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Village in the Dark Kindle Edition

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 238 ratings

Detective Cara Kennedy thought she’d lost her husband and son in an accident, but harrowing evidence has emerged that points to murder--and she will stop at nothing to find the truth in this riveting mystery from the author of City Under One Roof.

On a frigid February day, Anchorage Detective Cara Kennedy stands by the graves of her husband and son, watching as their caskets are raised from the earth. It feels sacrilegious, but she has no choice. Aaron and Dylan disappeared on a hike a year ago, their bones eventually found and buried. But shocking clues have emerged that foul play was involved, potentially connecting them to a string of other deaths and disappearances. 
 
Somehow tied to the mystery is Mia Upash, who grew up in an isolated village called Unity, a community of women and children in hiding from abusive men. Mia never imagined the trouble she would find herself in when she left home to live in Man’s World. Although she remains haunted by the tragedy of what happened to the man and the boy in the woods, she has her own reasons for keeping quiet.
 
Aided by police officer Joe Barkowski and other residents of Point Mettier, Cara’s investigation will lead them on a dangerous path that puts their lives and the lives of everyone around them in mortal jeopardy.

From the Publisher

Riveting... A chilling murder mystery... with memorable characters... says Publishers Weekly

Ingenious plotting filled with corpses, shootouts, and plenty of clever misleads, says Booklist

A compelling story, perfect for readers of crime novels set in isolated areas — Library Journal

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Village in the Dark

"Cannily consructed. . .distinctive." -- Wall Street Journal

"Riveting
. . .[A] chilling murder mystery. . .with memorable characters and a stunning conclusion.  Readers will be glued to the page." -- Publishers Weekly

"[B]reathlessly exciting. . .a masterful example of pacing and suspense." --Book Reporter

"
Stunning. . .a one-of-a-kind, irresistible, highly atmospheric suspense thriller." --Mystery & Suspense

"Ingenious plotting filled with corpses, shootouts, and plenty of clever misleads." -- Booklist

"[A] compelling story, perfect for readers of crime novels set in isolated areas or those that feature strong, independent characters." -- Library Journal (starred review)

"Bring[s] a hardscrabble community alive. Reaching beyond its core whodunit, her story probes the lives of people struggling to survive. A sharp and gritty mystery." -- Kirkus

"These are fascinating characters and circumstances, and the story that brings them together and sees them struggling against inner demons, and very real danger, is gripping." -- First Clue

Praise for
City Under One Roof

"Captivating." --
New York Times Book Review

"Yamashita deliciously exploits the eerie mystique of Whittier [and] conjures up fresh plot twists galore."—
Washington Post

“A gripping, unsettling and oppressive thriller that welcomes a wonderful new talent to the genre. Prepare to be quickly immersed in this dark and moody murder mystery.”—Mary Kubica,
New York Times bestselling author of Local Woman Missing
 
Northern Exposure meets Dexter in this clever thriller in which an isolated community is rocked by a twisted murder, increasingly dark secrets and the terrifying knowledge that the people they always thought they knew are now the ones they should fear the most.”—Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author of One Step Too Far
 
“Electric and fast-paced, this debut thriller is a testament to Yamashita’s skills as a storyteller. There’s no escape from the isolated Alaska setting for either the murder investigator or the reader . . .I couldn’t come out until I read the final page.”—Naomi Hirahara, Edgar-winning author of
Clark and Division
 
“Iris Yamashita delivers! Compelling characters, clever plot twists, and a story that will chill you to your bones.
. . . [A] must-read thriller.”–Laura Griffin, New York Times bestselling author of The Texas Murder Files

“[W]onderfully claustrophobic and atmospheric.”—Ann Cleeves,
New York Times bestselling author of The Long Call and Vera Stanhope novels

“Yamashita blasts into the world of crime fiction by doing something spectacular: introducing us to a totally unique location and sub-culture. A compulsive page-turner.”—C.J. Box, #1
New York Times bestselling author of Shadows Reel

“[An] atmospherically charged debut…that leads to a spellbinding, unforgettable climax and an unpredictable resolution….This distinctively original perspective on a ‘community of stragglers, oddballs, and recluses’ heralds the arrival of a major new talent.”—
Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"The claustrophobic atmosphere in this unique one-building town, isolated by tunnels, weather, and secrets, builds a memorable debut crime novel."—
Library Journal (starred review)

“An urban Alaska detective unlocks menacing secrets in a frigid, sinister small town. . . .[R]iddles large and small add fuel to the mystery on the way to the final solution. An offbeat, sharply written thriller.” –
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Yamashita knows how to keep her pages turning with plenty of close-up-ready characters…[her] plotting proves addictive.” --
Booklist

"Yamashita makes the most of this claustrophobic environment, making 'City Under One Roof' the perfect locked-room mystery… a rousing debut.” -
-South Florida Sun-Sentinel

“Clever and claustrophobic, dark and atmospheric, the well-crafted, expertly executed
City Under One Roof is crime fiction at its best. It's a perfect winter read, guaranteed to hold your attention rapt.”  --Mystery Scene Magazine

About the Author

Iris Yamashita is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter for the movie Letters from Iwo Jima. She has been working in Hollywood for fifteen years developing material for both film and streaming, has taught screenwriting at UCLA, and is an advocate of women and diversity in the entertainment industry. She has also been a judge and mentor for various film and writing programs, and lives in California.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0C56R4Y87
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Berkley (February 13, 2024)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 13, 2024
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3919 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 280 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0593336704
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 238 ratings

About the author

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Iris Yamashita
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Born in Missouri, raised in Hawaii and having lived in Guam, California, and Japan, Iris Yamashita was able to experience a diversity of culture while growing up. She studied engineering at U.C. San Diego and U.C. Berkeley and also spent a year at the University of Tokyo studying virtual reality. Her first love, however, has always been fiction writing which she pursued as a hobby on the side.

Iris submitted her first screenplay to a competition where she was discovered by an agent at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) who offered to represent her. Her big break came when she was recruited to write the script LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA for Clint Eastwood. LETTERS was named “Best Picture” by both the National Board of Review and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. It received a Golden Globe award for “Best Foreign Language Film” of 2006 and was nominated for 4 Oscars including “Best Picture” and “Best Original Screenplay.”

CITY UNDER ONE ROOF is her debut mystery novel set in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building.

Iris continues to work in Hollywood, developing for both film and streaming media and has also dabbled in writing a musical for a Japanese theme park with Tony Award-winning composer, Jeanine Tesori. She has taught screenwriting at the University of California, Los Angeles and the American Film Institute.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
238 global ratings

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A tense mystery set in the dark landscape of Alaska
4 out of 5 stars
A tense mystery set in the dark landscape of Alaska
A chilling (in more ways than one!) mystery centering around three strong female characters in the dark, cold winter in Alaska. Iris Yamashita’s Village in the Dark is the second book featuring the lead character Cara Kennedy, and picks up with her pursuing more information about what led to the death of her husband and son over a year earlier.Village in the Dark is the sequel to Yamashita’s City Under One Roof. The book picks up where the previous book left off, and offers a partial conclusion to where the first book left off. Though this is a sequel, Yamashita does a fantastic job of laying out where Cara Kennedy is at the start of the book and where she has been. You don’t need to read both to read this one.The book opens with police detective Cara Kennedy at a gravesite in Anchorage, Alaska. But rather than burying the bodies of her husband and son, she’s having their remains exhumed. Over the past year and four months, Cara has lost her husband and son and been paced on long-term disability from her job after failing a psych eval. Though they seemingly died in an accident in the Alaskan wilderness, Cara has become obsessed with linking them to another case in Point Mettier, Alaska and proving it was foul play.Meanwhile the owner of the Cozy Condo Inn inside the Davidson Condos in Point Mettier, Ellie Wright, is experiencing her own troubles. The town of Point Mettier has just over 200 residents, all of whom reside in the same condo building. Ellies’s son Timmy has died of an alleged drug overdose in Anchorage. When Cara finds pictures of her husband, son, Timmy, and other missing people on a phone belonging to a gang member, she’s convinced the deaths are tied together. Ellie and Cara may not always have gotten along, but their shared grief and search for answers seems to heal those past wounds.The third storyline centers around Mia, who is a young indigenous woman working under the name Carol at the Lonely Diner in Willow, Alaska. Mia grew up on a women’s collective called Unity where she lost her mother. Mia has struggled to assimilate to life outside of the women’s refuge. She also seems to know what happened to Cara’s husband and son, but is keeping quiet about what she saw. The first book took place fully in Point Mettier, which is based on the real life town of Whittier which is nicknamed “the town under one roof” because all of the town residents live in one building. I’m fascinated by this setting, so I was initially disappointed that this book only had portions set in Point Mettier. The claustrophobic feeling of the first book is also less present, leaving the story much more open. This made sense stylistically because the case has become much bigger than the case in the first book.Yamashita does an excellent job building tension throughout the book. Cara Kennedy is in a bad place at the start of the book, and it seems at first like she may be continuing to spiral in the obsession that has plagued her since the deaths of her husband and son. Though Cara seems to be onto a real case, she still proves that her clarity of thought has been clouded by her trauma and mental health struggles. That doesn’t mean she won’t be able to make progress, but she puts herself and other into situations her police training would have avoided.The plotting of the story was inconsistent, though that could potentially be intentional because the entire premise of the mystery and setting should make us feel off kilter as we try to figure out what is really going on. By the end of the book, Cara’s main storyline that dominated the first two books seems to be resolved, which leaves the question of where Yamashita may take a possible third book. Perhaps this is the conclusion of this story and a future book may revisit Point Mettier in a different way.Thank you to Berkley for my copy. Opinions are my own.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2024
    We are back in rural Alaska at the former Military base converted to a single structure building protected by a mountain tunnel. The locals come under a siege looking for the husband and son of a local Anchorage cop. It seems her (dead) husband is being hunted by men looking for a 'new' drug he stole from his former company.
    If the drug works it could be a treatment for Alzheimer's.

    But there's A problem with the drug only the husband has proof about. His silence could make a fortune for the drug company.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2024
    this is a good follow up book. everything gets explained.
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2024
    Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Iris Yamashita's newest mystery hit shelves. VILLAGE IN THE DARK is the second book in the Cara Kennedy series.

    Isolated setting in wintery blanketed towns including Point Mettier, Alaska (inspired but not wholly based on the real-life Whittier, Alaska), where all 205 residents live in the same high-rise building. Anchorage-based detective Cara Kennedy is on the hunt to dismantle the suspicious death of her husband and son.

    I have not read City Under One Roof but
    Yamashita does an excellent job of making this novel stand on its own. The pacing is moved through multiple POVs that slowly lay the ground work for the fast paced action sequence at the end. The reveal was not one I was fully expecting but it highly compliments the themes of money, power and the corrupt aspects of the medical field.

    For me as a mystery/thriller reader, I thrive on fast paced and darker themes. While this was intriguing, it didn't fully hit the entertainment mark for me and went too slow in the build. The relationship aspect was well done but felt more like filler too.

    If you're loving the True Detective series or enjoyed Twin Peaks, Mare of Easttown, and Broadchurch, than VILLAGE IN THE DARK is perfect for you!
    Customer image
    3.0 out of 5 stars
    A Chiller of a Thriller

    Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2024
    Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Iris Yamashita's newest mystery hit shelves. VILLAGE IN THE DARK is the second book in the Cara Kennedy series.

    Isolated setting in wintery blanketed towns including Point Mettier, Alaska (inspired but not wholly based on the real-life Whittier, Alaska), where all 205 residents live in the same high-rise building. Anchorage-based detective Cara Kennedy is on the hunt to dismantle the suspicious death of her husband and son.

    I have not read City Under One Roof but
    Yamashita does an excellent job of making this novel stand on its own. The pacing is moved through multiple POVs that slowly lay the ground work for the fast paced action sequence at the end. The reveal was not one I was fully expecting but it highly compliments the themes of money, power and the corrupt aspects of the medical field.

    For me as a mystery/thriller reader, I thrive on fast paced and darker themes. While this was intriguing, it didn't fully hit the entertainment mark for me and went too slow in the build. The relationship aspect was well done but felt more like filler too.

    If you're loving the True Detective series or enjoyed Twin Peaks, Mare of Easttown, and Broadchurch, than VILLAGE IN THE DARK is perfect for you!
    Images in this review
    Customer image
  • Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2024
    This was the first book I read on my Kindle in a few years. It was nice to get all the loose ends tied up in this book. Also, a little sad that there was not a short review of the previous book before this one began. It had been at least 3 years since I read “City Undef One Roof.” I struggled to recall much about the characters. After a little reading it didn’t matter though. I would have also enjoyed 100 or so more pages in these two books. They were such fast reads that I find myself hungry again for something interesting to read.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2024
    It was good to follow the characters to the end of the story!
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2024
    Unlike City Under One Roof, this novel does not hit the ground running but has a creaky start. Once the author gains her footing, it is very satisfying and I look forward to more from her. Very nice twists & surprises, what you read a mystery novel for.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 22, 2025
    Welp, in normal Susan fashion I jumped into book 2 without reading book 1, but I didn't feel I missed anything.

    I really loved this book, the multi POV and varying timelines were expertly executed. It was atmospheric, taking me all the way to Alaska and immersing me in the lives of characters. There was tons of strong woman energy, good twists and a dash of love. There was intense action balanced with emotional depth.

    So very good.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on February 13, 2024
    Apparently this is the 2nd book after City Under One Roof which I was not aware of prior to starting my read. This explains why I felt like I was dropped in the middle of a book when I started reading this. I was so confused and felt like I was missing information about the characters and then I found out it was a book 2. I think it would have been better if I had read book #1. I did eventually catch up, mostly, but I really was never fully invested in the characters and I am guessing it is because I was missing out on their development from book 1. Overall though it was an entertaining book and I did enjoy reading it. I loved the concept of mystery and the setting was super cool being in Alaska. I would have preferred more scenes in the actual city under one roof, but I loved the remote village only accessible by plane. There were several unlikely scenarios in here but again I like to point out it is fiction and in fiction you can write what you want, that’s entertainment. I also appreciated the way it ended, it had a good cozy wrap up that left you happy.

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