and tense and has the honesty of language and situation I've come to expect from Honey Brown. She has a real feel for how events ca...more

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May 08, 2013 Jenn J. McLeod rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of a wrong turn (there’s a double meaning in that statement) and the impact of choices made. It’s one of those stories that takes a loving couple from bad to worse until they find themselves in an unimaginable situation that makes you wonder how (or if) they can possible survive – and if they do, what will remain of the people they once were. Be prepared to be hooked and to mot put the book down.

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Apr 06, 2013 Jan Richards rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book unsettled me at times, and I'm sure that was the intent. Suspense, tension, some pretty realistic violence which I don't much like, but it was the core of the book. Violence breeds violence. How far would you go to defend yourself and your family? And how would you live with it? Great read.

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Oct 01, 2012 Jane rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

Good for a quick page turning read. A highly implausible plot involving an ordinary couple who visit an out of the way gallery on the way home from a brief holiday without the kids and who end up involved in not just one but two murders. Luckily for them they are able to put the violence behind them and eventually live happily ever after.

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Apr 13, 2012 Lynne rated it 3 of 5 stars

The third, and by far the creepiest of Honey Brown's thrillers. Once again I couldn't put it down, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with the outcome of this one. Just retribution was meted out to those who deserved it, but I felt it went a little too far in one instance.

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Mar 01, 2013 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Excellent book befitting of its title, I read this book in quick time. An intriguing and insightful look into how a married couple deal with an unexpected dark trauma, and how it uncompromisingly affects their lives and that of their family, with repercussions that change all of their lives. Based in Victoria, it is refreshing to read a book with an Australian setting and by an Australian author. With a few unexpected twists and turns, this book is a great read.

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Mar 20, 2012 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-my-bookshelf

I put off reading this for a little while, as I knew it was darker than Honey's two previous books, until I suddenly couldn't delay it any longer.
It is brilliant, disturbing and tense and has the honesty of language and situation I've come to expect from Honey Brown. She has a real feel for how events can change lives, and that what happens after those events might not be what we expect. This is no formulaic detective novel and, like Red Queen and The Good Daughter, I was left thinking "My God,...more

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May 15, 2013 Penelope Perry rated it 4 of 5 stars

I couldn't help but wonder how I would handle this situation... Honey Brown did a good enough job of convincing me this could very well be a real life happening.

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Apr 02, 2013 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Had the starting of being a really good psychological thriller but I felt it just went down hill after they got out if the house.
It was ok but not great.

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Apr 27, 2012 Andrew Bishop rated it 3 of 5 stars

Probably class this one as a psychological thriller. A quick and easy rtead and a good page-turner. The moral of the story is 'look before you leap'.

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Jan 28, 2013 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book, tucked up on the couch over a couple of days. As someone from Australia, though not currently living there, it painted a picture of the landscape and lifestyle. The book didn't take me where I had expected it too, which is not a bad thing.

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May 08, 2012 Gab Doquile rated it 4 of 5 stars

Honey Brown is such an exciting writer - her books grab you by the scruff of the neck and don't let go. Devoured this in less than 24 hours.

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Dec 10, 2012 Jules rated it 1 of 5 stars

another disapointing female author. Too much disjointed storyline, then the epilogue to fill in the blanks. I didnt like either character, she is too far up her self & he KILLED TWO PEOPLE! WOW! With a violent temper like that, he needed help not secrets & lies. I would have ran. the other stuff was just too convenient, & the epilogue killed it 'oh btw we found the sim card' killing that poor kid & treating his parents like that made me feel sick. Cold calculating & callous....more

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After the Darkness

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