Village in the Dark

• Author: Iris Yamashita
• Genre: Mystery/Thriller
• Publication Date: February 13, 2024
• Publisher: Berkley
• Series: Cara Kennedy #2

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Detective Cara Kennedy thought she’d lost her husband and son in an accident, but harrowing evidence has emerged that points to murder–and she will stop at nothing to find the truth in this riveting mystery from the author of City Under One Roof.

On a frigid February day, Anchorage Detective Cara Kennedy stands by the graves of her husband and son, watching as their caskets are raised from the earth. It feels sacrilegious, but she has no choice. Aaron and Dylan disappeared on a hike a year ago, their bones eventually found and buried. But shocking clues have emerged that foul play was involved, potentially connecting them to a string of other deaths and disappearances. 

Somehow tied to the mystery is Mia Upash, who grew up in an isolated village called Unity, a community of women and children in hiding from abusive men. Mia never imagined the trouble she would find herself in when she left home to live in Man’s World. Although she remains haunted by the tragedy of what happened to the man and the boy in the woods, she has her own reasons for keeping quiet.

Aided by police officer Joe Barkowski and other residents of Point Mettier, Cara’s investigation will lead them on a dangerous path that puts their lives and the lives of everyone around them in mortal jeopardy.

Last year this series burst onto my radar, and blew my mind. It got a five star rating from me, and I loved the characters and the peek into the frigid world surrounding Anchorage, Alaska that Yamashita had described so vividly it felt as if I’d been there.

I’m glad that I did a quick reread of the first book, City Under One Roof, before starting this book. This is the kind of book where it builds on the information from the previous book in the series, and if you don’t know the characters, setting, and circumstances, you’ll already start out at a disadvantage. 

This story is told through the eyes of three main characters, Cara, Mia, and Ellie, a woman from the previous book who rents out rooms in Point Mettier. I liked getting to know each of the characters a little better, and even seeing little cameos of some of the other Point Mettier residents. However, some of the dialogue felt forced at times, and it felt especially difficult for me to connect with Mia’s character. Having been raised in a completely isolated village protected from modern society, I had a hard time with her extreme naïveté and the tone of her chapters. 

The pace was inconsistent throughout the story. At times it felt just right, while at other times it felt very slow and as though the story was dragging. Overall, the positive aspects of the story (complex and multi-layered plot line, uncovering what really happened to Cara’s wife and son, well-rendered characters, fantastic world-building) far outweigh the negatives (uneven pacing, some dialogue that feels forced). While I didn’t love this book as much as the first, I’m still left with a strong desire to continue reading this series … and make plans to visit Alaska as soon as I can.

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