The Darkness in the Light: A Thriller - Daniel Kalla
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The Darkness in the Light: A Thriller - Daniel Kalla Book
A psychiatrists patients are dyingare they suicides related to a new antidepressant, or is there something even more sinister going on in the northernmost town in the US? A riveting new thriller from internationally bestselling author Daniel Kalla.After Brianna OBrien takes her own life, Dr. David Spears blames himself. Though he understands suicides can be a tragic occurrence in psychiatric practice, this loss hits him particularly hard. With Brianna, hes convinced he missed crucial warning signs. When David suspects Briannas friend, Amka Obedwhom hes also been treating virtuallyis in crisis, he flies to the remote Arctic community of Utqiagvik, Alaska, only to discover that she has disappeared. While the regional police are confident that Amka will turn up safe, David and the towns social worker, Taylor Holmes, have serious doubts. Each battling their own demons, David and Taylor launch an investigation, determined to help uncover the truth about what happened to Amka. David wonders if a new antidepressant he recently prescribed both Amka and Brianna played a role in what took place. Taylor, whos familiar with the locals, suspects a drug lord with connections to Amkas boyfriend. Who is right? Where is Amka? Is she still alive? What begins as a missing persons inquiry and suspicion over a pharmaceutical cover-up quickly evolves into a terrifying journey of treachery and deathone that will horrify this isolated town and endanger many more lives.
P> Review Kallas writing has grown over the years and this book, with its well-written descriptions of the far north, is one of his best. He blends social and cultural images into the thriller and keeps the pace running. A storyline I was convinced was the plot turns out to be a huge herring. Shows I can still be hornswoggled by a good twisty tale. The Globe and MailA gripping, heartbreaking, and enthralling suspense so vividly immersive that I was hooked from the first page. With crisp, powerful writing and two extremely compelling voices, Kalla draws you in to the remote, intriguing world of the Arctic and the tragic, inexplicable suicide clusters that have ravaged a small, tight-knit town. Kalla is a clever master of surprise, dropping subtle clues and expertly changing course, so you cant possibly look away until the mystery is solved. Its an absolute must-read from a remarkable talent. SAMANTHA M. BAILEY, USA Today and #1 nationally bestselling author of Woman on the EdgeA gripping thriller about a remote community and a potential miracle cure for depression gone wrong. Kalla excels at atmosphere and introducing us to environments that are unique in the genre. He deftly weaves together intrigue and important questions about how we treat mental health and ourselves, and I couldnt put this down until I discovered how it all worked out. Fast-paced and complex, this is a must-read. CATHERINE McKENZIE, bestselling author of Six Weeks to Live and Ill Never Tell Explores powerful themes in Kallas signature page-turning style. With hairpin turns and shocking twists, readers will be captivated until the final page. ROBYN HARDING, bestselling author of The Perfect FamilyKalla is unparalleled in his ability to create compelling characters that embody societal trauma and medical complexities. The Darkness in the Light explores rural northern health care, the unrelenting pressure of depression, and pharmaceutical treatments with great care.Both heartbreaking and brave, this is a boldly written story that fans will love and new readers will devour. AMBER COWIE, author of Last One AliveKallas Alaskan whodunit delights . . . Just remember that Vancouver E.R. doctor Daniel Kalla not only writes superb medical thrillers with a pronounced social edgehis books are also terrific murder mysteries. Winnipeg Free PressIf you enjoy gripping, psychological thrillers, Daniel Kallas book The Darkness in The Light will hold your attention to the very end. British Columbia ReviewEmergency room physician Danial Kalla is one of Canadas bestselling and most impressive writers, and his latest novel, The Darkness in the Light, demonstrates why. Zoomer About the Author: Daniel Kalla is an internationally bestselling author of many novels, including Fit to Die, The Darkness in the Light, Lost Immunity, The Last High, and We All Fall Down. Kalla practices emergency medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia. Visit him at DanielKallaor follow him on Twitter @DanielKalla. Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1 Im not trying to kill myself. Though his expression was flat, Nigel McGowans colorat least how it appeared on my laptop screenwas whiter than the wall behind him. How many times have I heard those words? Another patient had sworn the same to me only two days before, during my weekend on call for the Anchorage Regional Hospital. That patient had begged me to free him from his involuntary confinement in the ER. But the raw ligature burns around his neckfrom where the noose had yanked the hook free from the ceiling at the last momentwere far more persuasive than any of his pleas. Youre not suicidal, I said, focusing back on Nigel. You just dont want to extend your life any longer than necessary. That right? Exactly right, Dr. Spears, he said, as sweat beaded along his receding hairline. Having seen the worrisome images of Nigels swollen, red-and-black blistered foot and shin, I was surprised he was upright at all with such an overwhelming infection snaking up his leg and into his bloodstream. All right, Nigel, I said. Say I dove to the bottom of a swimming pool and decided not to extend my life by resurfacing. Wouldnt that make me suicidal? He crossed his arms and rested them on his bulging belly. Thats a silly comparison. Is it, though? Youve had uncontrolled diabetes for years, and you still refuse to take insulin. It gave you a heart attack before your fortieth birthday. And now youve got an infection that, according to your own doctor, will cost you your legprobably your lifeunless you agree to go to hospital for intravenous antibiotics. I pointed at the screen. Make no mistake, Nigel. Youre killing yourself. Youre just doing it slower than most. Im of sound mind. And I dont want medications. His damp lip quivered. Its my choice. He was right. I had no legal grounds to certify Nigel and keep him involuntarily in hospital for treatmentunlike my patient whod tried to hang himselfeven though his life was in the same degree of jeopardy. That conundrum made my temples throb. And in my example, Nigel, it would be within my rights to stay underwater until I drowned. Nigel swiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. This isnt helping. Help? I stared intently at his wan face. Since when do you come to me for help? His image froze on the video chat screen momentarily, but his words were still clear. What kind of psychiatrist talks like that? Ill give you this, youre one of my most reliable patients. Over three years, and I dont think youve missed an appointment yet. But in that time, when have you ever taken my advice? You mean your drugs, dont you? No, Nigel. Advice. For years, Ive been begging you to come join group therapy. To join any group at all. Group therapy? He huffed. For an agoraphobic? Youre not agoraphobic. I have a pathological fear of rejection. As weve discussed, thats not agoraphobia. Besides, technically, it was a single rejection he kept reliving. Six years after being dumped by his then boyfriend, he was still grieving the breakup of a relationship that had only lasted months. Lets say you dont die, Nigel. How do you feel about living with only one leg? I hardly ever leave my apartment anyway. But the quick flick of his eyes betrayed his anxiety. And then when you lose the other leg? You OK with not leaving your bed, either? He eyed me dolefully. Wheres your compassion, Dr. Spears? Nigel had a point. A casual observer might have assumed I was taunting my own patient. But I saw no other choice. Pity was the one card Nigel relied on. It gave him a sense of control. He used it to handcuff the few people in his life who still cared about him, including me. And I knew from previous experiences that sometimes only harsh boundarieseven the threat of abandonmentwould motivate him to comply. Enough of this manipulative crap, I said. Im calling an ambulance and youre going to go to the hospital. Right now! I wont go. I held his gaze. If you dont, Nigel, Im firing you as a patient. And you and I will have no further contact. Ever. His eyes went a bit wider. You cant do that! Yes, I can, I said. Dont worry, though. Ill find you another psychiatrist. One who will be far more sympathetic to your plight. You can tell him or her all about how Gary abandoned you while the gangrene creeps up your leg. His voice faltered. Please, Dr. Spears I stared back at him, not giving an inch. His life hung in the balance. Its your call, Nigel. His image froze again, for longer this time. When the screen came back to life, his chin hung low, but he was nodding. Its the right choice, Nigel. I offered a reassuring smile. This is what were going to do: Im going to hang up now and call the ambulance. And Ill see you at the hospital later. Before he could reply, I ended the videoconference with a click of the mouse, partly because I wanted to dispatch the ambulance right away but mainly because I didnt want to leave any wiggle room for him to renege. I picked up the phone and dialed 9-1-1. The dispatcher confirmed an ambulance would be arriving at Nigels apartment within minutes. As I dictated the note into his electronic medical record, I reflected on the pros and cons of virtual medicine, which had become so prevalent, especially for us psychiatrists, in the post-COVID world. Had Nigel been in my office, he might have had time to tell me hed changed his mind while waiting for the ambulance. Then again, if we had been sitting face-to-face, connecting with one anothers physical presence, maybe it wouldve been much easier to convince him to go to the hospital in the first place. It was the paradox of virtual medicine. Psychiatrists needed to see their patients. Visual cues were often more important to us than words. And the widespread availability of videoconferencing made remote consults possible. But while virtual care offered all the convenience in the world, it also lacked the immediacy and intimacy of a one-on-one session, missing all those intangibles that could never transcend the screen. One day, some brilliant neuroscientist was bound to identify the alternate hot spots in the cerebral cortex and various pheromones that respond to human proximity. More than likely, some researcher already had. But an in-person visit wasnt an option for my next patient. She lived almost a thousand miles away, beyond the Arctic Circle, in the northernmost town in North America: Utqiagvikformerly known as BarrowAlaska. For Brianna OBrien, like my other patients who lived in a town that was only accessible by air, virtual care was their sole option, apart from my biannual visits. I tried to get up there in the spring and again in late summer, and my trip for later next month was already booked. I clicked the invitation icon on my laptop, and Briannas head appeared, framed by reddish-blonde hair that extended beyond her shoulders. With her makeup-free, heart-shaped face and her grayish doe-eyes, Brianna looked closer to fifteen or sixteen than the twenty-two-year-old she was. She wore the same black T-shirtemblazoned with the words Fuck the Police!that I had seen at previous sessions, but I didnt recognize her backdrop, which looked to be the interior of a trailer or an RV. Usually, during our sessions, she sat in her small but always immaculate kitchen. Brianna nodded her greeting, her mouth set in the ambiguous Mona Lisa smile that Id come to expect from her. Hi, Brianna. Where are you? At a friends. Wheres Nevaeh? Usually by now, her adorable four-year-old daughter would have popped into the frame and peppered me with rapid-fire questions. With my aunt. Her inquisitive child resembled my Ali, in looks and personality, when my daughter had been about the same age. Nevaehs absence only reinforced how I much I was missing Ali this summer. My sixteen-year-old had chosen to stay in Seattle with her mom to attend an intense dance camp instead of spending the month of August with me in Anchorage. Or, at least, that was how my ex-wife had justified it. How are you doing today? I asked. She ran a hand through her hair, pulling away loose strands. Im OK. I picked up on the hesitance in her tone. You sure? I still feel kind of fuzzy, I guess. Since you started the new medication? Maybe, yeah. Thats normal. The side effects with Ketopram are always worst in the first month. And theyre usually gone by the end of the second. Brianna accepted my explanation with a twitch of her shoulders. And your appetite? I asked. Her screen flickered for a second or two. Its OK, she said. And what about your thoughts, Brianna? Her gaze drifted away from the camera. Theyre quiet. I found her choice of words curious. Quiet how? Peaceful? Calm, I guess. How are you sleeping? Not great. She bit her lip and then added, But I never really do. Some people get vivid dreams when they start taking Ketopram. Are you experiencing those? Just one. But I keep having it. I flashed an encouraging smile. Can you elaborate? Its a nightmare, not a dream. Can you describe it to me, Brianna? Me and Nevaeh are in my car, she said softly. Shes in her booster seat in the back, playing on my phone. Were not moving. Its really gray outside, and I cant really see through the window. At first, I think I must be parked in a dense fog or something I gave her a few moments to finish, but she only picked at a few more loose hairs. But its not fog? I prompted. She sunk lower in her seat. Thats when I see the drip coming from the corner of the drivers window. Then the window cracks, and freezing water gushes inside. And just thenwhen I realize were underwaterI wake up. You mean like submerged? Under the sea? She nodded. How did you end up there? Dont know. In this nightmare, you didnt deliberately drive into the water, did you? No. Do you ever fantasize about harming yourself, Brianna? Nevaeh was in the car, too! Her voice cracked. How about without Nevaeh? I asked softly. She shook her head. Id never leave my daughter alone in the world. Brianna had rarely been even this forthcoming with me in the four months since Id started seeing her. I didnt want to stretch the bounds of her trust, so I didnt push further. Her family doctor had been treating Brianna with various antidepressants on and off since hed diagnosed her with a delayed postpartum depression. I recognized early on in our therapy that Brianna was still suffering from a major mood disorder. Since the antidepressants she had been taking hadnt worked, Id switched her over to Ketopram the month before. The groundbreaking drug, which had only been on the market for the past two years, had proven effective on other patients with refractory depressions that failed to respond to other antidepressants. Including my own. How about your overall mood? I asked. Are you finding more enjoyment in things? Maybe? I mean, you know, with Nevaeh and all. I chuckled. That kid is something. Shes everything, Brianna said with a blank nod. Im crying a little less, too. So progress, then? Yeah, maybe. Her tone was too unconvincing to leave be. Is there something else, Brianna? She opened her mouth and then stopped, dismissing it with another shrug. I cant remember the last time I laughed. Laughed? A belly laugh, you know? Like when you cant stop giggling with your girlfriends. Used to do it all the time. Before the depression. Brianna had a way of describing her depression as a single sudden event, like an earthquake hitting, instead of an evolving medical condition. I had probed before, trying to find a specific precipitant for her despondency beyond the postpartum hormones, but she inevitably would clam up. There were still so many pieces of Briannas life that were missing for me. Areas that remained taboo. I knew hardly anything about the father who abandoned her family when she was young or the oil field worker whod fathered Nevaeh. In an earlier session, Brianna had blurted something about a man whod taken advantage of her while she was still in high school. But she backtracked almost immediately, and I wasnt able to unearth any more details. I hadnt pushed too hard, aware it would take a lot of time and patience to get her to open up about any trauma. With some patients, I could establish therapeutic intimacy in a single sessionwith others, it took years, if ever. Brianna and I were nowhere near that point. And in my experience, each patient required an individual approach to getting there. As much as Nigel often needed a strong hand, Brianna responded best to a softer approach. Id seen how quickly the wrong line of inquiry or even a single question could shut her down for an entire session. As we only had thirty minutes booked for this appointment, I used the remainder of our time to emphasize the nonpharmaceutical remedies that wed discussed before to complement her medication, including exercise and sleep. As the session was ending, Brianna bit her lip and viewed me with uncharacteristic inquisitiveness. Will I ever get back to being me again, Dr. Spears? You will. Itll take time. But you will. Time Yeah, OK. She dug her fingers through her hair again as if sifting through sand. Dr. Spears? Yes? I surreptitiously glanced at the clock at the bottom of my screen. It was five minutes past the hour, and I could see my next patient had already logged into the virtual waiting room. Its just that theres I dont know I could see she was struggling to put something into words, but I was distracted by the time-warning light that was now flashing on my screen. So instead of trying to draw what she wanted to say out of her, I said, Lets pick this up on Friday, all right, Brianna? Not once did I suspect those would be the last words I ever spoke to her.(BK-9781982191399)
| SKU | BK-9781982191399 |
| Barcode # | 9781982191399 |
| Brand | Simon & Schuster |
| Artist / Author | Daniel Kalla |
| Shipping Weight | 0.3690kg |
| Shipping Width | 0.150m |
| Shipping Height | 0.020m |
| Shipping Length | 0.230m |
| Type | Paperback |
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