A Review of Avah LaReaux’s What’s Done In The Dark
By LMReviews on Nov 28, 2010 in Multicultural Lit Reviews
The feelings of love are binding even if the bodies aren’t in the relationship between Lynette Clayton and her womanizing former football star husband Marcus Clayton. Lynette’s love for Marcus leads them to remarry after his numerous infidelities had led them down the road to divorce. Now in Atlanta with their five-year-old son and their new one-year old baby girl, the Claytons appear to have finally built the family they both wanted. That is until, the Charlotte sports reporter, Renee Toliver calls one evening to break the news that Marcus’ family does not include all the children he has fathered.
With this information, Marcus is forced to come clean about an affair he had with the reporter that ended when he and Lynette remarried. Lynette doesn’t take the news well and runs back into the arms of her former lover while making Marcus continue to pay for his past misdeeds. As the relationship continued to unravel the reader realizes that there’s nothing former about Eric at all. This truth becomes apparent when Lynette and Marcus discover that she is 8 weeks pregnant and Lynette believes the baby belongs to Eric and not her husband Marcus.
LaReaux puts the reader in a difficult situation. You want to feel that Marcus is getting what he deserves but you can’t help but feel disgusted by Lynette’s hypocrisy. It might be a case of “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” but it seems more like Lynette has forgotten that there are three fingers point back at her all the while she’s pointing the judgmental finger of adultery at Marcus. When Marcus figures out Lynette’s secret you actually do feel sorry for him even though he comes from a long line of cheaters himself. In fact, Marcus’ father points out that after all is revealed, neither one of them is any better than the other. Lynette welcomes Marcus’ two year old son into her heart and Marcus knows he must do the same with this new baby if he has any hope of keeping the family together. After three months apart and a clumsy one night stand with Renee, Marcus is finally ready to clean the house he and Lynette have dirtied together. Lynette’s pregnancy is an extremely difficult one and when the new baby girl arrives, its quickly apparent that the baby has Marcus’ genes. LaReaux ends the story letting us now that now the Claytons have grown up enough to be the support each other needs and the parents those children deserve.
What’s Done In The Dark earns three Sable Seals.
Publisher: Blue Planet Publishing
Format reviewed: Ebook
