After Olivia Reed has a meltdown in public captured all too intimately by paparazzi, her longtime friend and manager suggests she take some time to attend a retreat in upstate New York. It’s quiet and remote and should give her a chance to recover from her “exhaustion.”

When Liv arrives at the House of Light, she has to hand over her phone. She also has to get used to no lights after dark, mostly unappetizing vegetarian fare grown on the property, and woo-woo enlightenment. She’s certainly experienced her share of retreats with meditation, yoga and bland philosophies.

But not long after she settles in, Liv finds out some strange things are happening behind the scenes. A local woman in the room next to hers tells her several women have committed suicide or died accidentally after being at the House of Light — and all the deaths occurred on the date of a solstice or equinox. It would be easy to dismiss Ava’s claims (Ava’s husband and family certainly do), but Liv is unsettled by the atmosphere at House of Light and feels it’s suspicious.

So Liv, an actress mostly known for a stint on a TV show, impulsively decides to start a podcast to investigate the deaths and the House of Light itself. She checks out of the center and dives wholeheartedly into the new project. It’s a risky move, and it makes her manager angry. But she could do something real and important to reveal the truth in real time as the episodes drop, and it could revive her flagging career, too, which certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Dark Circles is a suspense novel that intersperses bits of the podcast with Liv’s point of view as the story plays out. It is hard to know for sure if crime is actually being cleverly perpetrated behind a glossy veneer of New Age spirituality or if Liv really is just digging herself into a hole personally and professionally. Is she actually in danger as she gathers information, or is she creating a story where there is none?

The book is Fairly well-paced and held my interest, though I didn’t always feel I cared a lot about what happened to the characters. Liz, the narrator, definitely has her shallow moments; Ava seems fairly self-centered. The plot didn’t end with any real shockers, either, contrary to my expectations, though I didn’t foresee one element. Mostly satisfactory but lots of profanity.

Rated: High. Profanity includes 100 uses of strong language, 65 instances of moderate profanity, 30 uses of mild language, and about 50 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes one fairly short, somewhat detailed, partial sex scene; brief kissing, and references to affairs. Violence includes deaths by drowning, fire and strangling. There are some references to drug use.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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