A spoiler-free review of Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski.
As a theater critic, Vivian Perry’s favorite place to be is alone in the dark, facing the stage. Several times a week she relishes the chance to disappear into a darkened theater and lose herself to the performance. Now a junior critic for a prominent New York magazine, Vivian was once an actress herself before personal tragedy and a mental health crisis cause her to swear off acting for good. She may no longer be an actress, but Vivian has never stopped performing.
Vivian’s past trauma has left her bitter and unable to connect with people and outside of their performances. A champion of the classics, she is known for her increasingly harsh critiques of recent plays and believes the avant-garde is dead. Vivian is in the running for a promotion, but her scathing reviews are holding her back. She reluctantly accepts an interview with a grad student, which is tied to an opportunity to sit on a panel with fellow theater critics, thinking this may be the boost she needs to secure the promotion.
She meets with grad student David only to learn days later that he has gone missing, and she was the last person to see him. Vivian soon finds herself caught up in a mystery turned game of cat and mouse, as she soon finds out her involvement in this bizarre case goes much deeper than her self-procured role as amateur detective.
I was granted early access to this audiobook thanks to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, Flat Iron Books and the author. The publication date for this title is December 5, 2023.
The audiobook, which is a quick read at only 9 hours and 30 minutes was wonderfully narrated by Tony award winning broadway actress Laura Benanti, and I just love her voice. She does a great job of performing all of the characters, though I almost feel as if her voice was a bit too mature and put together for Vivian, who most certainly does not have her shit together.
The author Alexis Soloski is a journalist, and no surprise here, a theater critic herself. It is evident through her story telling that she knows theater well. This plot line was quite the undertaking for what I believe is Soloski’s debut novel. Obviously a talented journalist, I had no issues with her writing, but I did have trouble connecting with the characters and the plot line turned out to be a bit predictable for me.
Watching Vivian unravel this mystery was like watching a dumpster fire. While there are themes of mental health here, Vivian has been diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder in the past and is still grieving the loss of her mother, we are forced to watch her make one destructive choice after another. It can be exhausting to watch a character repeatedly make the wrong choice over and over again, for me it brings to mind Fiona from Shameless, I absolutely loved her as a character early on but quickly became burnt out and fed up with her destructive choices. Pretty much everyone in Vivian’s life tells her to let David’s disappearance go, and there truly was no good reason for her to become so involved, yet she assumes the role of lead detective in a case that literally no-one else (even the police) care about.
Vivian and her only friend Justine’s frequent partying, drinking and taking of assorted pills felt repetitive and juvenile. Vivian is constantly looking for the next thing to make her feel numb and nonexistent, and if it’s not the dark anonymity of the theater, it’s sex, pills and booze. It’s no surprise that this, mixed with her history of mental health issues, and her current POTS diagnosis, makes it very difficult to function as a critic, amateur detective or general human being.
We are also forced to watch our main character burn bridges with nearly everyone she has a relationship with. Justine is an iffy friend to begin with, but is the only person who truly knows the real Vivian. Charlie, a brief love interest, is maybe one of the only decent men in this novel (although I was grossed out by his response to Justine’s gynecologist comment) and she repeatedly sabotages this connection by sleeping with an scumbag (married!) detective. Her editor does seem to truly care about her in a fatherly way, but she blows up at him after he suggests rehab for her drinking problem. In the course of her investigation, Vivian is plummeting towards rock bottom and it is exhausting to watch.
This is certainly a slow burn, and when Vivian took vacation time at her real job, only to work undercover as a receptionist for a sketchy start-up, I truly was bored out of my mind. Some of the things Vivian does, like the office job, doesn’t seem worth it in terms of what she gains in her investigation, and ultimately in what it adds to the story. A lot of things that happened felt so unlikely and unrealistic to me, yet the conclusion wouldn’t have worked without them, which made the whole plot feel a bit wobbly. There was a certain piece of dialogue pretty early on which helped me figure out the plot much sooner than I should have or would have liked. There were some twists and turns throughout the story, I just wasn’t all that moved by them.
I think this novel will be much more suited to and appreciated by theater people. While I can certainly enjoy a good play, and could recognize the many theater references, I can’t say I understood them all. Seriously, there are a ton of theater references here! The writing and dialogue is quick and witty, if often cynical, and there is a dramatic quality to Vivian’s unreliable narration, which is fitting considering the themes, but took some getting used to for me.
Over all this was a quick read. I realize I’m always complaining about incomplete endings, and everything is very thoroughly explained in the end here. While that is a plus for me, this overall was a 3/5 stars.
I think this will be a great read for anyone who loves theater, unreliable narrators and unique thriller plot lines. The plot was pretty inventive, if a bit predictable. Anyone who can lose themselves to a good stage performance or those who have struggled with mental health issues similar to Vivian’s should be able to connect to her character on some level.
As always check trigger warnings before reading – Here are the ones I can recall: Drinking, drugs (mainly pills), overdose, Dissociative Identity Disorder, depression, grief, attempted suicide, death and some violence.