Thriller

Review: The Darkness That Came Before by Jessica Huntley

August 2, 2026

Synopsis:

What if it’s always been there? Watching … Waiting …

Cherry Hollow has been plagued by The Darkness for more than two decades. Death, murder, infidelity, trauma, and severe mental health disorders … It all started in 1998 with the disappearance of a young boy. Or did it?

Now, another body has been discovered, hidden in the depths of Beaker Ravine, a place where The Darkness has been luring its victims for years. But this body is different. It’s older. It means The Darkness was around long before anyone even knew it existed …

Stephen Mallow, a London journalist, is back in town to discover the truth, despite vowing he’d never return. His own darkness has followed him, but even that won’t stop his unique and questioning mind from asking the difficult questions no one in town wants to answer.

Olivia and Graham are old friends, reunited after the discovery of the body. They’re now determined to lay their demons to rest. But why was no one reported missing all those years ago? And why has it taken more than forty years for the truth to be revealed?

Can The Darkness finally be destroyed and who will be the one to finally end it all?

Review:

The ending of the previous book already teased that the story would not end there and that the Darkness of Cherry Hollow, along with the impact it has on its residents, had its roots in the past. Everything that happened afterward may simply have been a consequence of it.
The body of a young child is found, and it becomes clear early on that something similar must have happened to how we met everyone in the first book. Someone wanted it to remain hidden, and as a result, people suffered and are still dealing with the consequences today. We get the now-familiar split storytelling, where, in the present timeline, we try to uncover what happened in the past, while simultaneously experiencing those past events through the perspectives of the people directly involved. The puzzle pieces slowly begin to come together.
The reporter, whom we briefly met at the beginning of the second book, returns to investigate and connect the stories that overlap between past and present.

From all three books, this one felt the most like a traditional mystery/crime thriller, with the Darkness still present but somewhat less dominant. Overall, it is a strong conclusion to the story, and its central questions remain lingering, with certain events continuing to cast a shadow over the characters’ lives.

🌙 Recension: The Darkness That Came Before (The Darkness Series #3) by Jessica Huntley
📚 Genre: Psychological Thriller
📅 Release Date: February 1, 2024
📗 available in various formats – included in Kindle Unlimited
📱 Read as: Kindle
💸 Bought
🗣️ Language: English
📆 Pages: 361
⭐️ 4/5