Darkness, My Old Friend by Lisa UngerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
The second in Lisa Unger’s The Hollows series, “Darkness, My Old Friend” takes up about a year after the end of the prior novel, “Fragile.” I really appreciate the care author Unger takes to let this novel be a stand-alone, if necessary. Yes, there are references interspersed to earlier events, but they don’t ever belabor the point; instead, the reader is welcome to read the earlier novel, or not, without feeling that “all has been told.” I myself had just read “Fragile” and followed it with “Darkness, My Old Friend,” but I realize that option is not available to everyone and so it’s with gratitude that I acknowledge Ms. Unger neither overdraws the backstory, nor leaves readers clueless.
Perhaps even more than the earlier novel, this story mines the complications of familial love and bonds (yes, pun is intended, as readers will see when they get into the book). Ms. Unger’s individuals, marriages, and families are soundly complex. She is one of the authors who can really express the heights, depths, and breadths of her families, as well as the individual characters she delineates, and I find myself very appreciative. There is much deep psychological insight here too, into adults as well as into adolescents, and the novel, just as was its predecessor, is engrossing.
This review is based on a Library copy.
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