The Dark Room is the first book I’ve read by author Lisa Gray. Overall, it’s an entertaining read with suspense, twists, and an interesting and usual plot. However, I wasn’t really sure how to feel about the main characters. Occasionally, I was sympathetic but more often I was a bit put off by their behavior. So, yes, definitely conflicted as I read this book.

The story moves between several time frames and if the reader isn’t paying attention, it can be a bit confusing. I found it wasn’t always easy to put the different scenarios together. But, even with that said, I certainly found the book hard to put down and the ending was definitely unexpected…but it all made sense. I’d give The Dark Room 3.5 stars. Now I’m looking forward to reading other books by Ms Gray. NetGalley provided an advance reader copy.

3 Stars
One Liner: Is better if you speed-read it

Leonard Blaylock, an ex-crime reporter spends his days developing discarded rolls of film. He enjoys the little mysteries revealed by these pictures. However, one day, he develops a picture of a woman being murdered. Leonard is shocked. After all, he was a witness to her death years ago. How could she be killed again when her previous death was the reason for the mess in his life?
What happened to her? Who was she?
The story comes in the third-person POV of Leonard, Jim, Martha, Caroline, Red, Jackie, Bobby, etc.

My Thoughts:
Not all books are read the same way. For some books, we linger on the words. For some, we read casually. For a few others, we increase the pace and read at a higher speed. This book belongs to the last category.
After the first 10%, I realized I’d enjoy this more if I speed-read it. Once I upped the pace, the story flew by faster and became interesting. I didn’t miss anything either.
This genre is famous for its unlikeable characters. The book certainly took this seriously. Leonard is a jerk. However, this made it easy to read without feeling any emotional connection with the characters.
I’m not sure why the full names of the characters had to be used so many times. Even in a limited person, a character would hardly think of another by their first and last names.
The questions are answered by the end and things are accounted for. There are twists, naturally. But I guessed those, so I wasn’t shocked. At least, the twists weren’t weird or OTT.

To summarize, The Dark Room is a decent thriller but more enjoyable if you are good at speed reading. Otherwise, it’ll be too slow and uninteresting for the majority of the book.
Thank you, NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

2⭐
Genre ~ psychological fiction
Publication date ~ October 25, 2022
Est Page Count ~ 285 (37 chapters)
Audio length ~ 6 hours 42 minutes
Narrator ~ Michael Orenstein
POV ~ multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ amateur sleuthing, murder, cheating, stalking, revenge, slow burn

An interesting premise about developing forgotten film ~ sounds fun to my nosy self.

Our narrators are:
Leonard ~ ex crime reporter and film developer
Jim ~ a news anchor
Martha ~ a photographer
Caroline ~ Leonard's ex fiance and news anchor
Red ~ the honey-trap dead woman
Jackie ~ the detective

Leonard and Martha team up and sleuth their way to finding who killed Red. I did not care for these two much at all. He's a cheater and she was cheated on and hates cheaters yet she still chooses to hang out with him, boggled my mind.

Love a good revenge plot and there's lots of good ingredients for this one, but I like to at least be able to root for one character and I couldn't find anything to like about any of them. And why does their full name need to be written out so often? I already know their last name, so I don't need to read it over and over again.

Overall, a bit too slow moving and not suspenseful. Not really for me, but plenty of other have enjoyed it.

I really liked the unique storyline of this book. I also didn’t mind that at times it didn’t seem realistic. I know it’s a book so it doesn’t have to be accurate. I thought it was very thrilling and I liked it.

Throwing in the towel at 20%. This book is terrible, plain and simple. It's badly written, like some sad undercooked attempt at noir: '"All my friends call me Red, so why would you be any different?" -- He shrugged with his mouth. "Fair enough."' (He SHRUGGED with his MOUTH???? WTF?)
Or how about this little nugget of literary gold, written with all the assuredness and panache of a conceited 14-year-old: "The title of one of Leonard's all-time favorite books popped into his head. Devil in a Blue Dress. Red's dress wasn't blue, it was red. But that's the image that sprung to mind all the same." Oof.
Able to handle this kind of prose for 285 pages? You're a stronger person than I am. But it's not only the quality of the writing, there's also the fact that this is set in a world (some kind of NYC, apparently; I did not get the impression that the author is overly familiar with the Big Apple, let's put it this way) crawling with characters I'd happily squash beneath my heel but won't, as they're so hollow they'd probably create a black hole and kill us all. I mean, who calls themselves "Red"?!? What craziness IS this?!

Another dud from Thomas & Mercer, that one-step-above-self-publishing hellhole imprint Amazon for some reason decided to inflict upon the world.
Thanks, Netgalley and T&M, but I'm afraid this is a case of thanks for nothing.

This book was so heavily influenced on IG I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to the hype. While I did enjoy the premise of processing old rolls of film and finding someone murdered on them 5 years ago (dun dun dun). I still had a hard time getting through it, but I did so I could talk about it in my bookclub (bookclub read). I didn’t feel like the plot was well-thought out and the writing fell flat for me.

Thank you for the ARC of this title. This was a thrilling read, could not put it down. A really fantastic twist!

A good read with lots of twists and turns, however the plot was terribly far fetched which usually puts me off books but it was such an unusual storyline and had a good twist at the end so was enjoyable.

This was a miss for me. The plot was kind of all over the place and I couldn't connect with the characters. It was a quick read but the pacing felt really uneven with parts dragging

An enjoyable read with lots of twists and turns along the way . The plot was extremely far fetched which normally puts me off books but it was such an unusual storyline and had a massive twist at the end it was quite enjoyable!

I read this book awhile ago, yet still remember it as being a fun, and enjoyable mystery. This book had many things going on, and it didnt leave me bored at all. I even ended up purchasing another book by the same author. It wasnt perfect, there were somethings with the plot that were distracting, but overall i liked it and would recommend.

After spending a night with a mysterious woman, Leonard Blaylock, a reporter, experiences a life that falls apart. He attempts to unravel the truth about what occurred that night and who was involved with the help of a fellow mystery movie fan named Martha many years later.

This book had me hooked from the first page and kept me engaged throughout. Despite my suspicion of others, I loved watching the relationship between Leonard and Martha unfold.

Although I am new to Lisa Gray's work, I am interested in reading more from her in the future. If you're in search of an entertaining thriller with a quick read and a twist, I would recommend it.

Such a creative plot and twisty fun mystery/thriller. Thank you Amazon Publishing, Lisa, and NetGalley for the advance reader's copy!

My view? Entertaining. An interesting premise makes for a quick and easy read, that's a great way to while away a few hours in the sunshine, or anywhere else for that matter!

This was a thriller like no other. Just as you think you know what's happening, the author surprises you. I did not know who the killer was until the end, and it really kept me reading. Small trigger might be a lot of violent scenes, otherwise recommended!

I loved the premise of this book, the idea of buying mystery rolls of film to develop with no clue as to what might be on them really intrigued me and I really enjoyed reading about how and why people collect mystery film.

The actual plot as a whole I’m still deciding on. I did really enjoy it and I flew through it in a matter of days, it kept me wanting more, but I also felt a little disappointed with the story. It felt almost unbelievable at some points, I won’t go into details as I don’t want to spoil the plot, but the way everything connects together at the end just felt a bit off.

The characters are also all very unlikeable in their own way, which I also struggled with because I didn’t connect with any of them and wasn’t sure what times who’s side I was meant to be on 😂

Having said all that, I didn’t still enjoy it, and I really loved the multiple POVs throughout the book, it kept me wanting more and it was fun trying to work out who could have done it. I didn’t see the twist coming (despite being sure I’d worked it out) which isn’t surprising as I suck at crime solving it seems 😂 but I love being wrong as it’s much more exciting!

This review is based on the audio and digital format of this read.

A story of intrigue, "The Dark Room" follows Leonard as he attempts to bring back to life forgotten film reels. His leisure activity takes a more sombre tone when he stumbles upon a shocking film. The plot changes are written skilfully. However, the slow tempo may not be suitable for all readers.

Although the audio narration provided was adequate, I must admit that I experienced difficulty maintaining my focus during the first half of the book. As a result, I had to listen to certain parts more than once.

This book is mediocre. It did not meet my expectations in terms of suspense, but it has some potential. I may consider reading more books by this author in the future.

I am the author of this book and I’m leaving a review so as to maintain my feedback average on this site.

This thriller was definitely not what I thought it would be. It was intense, exciting, and when you think you have it figured out, you are left with more questions and more twists that you didn't see coming. It was shocking and unexpected.

A good read
Plenty of twists and turns right up to the end
Will keep you turning the pages
A great storyline
Thanks NetGalley