Rising Darkness by Thea Harrison

Narrated by Sophie Eastlake

Rising Darkness is my first Thea Harrison book. There’s no definitive reason as to why I haven’t listened to one of her titles before other than there are so many choices out there. However, something about the description of Rising Darkness, first in Harrison’s Game of Shadows series, called to me.

Mary works long hours as a doctor in an emergency room in Southeast Michigan. She seems to have a rather lonely existence, made up of working, sleeping, and not much else. When the book opens, Mary’s life is falling apart. She’s hearing voices and it feels like she’s observing herself from outside her body. Even worse, the disturbing dreams she’s experienced all her life are becoming more frequent and harder to deal with. Mary has no idea why any of this is happening but she needs answers and has no clue where to find them.

She sets out one afternoon on a whim visiting her hometown of South Bend, Indiana. While there, Mary decides to visit a psychic. What she learns from the mysterious Gretchen raises more questions for her, but does not provide anything in the way of answers.

After a rather chaotic, and farfetched series of events involving a house fire and the random shooting of four people, Mary meets Michael. He is a warrior, in every sense of the word. He’s honed his body and his mind to fight off any threat to himself, and to Mary as well. He’s handsome, enigmatic, and knows way too much about Mary’s past.

This is a tale of reincarnation, of lovers separated for nine-hundred years, over countless lifetimes. It’s the story of eight creatures who came to Earth, for a reason I never could understand. One of them is known as “the Deceiver”, and the other seven reincarnate over and over in an attempt to stop him. “Stop him from doing what?” you might ask. Honestly, I don’t know.

I’m unfamiliar with narrator Sophie Eastlake or, at least I was prior to Rising Darkness. Now I plan on seeking out more of her narrations as she has such a smooth style of delivery. It sounds as though she’s taking everything in stride, no matter how unbelievable or confusing it might be. Her style is somewhat understated, which is a personal preference of mine. She doesn’t try too hard to be dramatic, and this actually added to my enjoyment of this somewhat confusing story.

Eastlake is able to differentiate each character, although the listener does have to pay close attention. There are no accents, and no really distinct differences between characters of the same sex. However, if the listener is attentive, the changes in pitch and inflection will make it clear who is speaking.

Eastlake moves seamlessly through conversations both spoken and telepathically. She does not alter a character’s voice if they’re communicating mind-to-mind, which I found quite easy to deal with. Often, narrators will try to give telepathic conversations a spooky sound, which, in this listener’s humble opinion, only makes them sound silly. If someone has difficulty believing in telepathy, that level of melodrama isn’t going to be helpful. Eastlake doesn’t fall into any such traps, and, in truth, she saved this book for me.

We’re left with a cliffhanger ending. Many questions are left unanswered, and we have no idea how long anyone will be safe. Luckily, readers don’t have to wait too long to find out the answers, as the second book in the series, Falling Light is scheduled for release in early February. In fact, Tantor already has it on their Coming Soon list and Sophie Eastlake will continue with the narration.

I had one major problem with this book. When we first meet Mary, she knows nothing about the psychic plane. By the middle of the book, she is performing incredible psychic feats even though it takes place over a period of approximately forty-eight hours. I find it difficult to swallow the idea that anyone can learn anything so quickly.

I had a similar problem with the relationship between Mary and Michael. They’ve known each other for centuries but they just met in their current incarnations. So, how is Michael so drawn to Mary, and why does she trust him so much? Maybe I’m too cynical, but I can’t imagine trusting someone that much, after only knowing them forty-eight hours.

Overall, Rising Darkness was an enjoyable, if slightly confusing, listen. I’m hoping Falling Light will clear up some of the confusion.

Shannon

Narration:  A

Book Content:  B-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Graphic

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Rising Darkness was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.