Synopsis

What happens when doctor and patient find themselves in the same sinking boat, yet rowing in opposite directions—one clinging to the past, and the other unable to move beyond it?

Sam returns home from a business trip a day before his son’s thirteenth birthday to find his world cruelly shattered in one fell swoop. Initially thinking he can cope on his own, Sam finally seeks the help of Cynthia, an experienced therapist. What he doesn’t know is that Cynthia herself is trying to recover from a debilitating divorce and the sinister shadow of her ex-husband. In the midst of it all is Lily, Cynthia’s daughter, who harbors a secret that has the power to explode the lives around her.

Taut with tension and intensity, Dark Blossom explores what lies beneath the surface of the lives of apparently “normal” people.

Review

This is a suspense/thriller novel that while at times is predictable, the ending is not.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to return from a trip to find out that your family has been killed in an accident. That is what Sam find outs at the beginning of the book. Throughout the rest of the book, we see his interactions with Cynthia, a counselor/therapist, who is dealing with her own demons and a petulant daughter, Lily, that is rebelling against a tragic situation.

I was surprised at how much Cynthia let Lily get away with considering she is only 17. I would never have been allowed to act as she did to my parents. But time heals all wounds, along with honesty, as the pair discovers.

As Sam and Cynthia continue sessions and as Sam reveals a bit more each time, I felt something wasn’t quite right but did not know what the answer was in this situation…until the end. The ending throws quite a punch and was not one I expected. It explained a lot.

This story will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. Enjoy the ride!

We give it 4 paws up.

About the Author

Neel Mullick is the author of Dark Blossom. The Head of Product and Information Security at a Belgian family-office technology company, Mullick is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and INSEAD. He mentors female entrepreneurs through the Cherie Blaire Foundation for Women, is involved in raising a generation of digital and socially aware leaders with Nigeria’s Steering for Greatness Foundation, supports improvement in the quality of life of domestic workers through Peru’s Emprendedoras del Hogar, and works with IIMPACT in India to help break the cycle of illiteracy plaguing young girls from socially and economically impoverished communities. Dark Blossom is his first novel.

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