I loved this novel! It is a tightly paced, engrossing mystery with a captivating cast of characters. Gus is a fantastic female investigator so I hope that this book will become a series. She is a strong enough character who can anchor a series. The plot was pretty amazing as well. It had a couple of huge surprises that floored me. In fact, there is absolutely nothing negative that I can say about the story. It is the perfect mystery. ( )

This is an ok book. It was pretty obvious from the start what happened and who did it. The book was set in Canada which was a nice change. The author used “purple loosestrife” WAAAYYYYYYY too many times. An editor should have caught that. ( )

This book had a lot of potential but I think the author tried to pack too much into story which becomes hard to believe.
Augusta Monet, a young adult leading a wasted life with ne’er do well boyfriend Lars, gets a call that her great grandmother has died in Ottawa. Gus arrives and finds that she has inherited the old house and an old dog called Levi. Gus is the orphaned daughter of two police officers and a trunk in the basement with evidence her mother Shannon collected leads Gus into the heart of her mother’s investigation and her death. The story includes murders, a mean wealthy local landowner, politics, mineral rights, a town that blows up, disappearances, corrupt police officers, lots of secrets and too many plot lines to keep straight. Poor Augusta trying to solve her mother’s old case investigates all of these with the zeal of a seasoned detective. ( )

At the beginning of Dark August, 20-year-old Augusta “Gus” Monet learns that her great-grandmother Rose has died. The death of her only blood relative galvanizes Gus to take charge of her meandering life. She ditches her petty criminal boyfriend Lars, and heads back to the small Ontario town where she spent part of her childhood. Gus’s parents were police officers. Her father died when she was very small. Her mother, Shannon, a detective, was killed in a car crash when Gus was eight, and Gus ended up living with Rose for two years until she was sent to boarding school. Twelve years after her mother’s death, Gus learns that she is the beneficiary of Rose’s estate, which includes the house and everything in it, and Levi, her old mixed breed dog, whom she last saw when he was a puppy. In the basement of Rose’s house Gus discovers a trunk filled with her childhood treasures. Also stashed in the trunk are files pertaining to the case her mother was working on at the time of her death: photographs and documents that for Shannon became an obsession. Shannon died under a cloud of ignominy. She had been relieved of her duties, some of her colleagues were convinced that the case had unhinged her, and there’s a feeling that the crash that killed her might have been a suicide. Gus isn’t convinced, and when a body connected to the case turns up, Gus, spurred on by innate curiosity and a desire to vindicate her mother’s actions and restore her reputation, embarks on an investigation of her own. Her inquiry leads her along shady paths and down many dark roads, but at the center of everything is a local businessman/politician named Kep Halladay, whose disappearance on the same day that Shannon died remains a mystery. The tale that Katie Tallo spins in her debut novel is complex, tightly plotted, and crammed with intrigue and danger. Gus Monet is an extremely attractive protagonist. A loose cannon acting on instinct, cocky and with little regard for her own safety, she remains tenacious in her pursuit of the truth, even in the face of threats and betrayal. The novel drips atmosphere. Tallo’s prose is polished and elegant and shimmers with imaginative detail. The story is fast-paced and unrelentingly entertaining, but also thought-provoking: it addresses an array of complex moral issues regarding family, secrecy, wealth, social responsibility and greed. Dark August, which satisfies on multiple levels, announces Katie Tallo as an author worth watching. ( )

This is my favorite kind of book. A book that gets your attention right away and keeps it held tight all the way through the book. There were moments when I couldn't read fast enough to find out what happened or who was around the corner. I finished it in two days. I loved the characters, bad and good. Gus, especially was fully formed and delightful despite her challenges. I also loved that Levi was a true character and not just a pet. He had a personality, something authors often struggle with or just ignore. I was totally surprised by the twist at the end. I didn't see that coming. In fact, I didn't see a few things that came about. Ms. Tallo's writing style is for this book is great and perfect for the story. This was a masterful first effort and I look forward to reading more of Katie Tallo's work. Bravo! ( )