Welcome to another exciting tour with Novel Publicity. Today I’d like to share with you my thoughts on the newest novel from Mary Maddox, and don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter! It has some unique and super fun prizes including a photo essay book, gift card and signed books! There’s also a release week sale on, so grab your copy of Darkroom before the price goes up!

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MY REVIEW

I saw the title, Darkroom, for Mary Maddock’s novel and when I read the blurb I knew I wanted to read it. I am a photographer and love to read about characters who share my interest.

What is so important about a photograph that someone would kidnap torture and murder for it?

Kelly is a good friend and feels the police are not taking Day’s disappearance seriously. She takes it upon herself to solve the mystery. I don’t think she realizes how much danger she is in, but I, the reader, do. 🙂

Animal…poor Animal…Not the smartest kid on the block. Picture him as the muscle, drawn into something over his head, but he’s in so deep he must see it through. He’s not the main character, but I love a ‘tragic’ figure and want so much for him to make it through. Can he be redeemed? Mary Maddox is not afraid to kill off her characters, so be careful who you get attached to.

Drugs, wealth and greed rear their ugly head. I resent those who feel they are untouchable, that the rules don’t apply to them and I love to see them fall. On the other hand, I get frustrated with stupid characters doing stupid things, but it allows the story to go where it will.

The story was predictable, but the writing created a suspenseful feeling that gave me a sense of impending doom.

I received a copy of Darkroom by Mary Maddox in return for an honest review.

  3 Stars

About the Books

There’s plenty of room for another grave in the mountains . . .

Talented but unstable photographer Day Randall has been living rent-free in Kelly Durrell’s Colorado condo for eight months. Day needs someone to keep an eye on her. Kelly needs someone to draw her out of her stable but not spectacular life. The arrangement works for both of them.

Then Kelly comes home one day to find Day gone. There’s no note, no phone call. Day’s car is still parked out front, but her room is starkly, suspiciously spotless.

No one seems to care. The police certainly aren’t interested in a missing bipolar artist, but Kelly knows something is wrong. Day wouldn’t just leave.

Alone, Kelly traces Day’s last steps through shadowy back rooms of Boulder nightclubs and to a remote mountain estate, where the wealthy protect themselves behind electric fences and armed guards. Along the way, she uncovers a sinister underworld lying just below the mountain snow, and a group of powerful people who will do anything to protect the secrets hidden in Day’s enigmatic photographs.

If she trusts the wrong person, Kelly herself will be the next to disappear.

“. . . tight, compelling, and convincing writing that is also witty and insightful.”
— Jon A. Jackson, author of Hit on the House and No Man’s Dog

“I couldn’t put this novel down. Darkroom is suspenseful and beautifully written. Kelly Durrell is a deftly-drawn, intelligent, and likable heroine.”
— Daiva Markelis, author of White Field, Black Sheep: A Lithuanian-American Life

“. . . unexpected plot twists and suspenseful action. The murder mystery is dark and menacing, and the characters are multi-faceted.”
— RT Source

ABOUT MARY MADDOX

Mary Maddox is a horror and dark fantasy novelist with what The Charleston Times-Courier calls a “Ray Bradbury-like gift for deft, deep-shadowed description.” Born in Soldiers Summit, high in the mountains of Utah, Maddox graduated with honors in creative writing from Knox College, and went on to earn an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She taught writing at Eastern Illinois University and has published stories in various journals, including Yellow Silk, Farmer’s Market, The Scream Online, and The Huffington Post. The Illinois Arts Council has honored her fiction with a Literary Award and an Artist’s Grant.

Connect with Mary on her website, Facebook, or Twitter

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