Darkrooms

A thriller I’ve been looking forward to for months is finally out this week: Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan. This dual timeline thriller moves between summer 1999 and December 2019. In the former timeline, Caitlin and Roisin are children and, though not exactly friends, spend their summer playing together in the haunting Hanging Woods. But then the summer ends in tragedy, and Roisin is presumed dead. Fast forward to 2019, and Caitlin is still haunted by what happened. So is Roisin’s older sister, Deedee. Both women are struggling in their own ways, but while one is hiding the truth, the other is actively seeking it out. Will the secrets of that fateful summer finally come to light now?

What I Liked:

• A portrait of two very troubled women. Deedee is a so-so cop, but she’s also extremely short-tempered and an alcoholic. Caitlin is a kleptomaniac, manipulator… and possibly murderer. Neither is coping with adulthood well, and though they’ve been marred by the past—either running away from it or relentlessly towards it all these years—despite their issues, the painful truth will catch up eventually. I admit, it was often hard to like or feel much sympathy for Caitlin or Deedee at first, but the secrets that finally come out drastically changed my feelings towards both of them.
• A small Irish community and its buried secrets. How much of what happened to Roisin was influenced by Caitlin and Deedee? How much did the other kids and even adults know at the time? And how much were some people willing to bury the truth? A fair warning: this gets quite dark.
• Challenging narrative and perception. This is a book of monsters, including the real predators that lurk in the woods. The investigation into Roisin’s (probable) murder is constantly thwarted by how some people are perceived. The recovering addict who’s into crystals and palm reading? The single mom with an eating disorder? The kind family man who’s kind to everyone? People spin the narrative to suite their needs, but people also make assumptions based on reputation. This is all ultimately challenged here.

What Didn’t Work for Me:

• The beginning felt disjointed. For the first 15% or so, I had a hard time getting engaged. But this turned around, and the book kept improving as it got closer to the end.

Audiobook:

Clare Harte really captures the tone of Darkrooms, shifting seamlessly from Caitlin to Deedee in each chapter. I also appreciated her Irish and English accents, depending on the character, which made for a more immersive listen. This audiobook made the whole novel more engrossing.

Final Thoughts

Although Darkrooms got off to a slow and somewhat disconnected start, it improved drastically as it progressed. The final 25% was especially well done, with surprises and emotion that made me rethink the whole book. This was a superb debut, and I look forward to more from Rebecca Hannigan.

Special thanks to William Morrow, HarperAudio Adult, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!

Get the Book

You can buy Darkrooms here – it’s available as a hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.

Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan
Audiobook Narrator	Clare Harte
Audience	Adult
Genre	Thriller
Setting	Ireland
Number of Pages	352
Format I Read	Audiobook & Ebook (NetGalley ARCs)
Original Publication Date	January 13, 2025
Publisher	William Morrow

Official Summary

“Haunting, fast-paced, and unforgettable.”
— Karin Slaughter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Are All Guilty Here

“A lush, moody mystery. Darkrooms is gripping and atmospheric, as two women wrestle with guilt and injustice.”
— Flynn Berry, New York Times bestselling author of Northern Spy

Two unforgettable women investigate the disappearance of a missing girl in a small Irish town brimming with secrets—in this haunting debut from a new crime writing talent, perfect for fans of Tana French and Flynn Berry.

What secrets lurk in the Hanging Woods?

On the night of the Summer Solstice in 1999, nine-year-old Roisin O’Halloran marched into the Hanging Woods, the mysterious copse that had inspired fear in decades of children in the small Irish town of Bannakilduf. She was never seen again.

Twenty years later, two women are drawn together to discover the truth of what happened to Roisin: Roisin’s older sister Deedee, a rookie cop who’s barely hanging on to the appearance of keeping it all together, and Roisin’s childhood best friend Caitlin, a petty criminal who was the last person to see the young girl before she disappeared, now returned to her hometown after her mother’s death.
Reluctantly brought together after decades of mistrust, Caitlin and Deedee must reckon with their shadowy pasts, the monsters that still haunt them, and the role they each may have played in Roisin’s disappearance.

With old wounds made fresh, the unresolved events of that summer years ago rise to the surface, and the truth threatens to reshape the small town that would prefer the past remain buried.
The siren of the Hanging Woods rings out once more. After all, nothing can stay hidden forever.