top of page

Lies Within Darkness Reveals the Strength That Outlasts Obsession and Control

  • Nov 21, 2025
  • 2 min read

Melbourne, Australia – November 21, 2025 – Author Leonie Blackwell announces the publication of Lies Within Darkness with Balboa Press, a psychological thriller based on true events. Releasing worldwide in paperback and eBook, the novel plunges readers into a chilling story of obsession and control–while illuminating the unshakable resilience that defies them.


Book cover featuring a shadowy face on a dark background with torn edges. Text reads "Lies Within Darkness" by Leonie Blackwell. Mood is mysterious.

Grant Crandall is calculated–mimicking charm, mirroring values, and manipulating every moment to tighten his grip. But his target, Izzy Raynor, refuses to surrender. Instead, her intuition and quiet strength become weapons against coercive control, turning a battle of shadows into a defiant stand for survival.


“I wanted readers to feel both the pressure of coercive control and the steadiness of intuition–how quiet strength breaks the spell of manipulation,” said Leonie Blackwell, author of Lies Within Darkness.


Blending the pulse of a thriller with the resonance of lived experience, Lies Within Darkness grips readers of psychological suspense while offering a timely testament to resilience in the face of darkness.

 

Publication details


  • Publisher: Balboa Press (Hay House division)

  • Publication date: November 21, 2025

  • Formats: Paperback, eBook

  • ISBNs: 979-8-7652-0403-0 (sc) 979-8-7652-0402-3 (e)

  • Pages: 290

  • Categories: Psychological Thriller; True Events; Women’s Fiction

 

Content advisory for editors/reviewers


Contains depictions of coercive control, emotional abuse, and trauma; may be confronting for some readers.


Lies Within Darkness will be available through Amazon and on my website.


Advance review copies and media interviews are available on request.

 

About Leonie Blackwell


Leonie Blackwell is an Australian author and emotional-wellness practitioner, founder of Empowered Tapping®. Her work–both fiction and non-fiction–explores resilience, intuition, and the complexities of healing after trauma.

 

Media contact


Leonie Blackwell – Author

Email: leonie@bwellinstitute.com | Phone: +61 438254466

This article is published in collaboration with Brainz Magazine’s network of global experts, carefully selected to share real, valuable insights.

Article Image

Who Am I When I’m No Longer Needed in the Same Way?

A month ago, my husband and I travelled to spend time with our adult children. Like many parents, I had quietly imagined what those few days would look like. Long conversations. Family bonding.

Start Now
Article Image

Five Ways Your Brain Can Learn Something New

When I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease at seventeen, nobody spoke to me about my brain. They spoke about my eyes, my immune system, and medication. They explained that my body was attacking itself...

Start Now
Article Image

Why Your Business Stalls When You Work Harder

You have followed the plan and made the right moves, perhaps hiring more staff, adding a marketing channel, or implementing a new system that promised to save you time. Initially, these changes seemed effective.

Start Now
Article Image

You Cannot Separate Who You Are from How You Work

There is a version of professional success that looks impressive from the outside and costs everything on the inside. You hit your numbers, meet your deadlines, and keep showing up, capable and dependable...

Start Now
Article Image

Why Your Marketing Feels Flat and How to Make It Feel Alive Again

I think we were taught marketing backward. We learned to optimize before we learned to express, to perfect before we share, and to consider the audience before we consider our personal truth.

Start Now
Article Image

What If You Can? The Question More People Should Ask Themselves

Every meaningful journey begins with a question. For many of us, however, the questions we ask ourselves are rooted in fear rather than possibility. We wonder what might go wrong instead of...

Start Now

What Happens When These 4 Pressures Take Command

Start Now

The Difference Between Rest and Retreat

Start Now

11 Ways the Performing Arts Build Confidence and Practical Life Skills in Young People

Start Now

The Practice of Returning and Why Yoga and Meditation Are More Than Wellness

Start Now

Why One Diet Doesn't Work for Everyone

Start Now

You Are Functioning, But Are You Actually Okay?

Start Now

The Subconscious Patterns That Shape Success

Start Now

When Self-Doubt Takes a Seat at the Table – 5 Ways to Manage It

Start Now

Three Workplace Conditions That Turn Autistic Strengths into Burnout

Start Now
bottom of page