Under a Dark Sky: A Novel

by Lori Rader-Day Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

Overview

From the critically-acclaimed author of The Day I Died comes a terrifying twist on a locked-room mystery that will keep listeners guessing until the last words.

Only in the dark can she find the truth . . .

Since her husband died, Eden Wallace's life has diminished down to a tiny pinprick, like a far-off star in the night sky. She doesn't work, has given up on her love of photography, and is so plagued by night terrors that she can't sleep without the lights on. Everyone, including her family, has grown weary of her grief. So when she finds paperwork in her husband's effects indicating that he reserved a week at a dark sky park, she goes. She's ready to shed her fear and return to the living, even if it means facing her paralyzing phobia of the dark.

But when she arrives at the park, the guest suite she thought was a private retreat is teeming with a group of twenty-somethings, all stuck in the orbit of their old college friendships. Horrified that her get-away has been taken over, Eden decides to head home the next day. But then a scream wakes the house in the middle of the night. One of the friends has been murdered. Now everyone-including Eden-is a suspect.

Everyone is keeping secrets, but only one is a murderer. As mishaps continue to befall the group, Eden must make sense of the chaos and lies to evade a ruthless killer-and she'll have to do it before dark falls...

Editorial Reviews

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile

In this murder mystery about relationships gone wrong, listeners are brought to an isolated spot on the northern shores of Lake Michigan. Through a booking snafu, six former college buddies and a neurotic widow, Eden, are renting the same cottage. Eden has a terror of the dark and other phobias and is fixated on her husband’s fatal car crash. It’s an awkward situation that becomes even more uncomfortable when one of the group is murdered. Although Eden solves the crime, this mystery is more of a psychological novel than a crime thriller. Tavia Gilbert performs the character of Eden with passion and dramatic flair, crying, whining, exhorting, and cajoling as needed. Her depictions of other characters are subtler but equally convincing. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

06/18/2018
When 34-year-old Eden Wallace, the narrator of this cleverly plotted mystery from Mary Higgins Clark Award–winner Rader-Day (The Day I Died), discovers that her deceased husband, Bix, was planning a 10th anniversary surprise at a remote Michigan stargazing resort, she decides to keep the reservation. With no work to distract her, Eden is still grief-stricken nine months after Bix’s death, and she wants to spend time alone in an environment far from her Chicago home. However, she no sooner arrives at the resort than she learns the intimate cottage she envisioned is to be shared with six 20-somethings gathered for some sort of college reunion. After one of the six is murdered, suspicions turn friend against friend and, by turns, each against Eden. It’s a great setting for a murder, and each of Rader-Day’s prickly millennials feels capable of murder—to say nothing of sleep-deprived, near hysterical Eden. Readers will have fun following the subtle clues. Agent: Sharon Bowers, Miller Bowers Griffin Literary Management. (Aug.)

From the Publisher

I don’t know a writer who captures better the insecurities and damaged and damaging relationships of ordinary women.” — Ann Cleeves, New York Times Bestselling Author

“A brilliant concept, brilliantly told! Under a Dark Sky is a novel that you simply can’t put down. Populated by living, breathing characters and filled with fresh prose and sharp dialogue, we thrill to spend a harrowing, yet redemptive, get-away with our wonderful protagonist.” — Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author

“Lori Rader-Day is a modern-day Agatha Christie: her mysteries are taut, her characters are real and larger than life, and her plots are relentlessly surprising. Under a Dark Sky is a stellar addition to her award-winning catalog... A dynamite late summer read!” — Kate Moretti, New York Times bestselling author of The Vanishing Year

“Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day is an atmospheric and absorbing mystery with an intriguing cast of characters. You’ll want to read this gripping novel with the lights on.” — Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence

“Both an irresistible locked-room puzzler and a finely wrought examination of friendship, love, and loss, this is the kind of book you can’t help but read too fast: You can’t wait to find out what happened, no matter that you never want it to end.” — Elizabeth Little, author of Dear Daughter

“With a delicate yet steady hand, Lori Rader-Day traces the lines that join these old friends together and the barriers that divide them, to reveal a constellation as inevitable as it’s astonishing. Splendid stuff from a master of the genre. ” — Catriona McPherson, author of Go to My Grave

“Fans of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None will be riveted by Rader-Day’s (The Day I Died) latest psychological thriller, which makes you question who you really know and trust and whether you should be afraid of the dark.”
— Library Journal (starred review)

“A dark sky park where even the slightest glimmer of light is blocked out provides a fascinating backdrop for Lori Rader-Day’s inventive fourth novel. ... A shrewd plot and realistic characters also soar in Under a Dark Sky.” — Associated Press

Praise for The Day I Died: “Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Rader-Day’s (Little Pretty Things) third novel will thrill readers who can’t get enough of the psychological suspense genre.” — Library Journal

Praise for The Day I Died: “Lori Rader-Day is so ferociously talented that it kind of makes me mad. Not fair! The Day I Died is a terrific novel—gripping and twisty and beautifully layered. It kept me locked up and locked in from the very first word to the very last.” — Lou Berney, Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone

Praise for The Day I Died: “Beautiful prose and tack-sharp observations round out this slow-burning but thought-provoking meditation on the ravages of domestic violence.” — Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Day I Died: “Secrets lie behind every loop, slant, and swirl of The Day I Died, Lori Rader-Day’s compelling story of a handwriting analyst searching for a lost boy. Richly written, complex, and imaginative…this is a perfect read for fans of Mary Higgins Clark.” — Susanna Calkins, Macavity Award-winning author of the Lucy Campion mysteries

Praise for The Day I Died: “An unusual protagonist, a timely crime, and outstanding writing make Lori Rader-Day’s The Black Hour a stand-out debut.” — Sara Paretsky, New York Times bestselling author

Praise for The Day I Died: “An exceptional debut...An irresistible combination of menace, betrayal, and self-discovery.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Praise for The Day I Died: “A searing, psychological suspense novel about small-town dreams shattered by a deadly secret.” — Terry Shames, Macavity Award-winning author of A Killing at Cotton Hill

Praise for The Black Hour: “Addictive.... A perfect thriller for the summer.” — BookPage

Associated Press

A dark sky park where even the slightest glimmer of light is blocked out provides a fascinating backdrop for Lori Rader-Day’s inventive fourth novel. ... A shrewd plot and realistic characters also soar in Under a Dark Sky.

Elizabeth Little

Both an irresistible locked-room puzzler and a finely wrought examination of friendship, love, and loss, this is the kind of book you can’t help but read too fast: You can’t wait to find out what happened, no matter that you never want it to end.

Catriona McPherson

With a delicate yet steady hand, Lori Rader-Day traces the lines that join these old friends together and the barriers that divide them, to reveal a constellation as inevitable as it’s astonishing. Splendid stuff from a master of the genre.

Lou Berney

Praise for The Day I Died: “Lori Rader-Day is so ferociously talented that it kind of makes me mad. Not fair! The Day I Died is a terrific novel—gripping and twisty and beautifully layered. It kept me locked up and locked in from the very first word to the very last.

Ann Cleeves

I don’t know a writer who captures better the insecurities and damaged and damaging relationships of ordinary women.

Heather Gudenkauf

Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day is an atmospheric and absorbing mystery with an intriguing cast of characters. You’ll want to read this gripping novel with the lights on.

Jeffery Deaver

A brilliant concept, brilliantly told! Under a Dark Sky is a novel that you simply can’t put down. Populated by living, breathing characters and filled with fresh prose and sharp dialogue, we thrill to spend a harrowing, yet redemptive, get-away with our wonderful protagonist.

Kate Moretti

Lori Rader-Day is a modern-day Agatha Christie: her mysteries are taut, her characters are real and larger than life, and her plots are relentlessly surprising. Under a Dark Sky is a stellar addition to her award-winning catalog... A dynamite late summer read!

Susanna Calkins

Praise for The Day I Died: “Secrets lie behind every loop, slant, and swirl of The Day I Died, Lori Rader-Day’s compelling story of a handwriting analyst searching for a lost boy. Richly written, complex, and imaginative…this is a perfect read for fans of Mary Higgins Clark.

Terry Shames

Praise for The Day I Died: “A searing, psychological suspense novel about small-town dreams shattered by a deadly secret.

Sara Paretsky

Praise for The Day I Died: “An unusual protagonist, a timely crime, and outstanding writing make Lori Rader-Day’s The Black Hour a stand-out debut.

BookPage

Praise for The Black Hour: “Addictive.... A perfect thriller for the summer.

Associated Press Staff

A dark sky park where even the slightest glimmer of light is blocked out provides a fascinating backdrop for Lori Rader-Day’s inventive fourth novel. ... A shrewd plot and realistic characters also soar in Under a Dark Sky.

AUGUST 2018 - AudioFile

In this murder mystery about relationships gone wrong, listeners are brought to an isolated spot on the northern shores of Lake Michigan. Through a booking snafu, six former college buddies and a neurotic widow, Eden, are renting the same cottage. Eden has a terror of the dark and other phobias and is fixated on her husband’s fatal car crash. It’s an awkward situation that becomes even more uncomfortable when one of the group is murdered. Although Eden solves the crime, this mystery is more of a psychological novel than a crime thriller. Tavia Gilbert performs the character of Eden with passion and dramatic flair, crying, whining, exhorting, and cajoling as needed. Her depictions of other characters are subtler but equally convincing. D.L.G. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2018-05-15
A recent widow confronts her demons and a whole lot more during a trip to the Michigan wilderness.Eden Wallace has always been afraid of the dark, but that didn't stop her husband, Army veteran Bix Wallace, from booking a cabin in Michigan's Straits Point International Dark Sky Park to mark their 10th anniversary. Ironically, Bix misses the celebration when his drunken driving ends his life, along with those of four others, nine months before the big day; it's not till after his death that Eden even learns of the reservation. Even worse, when she arrives at Dark Sky Park, she realizes that Bix, whether deliberately or not, didn't book the whole cabin, only a suite in a building she'll be sharing with five college chums and the new girlfriend of one of them. Dev, Paris, Sam, and Martha all make it clear that they'd love to see Eden leave. Only Malloy and Hillary, his new girlfriend, make any gestures of friendship, and those are cut in half when Eden's awakened by a scream that pulls her to the kitchen, where Malloy is lying dead, a screwdriver in his neck. Since there's no chance that his demise was accidental, his old buddies instantly fall to accusing each other as well as Hillary and Eden, the newcomers who've crashed their circle. The questions posed by Park Director Warren Hoyt, Emmet County Sheriff Jeffrey Barrows, and Officer Bridget Cooley will all play a role in determining whodunit, but not before another participant in the reunion takes a header down the stairs, still another is poisoned, and Eden, still grieving the death of her husband, realizes that she has a previous connection to the group she's been thrown into that's both unwelcome and ugly.Rader-Day (The Day I Died, 2017, etc.) juices her young-widow setup with enough soul-searching, menace, and dirty linen to make you think of Mary Higgins Clark with teeth bared.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173671363
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/07/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos