Thriller

Review: The Darkness Within Ourselves by Jessica Huntley

July 27, 2026

Synopsis:

Amber and her four best friends are about to reach their teenage years when the unthinkable happens ; one of her friends, Kieran, is killed in a freak accident.

Twenty years later, Amber no longer speaks to her friends and is still haunted by that day in the form of severe psychological issues , including sleep paralysis, insomnia and hallucinations of a terrifying entity she calls The Creature . But it isn’t just in her head; it is real.

Unbeknown to Amber, her former friends have also been suffering from their own psychological nightmares , each trapped and twisted into people they no longer recognise. Then a piece of evidence is found from that day and Amber and her former friends are forced to relive the events leading up to Kieran’s death , learning truths along the way that they would rather not know about themselves.

Can they work together to rid themselves of their demons and find out what really happened to Kieran all those years ago?

Review:

A group of teens playing a stupid game results in one of them dying. They decide to keep it a secret and not tell anyone. Being responsible for the death of a close friend is leaving marks on each of them, having a profound impact on their lives. When years later a watch is found, belonging to the person everyone in town considered missing, the truth might come out about what really happened. The estranged group comes together again, learning that the events of the past are still very present to each of them and this dark event has manifested to them in different ways.

Teenagers do stupid things and the consequences are a bit more intense than what you typically expect. Each one of them tried to live a normal life and some succeeded more than others. What becomes clear rather quickly is, that they struggle in unique ways. Some more than others though. It was constantly hovering and the main ask was – Is it simply a fiction of imagination or did the events manifest in something real, which became a constant companion and won’t go away. What if the darkness lingering is manifesting in something more than anyone bargained for?
Learning what happened in the past – and constantly asking questions about what is real and what isn’t -was on of my favourite parts of it. How do you deal with such a traumatic event? Avoidance is clearly not the correct answer.
I was here for it and felt drawn to the story and how it impacted not those directly involved, but the town everyone lived in.

🌙 Recension: The Darkness Within Ourselves (The Darkness Series #1) by Jessica Huntley
📚 Genre: Psychological Thriller
📅 Release Date: March 23, 2021
📗 available in various formats – included in Kindle Unlimited
📱 Read as: Kindle
💸 Bought
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages: 304
⭐️ 4/5