Scare the Light Away
By Vicki Delany
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
"Delany delivers an outstanding debut novel that explores the good, the bad, and the ugly of family relationships." —Booklist
Rebecca McKenzie, a successful Vancouver businesswoman, returns to tiny Hope River after an absence of 30 years to attend her mother's funeral. Estranged from her father and two older siblings, she'd left a brutal childhood and a psychopathic grandfather behind. She expects her visit to be short. But then she discovers the diaries written by her mother, a British war bride with a young baby who came to Canada to join a husband she scarcely knew, and finds her heart wrung by her mother's story. Meanwhile, a young girl has gone missing, and suspicion falls on Rebecca's handsome, charming brother Jimmy. Before long, violence threatens and Rebecca must put aside some long-held grievances to cut to the heart of the crime.
Vicki Delany
Vicki Delany is one of Canada’s most prolific and varied crime writers and a national bestseller in the United States. She has written more than 30 books: from clever cozies to Gothic thrillers, gritty police procedurals to historical fiction and seven novellas in the Rapid Reads line. She writes the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series, the Year Round Christmas mysteries and under the pen name of Eva Gates, the Lighthouse Library series. Vicki is the past president of Crime Writers of Canada. Her work has been nominated for the Derringer, Bony Blithe, Golden Oak, and Arthur Ellis Awards. She lives in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
Read more from Vicki Delany
Among the Departed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Shadow of the Glacier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valley of the Lost Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Cold White Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winter of Secrets Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unreasonable Doubt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Negative Image Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under Cold Stone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Winter Kill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder at Lost Dog Lake Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Scare the Light Away
Related ebooks
Dead Little Dolly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCold in the Earth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Natural Causes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frozen in Paradise: A Destination Death Mystery: A Destination Death Mystery, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Death in Carolina Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Guilty in Mississippi Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Family of Strangers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wish You Were Here Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPretty Is As Pretty Does: Possum Creek, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMasked in Paradise: A Destination Death Mystery: A Destination Death Mystery, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll Things Slip Away Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShattered in Paradise: A Destination Death Mystery: A Destination Death Mystery, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNotorious D.O.C. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Blink of an Eye Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Emily Went Missing Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dropped Dead: Henry Walsh Private Investigator Series, #7 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crystal Pelican: Henry Walsh Private Investigator Series, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lesley Glaister Collection Volume Two: Easy Peasy, Nina Todd Has Gone, and As Far as You Can Go Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBetrayed in Paradise: A Destination Death Mystery: A Destination Death Mystery, #6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lizzy Ballard Thrillers Ebook Box Set: The Lizzy Ballard Thrillers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Robots Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Every Lie We Wrote Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWithout A Word (Ghostwriter Mystery 7) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Carmarthen Murders: The start of a dark, edge-of-your-seat crime mystery series from John Nicholl Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nanny Murders Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Straw Men: A Thriller Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Painted to Death Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSleepwalker Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Playing Truant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hot Southern Nights: Possum Creek, #3 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Mystery For You
The Paris Apartment: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pretty Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5None of This Is True: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hunting Party: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Short Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in a Blue Dress (30th Anniversary Edition): An Easy Rawlins Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Flight: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Good Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pieces of Her: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murder Under a Red Moon: A 1920s Bangalore Mystery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summit Lake Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Sleep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Staircase: Nancy Drew #2 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Life We Bury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pharmacist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Reese's Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Write a Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dean Koontz: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The People Next Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5False Witness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Did I Kill You?: A Thriller Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Kept Woman: A Will Trent Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Woman in the Library: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Scare the Light Away
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Line: I stood outside the hardware store at the unmarked intersection.Widow Rebecca McKenzie has returned to Hope River, Ontario, after an absence of thirty years to attend her mother's funeral. Thirty years ago she was escaping from an abusive childhood and a psychopathic grandfather, and she's never wanted to go back. But here she is, amongst the family members she left behind so long ago, and she can see how much things have both changed... and remained the same. This is a visit that Rebecca vows will be short, but when asked by her father to go through all her mother's things, she discovers that her mother had kept diaries since she was seventeen.At first reluctantly, but then more and more voraciously, Rebecca reads her mother's diaries, and learns of her mother's experience as a bride during World War II, as this young woman brings a baby to a new country, watches her husband change once he's back home, and experiences those family dynamics for herself.All the while, the police of Hope River are searching for a missing girl, and the townspeople have already made up their minds as to the identity of the person responsible: Rebecca's charming brother Jimmy. Some of those people aren't shy about letting their feelings be known, and as the days pass, Rebecca finds herself and other members of her family to be in very real danger.Once I began reading Scare the Light Away, I found it difficult to stop. I, too, come from a small town, and twenty-five years elapsed before I went back. Although my situation was very different from Rebecca's, I found it easy to put myself in her place and to feel her reluctance to be back where she grew up. The reader knows almost from the first page that something is very wrong in Rebecca's family, but Delany takes the time to set her stage and bring out her characters before any real information is given. It's important to get to know Rebecca and to see how much she can be trusted as a narrator before continuing on with the story. I enjoyed that process very much.Much the same process is used when bringing out the diaries. Rebecca's mother's story is brought forth a scene at a time, and months or years can pass between these glimpses. Between Rebecca's story and her mother's, the reader begins filling in the gaps, and the suspense that has been building continues to grow. Delany never relies too much upon those diaries, but makes the reader rely on both Rebecca, her mother, and the reader's own observations to piece everything together.With my small town background, I found the behavior of the more violent residents of Hope River to not only ring true, but to be downright chilling. The combination of the strong character of Rebecca, her mother's diaries, and the present-day crime proves to be an engrossing one. Vicki Delany not only knows how to write excellent series, she writes thrillers that can't be put down, too. Whether you're a series reader or one who prefers standalones, I urge you to read (at least) one of this talented writer's books.