In the Waning Light

By: Loreth Anne White

Narrated by: Tanya Eby

Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

Two decades after her sister's brutal attack and murder, Meg Brogan has finally found happiness...or so it appears. A bestselling true-crime writer, Meg has money, fame, and a wealthy fiancé. But when a television-show host presses her to tackle the one story everyone claims she cannot write - the story of her own family's destruction - her perfect life shatters.

Determined to finally face her past, Meg returns to her hometown of Shelter Bay. Shrouded in cold, brooding fog, the close-knit coastal town harbors dark secrets and suspicious residents. One of the few people to welcome Meg back is Blake Sutton, her high-school sweetheart and the marina's new owner. Desperate for clues, Meg digs through her family's files. As Pacific storms brew outside, her passion for Blake reignites.

But someone doesn't want Meg digging up the past. And that person will go to deadly lengths to prevent the writer from revealing a terrible truth.

©2015 Loreth Anne White (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Yes it is a suspense thriller, but...

...this book has many, many explicit sex scenes very crudely and completely described with nothing left to the imagination. The underlying suspense novel is actually quite good. In any case, it's not my cup of tea.

Predictable...

This book was totally predictable right down to the ending. Narration wasn't bad but overall the book lacked in both character and plot development.

Just OK For Me

This book was simply "okay". The first half of the book was great. It was interesting, exciting, the characters were spot-on, the details perfect, the mystery to the whole story kept it a decent page turner. The second half of the book was boring, became very bland, and I eventually lost all interest. I solved the mystery as soon as the "murderer" was introduced (the author didn't do a very good job at actually keeping it a "mystery") and after that, the book was actually difficult to stay motivated to finish. I found myself forcing to continue listening to it, just because the second half lost all of my interest and became a complete snooze-fest. It was very predictable in the end.

It was decent book, I just wish the mystery was better and the ending better. It was very average, not much different from your other mystery books. Nothing really made it stand out or be unique from other reads.

Tanya Eby was good with the delivery of the story

OKAY, BUT.....

The first problem I had with this book was that there were too many characters. I actually had to make a list of who was who and how each of them were connected (husbands/wifes, sisters, sons/dads, etc). I had to go back and listen to several chapters twice just so I would know who the book was talking about. I agree with several other reviews..... too much explicit sex which didn't add to the story at all and could easily have been left out. The characters were simplistic - no real depth. As far as a thriller or mystery - just very basic. It's sad when your favorite character is the dog.

Intense and Moving Thriller about Seeking Truth

Anyone with a large chunk of amnesia can never be whole or able to make well-informed decisions until they are in possession of their truth. I admired the heroine's choice to turn down her wealthy fiance's marriage proposal because a powerful force in her nature was compelling her to seek wholeness. As they say, "You can't go home again"--but you can go back to the places that shaped you to understand the people and events most influential in creating your adult self.

The author captures the many secrets, rumors, and suspicions of small town life beautifully. Shelter Bay is depicted in excellent, atmospheric detail. The plot is intense and at times quite violent--the reader acquires clue after clue to explain not just why Meg Brogan became a true-crime writer, but why her inner self wouldn't rest until she could retrieve the events leading to her sister's death and the dissolution of her family. With so many forces working against her, it was a huge relief to learn that the warm and appealing character Blake Sutton, Meg's boyfriend in high school, was still in love with her--and was more of a support than her former lover could ever be. I also found his son to be an enchanting character. The narrator was superb, creating a mesmerizing spell and never getting in the way of the narrative.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, though it was difficult to put down! Entertaining, tragic, and terrifying by turns, this is a good read well worth a credit.

Unbelievable Characters (in a bad way)

Part way in to the book, I wondered if it was published in the 80s or 90s. Nope, 2015. The characters in this book are all undeveloped stereotypes that seem out of touch with the modern world. I thought this might be a mindless, enjoyable mystery, but the characters are so ridiculously simplistic that I couldn't finish.

I've already forgotten most of this story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Just give this poor woman a break. She's in her mid-30s and her sister has been brutally murdered, she nearly died herself, lost her memory, her father died in prison after being convicted of the murder, her mother committed suicide (or did she?) and she was taken in by an aunt who now has dementia. Oh, and her rich, handsome boyfriend is a jerk.

The characters weren't very well developed. The premise of the book was interesting (old murder mystery, small town secrets) but somehow it never really grabbed me.

What was most disappointing about Loreth Anne White’s story?

The author turned what could've been an interesting relationship between Meg and Blake's son into a cliche.

And the Hollywood ending was irritating (although, as said above, I think Meg has suffered enough).

What does Tanya Eby bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She was easy to listen to and did a good job with the male/female voices.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It was only $2.95.

Obvious ending

I was disappointed with this book. I really enjoy her Angie Pallorino books, but this book was very predictable. In addition, the narrator was terrible. She sounded like a cartoon character when she switched to men, and when she was the main woman character, she was whiny and annoying. Every time she used the term “the spit” which was like 200 times, it made me want to shut the book off. In contrast to her other books I’ve read, this female lead seemed weak.

An okay mystery

This mystery kept my interest enough to stay with it, and got engaging near the end. The premise is good - a successful true-crime author tackles the 25 year-old murder of her sister in a small coastal town. The more time she investigates, the more she starts to recall from that traumatic night. The first half is a bit slow, with not a lot happening. It picks up the second half, when romance is woven into the novel, and secrets start to emerge. This book felt a little "chick-lit-ish" to me, and I think it will have more appeal to women than men. The plot was interesting enough once the pace picked up, but the characters never came alive as much as I would have liked. That said, the last few hours were fun and exciting.

Slow start, then builds to great read

I almost gave up on this as it started slow and was confusing. I stuck with it though and it picked up the pace and came together! Really good!

Loved it.

Another wonderful tale but Loath Anne White. Full of visual cues and well painted landscapes.

Brilliant writer

I discovered LAW about a year or so ago and I absolutely love every single one of her thriller romance books, this one included. I actually have both the Kindle and Audible versions, it's great to hear the characters come to life. She's fantastic at creating a back story and giving depth and character to each individual and her plots are always interesting and diverse. My favourite is "In the barren ground" but this one is nearly as good. The heroine, Meg, is a true crime writer and Blake, the hero, is a single dad and ex-army medic. They have a very difficult and complicated past, including family tragedy and secrets and the plot revolves around their efforts to make sense of it all. There is enough romance in there to keep things interesting but without the never-ending descriptive sex scenes popular with other authors (yes, there is such a thing as too many sex scenes!) and although the story is a bit predictable it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the book. Tanya Eby is good too, not the best narrator I've ever heard but certainly worth 4 stars.

Great story

Great story line. Really good reading with plenty emotions. Enjoyed listening from start to finish.

Great mixture of suspense and romance

This writer just gets better and better. This book is a great combination of romance, suspense and a “whodunit” mystery that is not easy to solve. The writer very skilfully implicates several potential bad guys, and in a great twist on characterisations avoids the temptation to paint every character either “good” or “bad”. This book has good guys making bad decisions that have unforeseen consequences, and people who are not completely bad, but have done bad things and are living with the guilt.

Nothing is clear-cut in this book and the story is skilfully blended from multiple points of view so the reader finds themselves understanding why bad decisions were made with the best intentions, and how “little lies” can have big implications. The romance is another twist from the norm, with an h who is unable to commit due to very understandable unresolved issues in her past, and an H who freely falls in love and acknowledges his feelings. Add to the mix there is the genuinely nice ex-fiance of the h, who may not have been perfect but nevertheless stepped up and was there when it mattered, a realistic portrayal of the development of dementia in one of the side characters, and a young boy who manages to be a normal young boy – sometimes irritable and annoying, other times surprisingly mature. We also had a murder victim who was a loving, affectionate sister, but also a shameless flirt and a bit of a “good time” girl, but was never judged for her choices. And a very realistic depiction of how domestic violence and bullying, in so many varied forms, can be so invisible and yet have such an inpact on people’s lives. The story mixes multiple POV, flashbacks and returning memories in a suspenseful plot that ended with a really nail-biting climax.

Particular credit must be given to the realistic depiction of injury in this book. When a character was injured, they suffered accordingly and needed recovery time. It annoys me in books when characters seem to bounce back miraculously and, particularly in romances, seem capable of athletic bedroom performances within hours of being shot/beaten/etc. I have only one minor criticism in this book: I would have preferred some of the characters to have lived to face the consequences of their actions – death can be a very neat conclusion that conveniently lets the writer avoid messy repercussions for the central characters. I would have liked to see how relationships were built, re-built or destroyed as a result of past actions. However this minor issue does not spoil a really good book.