Read it because its an Edgar nominee in the First Novel category. Excellent read, but painful for a slew of reasons. It is the first mystery novel I've read that focuses so intently on a rape and its aftermath from both the victim's and the perpetrator's perspectives. Review to come. ( )

A fictionalised account of an actual event in the author's life: a brutal assault by a teenage stranger while out hiking, from which she took some years to recover.

It's very well written, cleverly plotted with the narrative alternating between the victim and the attacker. There's tension in several places, and a good insight into some of the failings of the health services. The protagonist is - or was, prior to the attack - a confident, strong young woman, and with the help of friends she is able to get the assistance she needs.

It's brutal, raw, sickening in places (I skimmed most of the gory detail) and yet an important book to raise awareness. I didn't enjoy it, and won't read it again. But I'm glad my local book group assigned it, as something rather different - and it was undoubtedly that.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2022/02/dark-chapter-by-winnie-m-li.html ( )

If I could only write one sentence about this book it would be: Dark Chapter is a disturbing and compelling book but quite simply STUNNING! I could no more tear my eyes from the page than I could forget to breathe. As difficult as it was to read at times, it was quite impossible to stop reading.

Vivian has come to Belfast to see the sights, but gets more than she bargained for when she is raped; shocked and stunned, she reports the crime but as much courage as that took, she needs to call on greater strength to see it through. Seeing the crime from both sides is shocking and surprising and I can't even begin to imagine what Winnie M Li has been through in order to call upon such emotions.

The Prologue of Dark Chapter sets the pace, where I felt sick with fear and my heart raced with the increasing tension as we hurtled towards the inevitable conclusion. Although there are no chapters, which usually would annoy me, but in this case I barely blinked, I raced through the 5 parts of the book: part 1 the time leading up to the event, part 2 the aftermath, part 3 the arrest of Johnny, part 4 the trial and part 5 new beginnings. What I found amazing, was that I didn't feel sorry for Vivian, I felt every emotion with her. I felt as if the crime had been committed against my very own person and I was as MAD as hell.

Dark Chapter deserves every accolade that is coming its way, and I'm sure there will be many. To write a book filled with such emotion showing both sides of a story is nothing short of exceptional. As such abuse seems to be in the news recently, this is a book that is both very current and also very timeless. Seeing the story from both sides is both mesmerising and jawdropping, making Dark Chapter an absolutely stunning work of fiction, with a disturbing ring of truth.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

An unusual tale of rape and assault in that the point of view alternates between the victim and the rapist. An American working in London, visiting in Belfast, decides to take a walk described in her guidebook. She encounters a young man, a Traveler, who lives in a caravan nearby with a brutal, drunken father and a criminal older brother.

Although a work of fiction, Dark Chapter by Winnie M. Li closely mirrors her own experience when she was raped while on a walk in a park near Belfast, Ireland. This story follows an American woman of Asian descent as she too is raped in Belfast. We work through all levels and all stages of the aftermath of this crime, the police interviews, medical examinations, the procedures to guard against AIDs and tests for infections, the months and years that it takes for the crime to not control all aspects of her life. The story totally overwhelms and captures the readers attention, but the author doesn’t stop there. She also attempts to get inside the mind of the rapist, a young psychologically damaged Irish traveller who learned his violent ways from his abusive father.

I was totally mesmerized by this book finding it both informative and riveting. Reading of Vivian Tan, a twenty-nine year old, highly educated, professional woman being accosted by a fifteen year old, illiterate teenager and having this encounter shape their lives so definitively was a compelling and harrowing experience.

I sincerely hope that the writing of Dark Chapter was a healing process for the author. I found this to be a courageous exploration of both the victim and the perpetrator's mindset before, during and after the rape. Dark Chapter was an excellent read, both suspenseful and full of tension. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a deeper understanding of the effects that this crime has on it’s victims. ( )