Darkness
A Novel
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4.3 • 20 Ratings
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
“[John] Saul has the instincts of a natural storyteller.”—People
Villejeune, Florida. A secluded little town at the edge of a vast, eerie swamp. Far from prying eyes. Far from the laws of civilization. Here folks live by their own rules—dark rites of altars and infants, candles and blood.
Years ago the Andersons left town with a dream. Now they are back. To live out a nightmare. Something has been waiting for them. Something unspeakably evil. It feeds on the young and the innocent. And soon it will draw their teenage daughter into its unholy embrace. . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The prologue of veteran horror writer Saul's ( Second Child ) new novel is wonderfully scary: A pregnant teenage ``swamp rat'' of the Everglades, spying on a secret meeting of ``the Dark Man'' and ``his children,'' sees a friend offer up her newborn baby, whereupon the masked Dark Man plunges a knife into the infant. Right after that, the teenager's husband promises to deliver his own child ``the night he's born.'' The story proper begins when 16-year-old Kelly Anderson, all her life having suffered nightmares of a menacing old man and now sure she's pregnant by him, tries to kill herself. She recovers and moves from Atlanta with her adoptive parents to her grandfather's house just north of the Everglades. Kelly becomes friends with Michael, her age and also adopted, who admits to similar nightmares and a sense of dread. Michael's adoptive mother, meanwhile, feels a strange kinship to Kelly. The secrets of the Dark Man--his identity and his fountain-of-youth formula--are revealed halfway through the book, and thenceforth the story slides into descriptions of relatively tame to-and-fro-ing, mostly in the swamp, and the revolting revenge of ``the children'' on a group of nasty but well-preserved old men. Saul's ending is cozily sentimental.
Customer Reviews
Fairly close to perfection...
John Saul calls this book Darkness, which is, in fact, the title of quite a few other horror novels by other authors. Chances are, more than one of those other books was even better than this one, but John Saul still does a nice enough job of keeping horror fans entertained. I enjoyed the haunting atmosphere of this book and it was plotted well enough to make a decent read. The only reason it’s not my favorite by John Saul is that it could have been plotted even better. As enjoyable as the book’s twists and turns are, I found it just lacking enough in the action to keep it from being anywhere near as frightening as it could have been. And, if I remember the story right, there are a few details that were revealed too early. It would have been better to save these vital revelations for one the book’s last chapters. Still, Saul wraps up the story with a satisfying ending, one that satisfies on more than just one level. To Saul’s fans in particular, I recommend this book!
My first John Saul and I’m Hooked!
Would make a great movie. I read this last year, and it’s a really good read with some nice and surprising twists. If you enjoy a creepy read by Stephen King, Peter Straub, or Dean Koontz, pick this book up.
Hooked
They say 'never judge a book by its cover', but this is exactly how I discovered John Saul. I thought this cover was mysterious, so I bought the book. Have not missed any of Saul's books after that. They are the type that you can't put down.
I've read plenty of Stephen King and Koontz, but for me, Saul has the right amount of details and mystery to keep you guessing.