When Catherine Bailey meets Lee Brightman while out partying in Lancaster, England, their connection is instant and undeniable. Young, outgoing, and free–spirited, she is used to casual drunken hookups with random strangers but quite unexpectedly, it looks like she has lucked into something special. This blue–eyed charmer is handsome, attentive, charismatic, and incredibly sexy, and before long, they are discussing their future together. Her girlfriends are crazy about him too and jealously wonder how she managed to land such a catch.
Nagging doubts stand between Catherine and total happiness though. Lee refuses to discuss his job or his background, and his intensity can be overwhelming. At times she feels like she's being followed and watched. On several occasions she returns home to find that things have been shifted around in her house. Eventually Lee reveals that he is a police officer and blames his secrecy and abrupt mood swings on the demands of his work.
Despite the ominous warning signs, Catherine is still stunned when Lee's dark, controlling side surfaces. Ruthlessly, he isolates her from her friends, erupts into jealous rages, tells her what to do, monitors her location every second of every day, and drives her to the very brink of sanity—all out of love, he assures her again and again. He first hits her when she is delayed at the office one evening, and after that initial blow, his cruelty only gets more depraved. Trapped in a perpetual state of terror with nobody to believe her claims, she knows that she will only have one chance to flee—and he will kill her if she fails.
Four years later, Lee is locked up for a savage attack that left her near death. Now called Cathy, she has changed her appearance, sees no one from her past, and lives quietly on the outskirts of London. Experiencing flashbacks, sleeplessness, and panic attacks, she cannot outrun the damage he has done to her physically and emotionally. OCD and PTSD have taken over her life as the routines intended to keep her safe have become debilitating compulsions.
When a man moves into the flat upstairs she is instantly on alert. But much to her surprise, Stuart Richardson poses a different kind of threat. He is a doctor who wants to be her friend, and one day perhaps more. Slowly he wears down her formidable defenses with his decency, gentleness, and compassion, and with his encouragement she begins the difficult process of healing, bravely seeking treatment and facing her demons head on.
Then she receives the worst possible news—Lee is being released from jail. Her fear escalates since she understands he's going to come after her. Sure enough, soon she senses his presence and his audacious mind games resume. As INTO THE DARKEST CORNER hurtles towards its shocking climax, Cathy learns just how completely she has been betrayed by someone she trusted—and how, with running away no longer an option, she must fight back in one final confrontation that will break this twisted bond, one way or another...
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