Claire Hunter is an art world darling, thanks to her exceptional talent and the influence of her fiancé the wealthy and mysterious Jack Compton. At Jack’s insistence, the couple will wed at his home’s estate, a gorgeous Italian villa on the private island of Isola. The majestic sweeping views and ghost stories of the island are a perfect backdrop for a wedding, and family secrets. When Claire arrives with her fiancé, things immediately begin to go wrong. Skeletal remains are found on the island. Strange notes and shattered glass decorate the private bathroom for Claire and Jack. When Claire goes to try on her wedding dress, she finds a cruel barb written in blood on the train, the day before the wedding. The rumors swirl around Jack’s first wife, Morgan. Though long dead, her essence haunts the estate. Claire Hunter has dark secrets of her own. What deadly secrets are the Compton family keeping from Claire, and will she survive the weekend.
I will admit that when I picked up J.T. Ellison’s Her Dark Lies, the cover lead me to believe this was going to be just another thriller in my collection. After all, the cover is a cliff, the back text haunting and discussing secrets. Instead what followed was a book that reminded me so much of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, but with enough differences that I couldn’t tell where things were going. The specter of a former wife? A family with a dark history and dubious presence? I mean, this was everything I could want and more. Ellison’s book was a can’t put it down even though it is past midnight kind of a book.
Her Dark Lies is available now from Mira.
