Realm of Darkness

Name: Realm of Darkness
Rating: 4.48 (90 reviews)

by C. F. Dunn Book 4 in the The Secret of the Journal series.

First published 2016

Amazon

4.3(90)

Emma D’Eresby and Matthew Lynes are finally able to plan a life together in Maine, but Emma has not fully explained the damage caused by Guy Hilliard, her former supervisor at Cambridge. When that unresolved relationship returns, her academic past becomes another means by which the seventeenth-century journal and Matthew’s concealed history can be used against them.

Emma must confront the distinction between preserving a secret and allowing silence to control her. Matthew’s family history, the diary and present-day manipulation combine in a threat directed at their trust as much as their safety. The fourth novel moves the series towards open conflict as information that once seemed confined to private archives becomes valuable to an adversary.

The modern threat is strengthened by the archival one because historical documents can be selectively interpreted, concealed or weaponised. Emma’s academic training should help her control the evidence, yet her own past makes objectivity difficult. The novel turns research into a form of vulnerability, asking whether knowledge offers protection when the people holding it are unwilling to confront how it was obtained.