Review of "Darkness My Old Friend: The Hollows Mystery #2" by Lisa Unger

In this second book in 'The Hollows' series, retired cop Jones Cooper looks into the cold case of a missing woman. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

The Hollows has a lot of troubled people. Jones Cooper, a retired police officer is in therapy, bored, and looking for an outlet for his energy.



Michael Holt, a disturbed young man whose father recently died - and whose gorgeous mother, Marla, disappeared long ago - asks a private eye to re-open his mother's case.



The private investigator asks Cooper (the original investigator) to help look into Marla's disappearance, and Eloise Montgomery - a local psychic who sees ghosts - is also drawn into the hunt.



Fifteen-year-old Willow Graves is a chronic liar and runaway whose mother recently moved the two of them from NYC to The Hollows. Willow hates it there, makes some dubious friends, and continues to behave badly.



Then there are Kevin and Paula Carr. Kevin is a sociopath who controls and frightens his wife. She needs to get away from him, but how?



Though the central mystery of the story is 'what happened to Marla?' the other residents' dramas make up a good part of the book and provide some mild suspense.

I thought the characters were well-developed and the Marla story was moderately interesting. Most readers will probably guess Marla's whereabouts and who was involved with her disappearance. For me the book was just okay.

Rating: 3 stars