With a detective-protagonist who has a troubling personal connection to the murders she’s trying to solve, and who could face an unimaginable loss if the killer remains free, this psychological thriller enthralls from the first pages. And the thrills of Swallowtail run deep, as the novel also explores the powers of myths and art, and everything that can be gained or lost when someone must fully confront the traumas of their past.

This richly layered deep dive of a novel explores the ways in which a profound loss can more than just shatter the lives of the bereaved; it can significantly challenge their closest relationships, and in some cases reshape their beliefs about how to make sense of the world, and of all the complications that life delivers to us.

This anthology, now in its third edition, offers a variety of captivating tales, from the darkly inspiring to the delightfully strange. Collectively, the stories explore a range of themes–for example, the importance of community and familial bonds, the power of resistance, the essential nature–and fragility–of love, the long shadow of loss, and the burden of feeling like an outsider, in society at large or within one’s own family or social circle.

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Darrin Doyle about his spellbinding horror novella, Let Gravity Seize the Dead. When I learned that Doyle’s highly praised story collection, The Dark Will End the Dark, had been released in a revised tenth-anniversary edition, I was eager to read it–and it didn’t disappoint.

With emotional depth and arrestingly beautiful prose, this collection of linked stories examines the ways in which those who’ve been orphaned–literally or metaphorically–are supported or let down as they try to make their way forward. Even if they have family or have come under the care of supposedly supportive people or institutions (for example, doctors, teachers, schools, and other institutions), these orphans may fail to thrive. But every now and then, guardian figures try to make a difference in their lives, or so it seems. Yet those efforts are never uncomplicated. 

Sometimes, individuals and communities seek change. Other times, change is forced upon them, gradually or in what can seem like a sudden turn of events. Either way, the people affected must make choices about next steps, and about what their futures might look like–choices that can have lasting consequences. This smart, sweeping, and emotionally resonant novel explores how and why such choices are made within two fraught marriages, at a time when forces of transformation are at play in the larger community.