“A certain darkness is needed to see the stars.” Osho

A Certain Darkness: A Riveting World War 1 Mystery (Verity Kent #6) by Anna Lee Huber         

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Darkness surrounds Verity and Sidney. Glimmers of hope are hard to see. The question is who will shine through?

Verity is once again swept up into the games Intelligent Agency plays. The war is over but the jockeying amongst the International Powers continue. Lord Ardmore continues to be a thorn in their side. He’s ruthless and in his pursuit of his goals the bodies are mounting up. The world is changing and Ardmore wants control over the various Intelligence Agencies.

Sidney takes a call from the Provost Gendarmerie. They have detained a Miss Adele Baverel for looting. She.will only talk to him. Sidney and Verity sense somethings wrong with her arrest and their search will take them to France, Belgium and Holland. What began as something simple becomes more complex. There’s rumours of  a report is in the wind that if ever released holds upsetting news for the British forces and public in general. It certainly brings Verity and Sidney to their knees. 

The politics are complex and trying to keep the various organisations straight in my head, who worked for which agency, who’s a threat, who’s aligned with their cause is challenging. Still this is an intriguing read, getting to the heart of Post Traumatic Stress as seen in Verity and Sidney, the sacrifices made during World War 1, the conditions in the trenches, all come alive for me. The secrecy, never knowing who to trust pulled at me. On top of that, there’s the post war wrangling about who does what where. Nations are in post war upheaval and certain people are pulling strings.

And let’s not forget Ireland! Verity and Sidney can’t.

A very insightful read.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change