Finally read Into the Darkest Corner about domestic violence years after its publication. Longish but the writing is so bland that it takes about 2 – 2.5 hours to breeze through. Begins / ends with court transcripts.
Oscillates between two timeframes: the relationship and its aftermath.
Descriptions of the relationship are often explicit although they bored me out of my mind. That could have had something to do with the fact of domestic abusers generally being boring — almost all of them tend to pull the same crap in almost the same way. That said, this book providess a quick introduction to the ways in which abusers can be manipulative and socially isolate their targets, one worth reading for those unfamiliar with the mechanisms employed by abusers.
The aftermath I found more interesting: the woman abused develops OCD and PTSD. No surprise, really. She also enters into a relationship with a decent bloke. Slightly irritatingly, he happens to be 'some kind of shrink'; it takes professional training to figure out how not to be a jackass in cases such as this? That said, this part is also a story of hope, and it drew me in.
Along the way, the novel deals with issues such as the way persons targeted may blame themselves or doubt what they know to be true... but none of the issues are dealt with in any depth. And the writing is not beautiful.
Absolutely worth reading as a 101 on how DV works, I think. Other than that... 🤷♀️