The Dark Side
A Novel
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4.1 • 502 Ratings
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Danielle Steel tells a riveting story of the dark side of motherhood.
Zoe Morgan’s childhood was marked by her younger sister’s tragic illness, watching as her parents dedicated themselves completely to her final days and then divorced. As a young woman driven by these painful memories, Zoe sets the bar high for herself, studying hard and pursuing a career in the nonprofit world, where her deep compassion for disadvantaged children finds a focus.
When Zoe falls in love and has her own child, she is determined to be a perfect mother as well. But before long, old scars long dormant begin to pull Zoe to the edge of an abyss too terrifying to contemplate.
As Zoe is haunted by the ghosts of the past, her story will become a race against time and a tale of psychological suspense that no reader will soon forget.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We usually reach for Danielle Steel when we need a hit of glamour and romance, but The Dark Side finds the ultraprolific author trying something new. A sinister psychological thriller loaded with suspense, the book follows first-time mother Zoe Morgan. After a troubled childhood marked by her younger sister’s tragic illness and her parents’ ugly divorce, Zoe now seems to have an ideal life. But then her devoted husband, Austin, starts to notice that their daughter seems more accident-prone than other toddlers—and that Zoe tends to run their child to the doctor’s office for the slightest reason. Steel proves herself to be brilliant at Gillian Flynn–style shocks, weaving the uncertainty and anxiety of new parenthood into a keeps-you-guessing mystery. We wouldn’t mind if Steel stuck with this recipe for a few more books.
Customer Reviews
Very interesting but disturbing
This is definitely a different route for Daniele Steel. I think she did a great job with the pacing, details and consequences of munchausen syndrome by proxy. While the book was engrossing and informative, it was also disturbing. The book itself was very good but because of the subject matter, it’s not one I will reread like I do her other books.
A dark psychological suspense
The Dark Side is darker than Danielle Steel’s other novels, but it still contains her unique and engaging writing style. The Dark Side is a fascinating story that quickly pulled me in and had me staying up late to finish it. The book is well-written with a good flow and steady pacing. I like that the story is written in the third person. Zoe Morgan is a developed character, though, not likeable. Her childhood shapes her whole life. Zoe becomes an overachiever determined to excel at everything she does and that includes motherhood. I like how the story gradually evolves as you move through the book. The Dark Side deals with a topic that is rarely addressed and is very hard to prove (I do not want to say too much and spoil it for you). It is an emotional story that will touch the heart of parents. The Dark Side is a psychological suspense that will linger in your mind long after you finish it.
Blah!
I don’t know if the author has become complacent and relies on her name with her latest writings. The book was boring and predictable. Very rudimentary writing. Very repetitive. I knew what the book was about before the end of chapter 2 and when it was finally revealed, it just became repetitive, almost as if paragraphs were copied and pasted between the characters, to where they explained it in the same manner using the exact same wording. And research on the subject seems minimal, almost as if she read or saw a current documentary on it and got the idea for the book. Just lazy writing. I skipped a lot! Just wanted to find out what happened at the end, which was anticlimactic - no surprise there.