A Step Past Darkness by Vera Kurian (Review by Amanda Leathen)

This book takes place in the 90s. It all begins with a group of unconventional students who wouldn’t voluntarily have become friends; however, the circumstances of forced socialization during a school project brings them together. When something catastrophic happens to all of them one night in an abandoned mine, in the middle of the small town, the six peers work together to hide any evidence and trust each other to never talk about it again. This book bounces between two time periods – in the 90s and 20 years later, which felt disorienting. A lot of characters were introduced rather quickly, and I found it difficult to keep track of the characters and each other their social circle. This book also has a cultish vibe to it with the church being right in the middle of it which added another layer of complexity to unpack. The group of 6 lives are once again interrupted 20 years later, when one member of the peer group Maddy was found murdered. All of the acquaintances then have to return home to their sleepy town and try to investigate what has happened to one of the six members of the group. This author writes very intriguing story lines and I enjoyed her book Never Saw Me Coming. But, this story line was lost for me in the back and forth between timelines and trying to decipher the connections between characters. This book fell short for me and the main reason I think that was that there was just too much going on right away and too many characters for me to keep track of.