Four years ago, Cathy was a party girl, content to go clubbing with her friends and hook up with anyone who caught her fancy. Then she got caught up in a relationship with the mysterious Lee and something went terribly wrong. Four years later, she's living alone and crippled by obsessive-compulsive disorder, a result of severe post-traumatic stress.

The narrative switches between past and present. In the past, Cathy is caught up in her new relationship with Lee, who sweeps her off her feet (although warning signs abound: he won't tell her what he does for a living, he shows up for their second date battered and bruised, and he sneaks into her house when he's supposed to be away). In the present, Cathy is a wreck. She's terrified of everything, and her elaborate OCD rituals, designed to make her feel safer in her flat, have taken over her life. Then a new neighbor moves in upstairs, and as Cathy gets to know him, she begins to think about getting help and finding a way to move on with her life.

The dual narrative is well done. It's obvious from Cathy's fear in the present that something awful happened in the past, but that past is only slowly revealed in the earlier narrative. This device kept me on edge as a reader and it was hard to put the book down. There's also a sense of dread in the present. Even when there isn't a concrete threat, it's hard not to get caught up in Cathy's fear. And then she learns that Lee is being let out of prison, which triggers full-blown panic. The two narratives gradually begin to mesh, as we learn exactly what happened in the past, and how it's very much a part of Cathy's present.

I enjoyed Into the Darkest Corner very much. The author's depiction of Cathy's OCD and how it's taken over her life felt very realistic. I did find Cathy a more engaging character in the present part of the narrative, but that's partly because the past version of Cathy was a little unformed, floating through life, not sure what she wanted and becoming a bit isolated from her friends. But this made sense, because it made her easy prey for the creepy Lee.

My only complaint about the book is that I found the ending a bit weak. It wasn't a bad ending necessarily, but it didn't pack the same suspenseful punch as the rest of the book, and as a result, it felt a little flat to me. Even with this complaint, I would still recommend Into the Darkest Corner and I will be checking out future works by this author.

I received an ARC from Amazon Vine.