Hoag’s highly entertaining thrillers with complex characters and realistic angst have earned a spot on the New York Times Best Sellers List since 1995. “Down the Darkest Road” is sure to follow that tradition. BY OLINE H. COGDILL | SUN
BY OLINE H. COGDILL | SUN SENTINEL
“Down the Darkest Road” by Tami Hoag; Dutton (448 pages, $26.95)
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With Facebook, Twitter, iPhones and, of course, the Internet so embedded in daily life, it is almost hard to remember when those tools were not the norm. Looking back, 1990 seems more like two centuries ago, rather than just two decades.
Tami Hoag continues to take readers back to those days with “Down the Darkest Road,” a compelling finale to her superb trilogy that began with “Deeper Than the Dead,” set in 1985. “Down the Darkest Road” ventures into 1990, which was not that much different than the mid-1980s.
While technology was more a concept than a reality in 1990, the emotional toil of crime, the numbing effect of grief and the need for revenge as illustrated in “Down the Darkest Road” remains constant.
The idyllic-sounding Oak Knoll, Calif., has had its share of turmoil, but Lauren Lawton and her 16-year-old daughter, Leah, have moved there seeking a refuge. Four years earlier in Santa Barbara, Lauren’s eldest daughter Leslie disappeared and is believed dead; her husband, overcome with grief, committed suicide. Lauren knows who was responsible for Leslie’s abduction — Roland Ballencoa, a scary photographer who patrols playgrounds and sporting events snapping pictures of teenagers. While the police agreed with Lauren’s suspicions, no one could link evidence to Ballencoa.
Although Lauren has physically moved, she has never recovered emotionally. How could one ever recover from the loss of a child? But the “thick black tar of her emotions” means she neglects Leah, who has her own poignant scars. Lauren’s grief and her desire for revenge are ratcheted up when she believes she spots Ballencoa in the supermarket parking lot.
Oak Knoll police Det. Tony Mendez and his partner investigate as Lauren continues to disintegrate. Grief becomes her priority, not Leah.
During each visit to Oak Knoll, Hoag has centered on different characters, illustrating a real feel of a community. Hoag allows Lauren to be both a sympathetic character as well as irritating and annoying, giving a complete portrait of her. Tragedy has become the “defining moment” of Lauren’s life, but as another character points out, “It has to be. Otherwise it was for nothing. And how tragic would that be?”
Hoag’s highly entertaining thrillers with complex characters and realistic angst have earned a spot on the New York Times Best Sellers List since 1995. “Down the Darkest Road” is sure to follow that tradition.
