Review: Light Up The Dark by Suki Fleet

For two years Nicky has wandered the dark empty corridors of the overgrown Thorn Hall, unseen and untouched, feeling like a ghost. His only company, the cold man who promised to keep him safe from harm, Lance.
But when Lance dies, Nicky’s assurance of safety disintegrates and his world suddenly becomes a lot more real and a lot more dangerous. Scared to leave the house, Nicky longs for daylight. He employs a gardener to clear the over-grown bushes and vines that have nearly swallowed Thorn Hall whole.

The last thing Nicky expects a little light to do is show him something to fight for.

Eighteen months in a young offenders’ institute has taught Cai two things: he occupies the playful puppy end of the How Dangerous Are You? spectrum, and he has an unfortunate knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Desperate for a job, he takes the first offer he gets. Even though Thorn Hall creeps the hell out of him and he barely knows one end of a pair of garden shears from the other.
Things start to fall apart when Cai is drawn into Nicky’s strange world of sticky notes and secrets. Cai finds he is now a target, blamed for a crime he didn’t commit. Desperate not to go back to prison, he digs deep and risks all the good things in life to help Nicky run.

But now Nicky has someone he wants to protect, he knows he can’t run any more.

It's no secret that I am a Suki Fleet fan girl so I guess it's no surprise that this book was a win for me.

It had all my favourite things about this author's writing; her characters are second to none for me, always broken but strong, interesting,emotionally wounded but not necessarily weak... they always capture my heart and imagination.

The settings too always have impact - be it the streets of a city, a canal boat or, in this case, a partly derelict house. There is always a gritty undertone to her stories, a world in which her characters have to scrap and fight just to live. Yet there is also a brightness to them. When I picture her stories they are always beautiful and bright despite the scratches and dirt.

Light Up the Dark did feel slightly different to her normal fare for me. Instead of the main impact being the emotional drama (though this was still present in abundance), it was the mystery/crime arc that caught my notice. I've always liked old house stories; there is something about the secrets of history hidden the walls and past tenant that intrigue me.

Nicky is a self imposed prisoner in the derelict manor house his past lover left him. He is a complicated person born of injury and fear. He is dark and pain and silence. Cai, on the other hand, is bright and determined and talk. What they do both have in common is they're not brimming over with good luck.

A complex story with fabulous main, and secondary characters that should please fans of this author. I can't wait for her next book.

A copy provided for an honest review.

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