The Darkness Within by Lisa Stone

I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for a long time, and the silver lining of the lockdown has meant I’ve finally shifted through my piles and discovered some “real finds”. The Darkness Within is a story that instantly grabs you and holds onto you until the final page… it has the WOW factor and I highly recommend psychological thriller lovers to grab this book, if they haven’t already.

In this story, Stone explores the subject of cellular memory with terrifying consequences…

When Jacob Wilson; the son of a Reverend, finally gets the call from the hospital that they’ve found a viable heart, everyone is over the moon that the young, kind and sweet Jacob has been given the chance to live. His father and mother thank God for listening to their prayers.

Except the miracle has turned into a living nightmare. Jacob wakes up as a new man… and not a very nice one. As the days go by his behaviour becomes even more volatile and crude. The doctors say it’s nothing to worry about and only a common side effect of a long and difficult transplant surgery. His mother thinks differently. His girlfriend knows Jacob is no longer the man she fell in love with.

He’s a monster.

With the doctors dismissing the idea that his new heart could be changing his personality, and her husband continuing to not face the truth, it’s up to Elizabeth to trust her instincts and explore the option that the heart inside her son is from a very bad man.

Meanwhile a parallel story develops and as the two stories combine with catastrophic effects, it’s a race against the clock to save others and the son they used to love…

The concept of this plot instantly piqued my interest, how much can a person’s behaviour be transferred to another person through an organ?

As the reader, you’ve met the previous owner of the heart in the first few chapters and I could only sit at the edge of my seat throughout turning the pages, to discover how much of his character Stone would release into Jacob. I was terrified!

It’s one of those stories that will make you feel uncomfortable, it will have you screaming at the other characters to see the true reality of the situation they are in, and you won’t be able to put the book down until the final page as the pace is unbelievably fast and absorbing.

I am pretty sure this is the first book I’ve read by Lisa Stone/Cathy Glass and I’ll be adding more to my TBR very soon because her ability to delve into the deepest and darkest thoughts of her characters created a bond with me; as the reader, which was unbreakable throughout.

You all know I love psychological thrillers, and it’s hard to stand out in this genre as more authors break in to it, but this book is a STAND OUT book, it’s a psychological thriller with a twist. It will have you questioning not only the characters but the subject matter.

Gripping just doesn’t even seem to cover the effect this book had on me.

The Darkness Within is out now in paperback and eBook versions from avon.

Until next time, stay safe, Chloé x