BREAKING THE DARK by Lisa Jewel is the first of the Marvel crime novels that has been released by the House of Mouse for adult readers. I've already read both it as well as the sequel, ENEMY OF MY ENEMY, by Alex Segura (which stars Daredevil). How adult is it? Honestly, not really very much and it's a lot lighter than either the Netflix show or the original Alias comics. That's not necessarily a bad thing and if you want to read a decent novel about crime fighting with a dash of vampire makeup influencers.
Jessica Jones, for those unfamiliar with the character, is the creation of Brian Michael Bendis when he couldn't use Jessica Drew AKA Spider-Woman (I). His idea was to do a gritty private detective series with a female protagonist in the Marvel Universe and more or less succeeded. So much so that a successful Netflix TV show was created around the character. In all likelihood, if you want to buy this book, you probably already know the character from one or the other.
This isn't quite either the comic version or the TV show one but a hybrid as little is made of Jessica Jones' ties to other Marvel superheroes and no mention of her past as Jewel but Malcolm is obviously the character from the comics rather than the Netflix version. This is less confusing as it sounds but the alternate continuity becomes clear as Jessica's pregnancy with Luke Cage's baby plays a role in the story but none of the messiness related to her dating Scott Lang by the time they find out. This isn't a spoiler as her discovering her pregnancy is a chapter or two in. No Trish or Carol Danvers serves as her major female friend.
Indeed, if I were to summarize this book's take on Jessica Jones, it would be she's considerably less messy than either of her incarnations and her inner world streamlined. Jessica has strong feelings for Luke Cage already and would want to marry him even before the baby becomes an issue. She's traumatized by the Purple Man but the exact details are never gone into like they were in both the comic as well as show. I'd go so far as to say this Jessica is far more functional, likable, and effective as an adult in a profession. Which isn't to say that the more mainstream versions aren't entertaining but they're both heavily reliant on their interpretations of Jessica being a human train wreck.
With all of that out of the way, is the book any good? Yeah, I think so. The premise is Jessica is hired by a woman who thinks her children have had something strange happen to them while they were visiting their father in England. Whether trauma, changeling substitution, or brainwashing is something she can't tell even if her primary clue is they no longer care about their cell phones. Jessica, needing money, takes the job and finds that they are actually Stepford Children that are related to a story taking place a hundred years earlier. Along the way, Jessica Jones discovers an evil makeup influencer (aren't they all) and a woman who wants to kidnap women to force them to watch John Hughes movies in their jammies. I'm not kidding.
The weakest part of the book is probably the flashbacks to the villains' past that take up way too much of the book and don't have any characters as interesting as Jessica Jones. The bad guys' motivation isn't particularly intriguing and I would have appreciated it being more about our central character. On the plus side, I like that they went with an original villain that isn't precisely explained in an easy category like mutant or vampire.
In conclusion, Breaking the Dark is a solid and entertaining novel that feels like it takes place in the present with the culture of beauty, teenagers, and the generational divide. Jessica Jones is a bit nicer and more put together than usual but that actually fits well with her preparing to be a mother. I like the story and while it's not really the "dark and gritty adult crime novel" I expected, I had a lot of fun from it.
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