Tom Becker (1)

https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-dark-room-...

I’ve been participating in the #redeyereadalong on Goodreads, and this is the last book in the series, read during the week 26th October 2015 – 31st October 2015.

I joined in the readalong with mixed feelings as I am a bit of a novice horror reader – I tend to be a trifle scared of reading frightening stories – but astonishingly I have found it really fun and totally enthralling throughout. I whipped show more through those pages reading five books in super quick, heartbeat time! There have been moments when certain passages I’ve read have turned my stomach, or left me hugging my duvet for comfort but it has been such a positive experience overall. So thank you so much to Chelley who blogs at Tales of Yesterday and Heather from Heather Reviews for including me in this readalong.

My overall favourites are without a doubt, Frozen Charlotte from week 1 and this final book Dark Room from Week 5! So the best were first and last as far as I was concerned!

My review:

Dark Room certainly started off dark and sinister and that’s a fact. The Prologue tells the tale of Walter West, a rich young chap, but don’t be fooled this, he is no sweet boy next door! If you are friends with Walter West and you’re young and pretty, don’t pop over to visit, well not unless you want to be viciously murdered.

In Chapter 1 we are introduced to the main protagonist a sixteen year old girl called Darla whose life has been hard, with a capital H, she certainly hasn’t had a fairy-tale existence. Her dad hopper is a drunken, hopeless fellow who runs from one unhappy experience to another. Her mother Sidney killed herself. Darla runs away from yet another bout of trouble with her dad Hopper to Saffron Hills. She finds that Saffron Hills has its fair share of beautiful people, is obsessed with looking good, and is home to the Miss Saffron beauty pageant. Not exactly a place to make Darla feel at home as she is a fairly plain looking girl.

There are a bunch of mysteries to solve in this book so at times it came across more like a murder mystery than a horror story. Though there are elements of horror in Dark Room, the visions that Darla experiences are certainly horrible, and this sense of terror is amplified by Darla having no control over these frightening and disturbing visions. As the story unfolds she starts to try to take control of these visions, but more about that later…

Darla meets with her artistic neighbour Annie, who befriends Darla and Hopper. Annie is a fascinating character too with a hidden aspect to her personality that is revealed later in the novel.

When more beautiful kids are killed Darla’s personality changes, she becomes this courageous kid investigating, trying to stop another murder from being committed. That’s when I really started to love Darla, undoubtedly she is the best character in the book, the one that you can’t help but root for.

Photography is used in a creative way as a device in this book, to reveal the next murder, but is also used to suggest the nastiness of the beautiful crowd. In one particular scene TJ takes a selfie with Darla to ridicule her and other plain girls like her. Natalie, Gabrielle, Ryan, TJ, Carmen are beautiful on the outside, but inside they are mean, unlikable, thoughtless bullies. That is not a criticism of the book, the beautiful kids are meant to be portrayed this way, a message is intended to come across. Beauty is more than outward appearance it is what you hold in your heart. The cruel message finally gets through to one of the beautiful kids, who eventually turns over a new leaf.

Darla’s friend Sasha is an interesting but flawed character. She is pretty but in a non-conformist, punk style of way. She is also quite unlikable, and comes across as pretty uncaring, and glib, until one of the kids who she is secretly fond of in the beautiful clique gets murdered. Frank appears to be Sasha’s errand boy, but even Frank has a side of him that is kept a mystery.

So a very intriguing story, full of mysteries, secrets, it kept me wondering, guessing… I guessed the murderer then I changed my mind, then I guessed again… Lots of excitement.

The ending was good but perhaps a bit far fetched so instead of a 5 star read I’ve reduced it by half a star!

Would I recommend reading this?

Absolutely, if you can stomach it! The murders are visually gruesome, made me flinch in parts but nevertheless I found Dark Room very absorbing. So go out and get a copy… Just don’t do any selfies for a while…

Warning: Not For Younger Readers.

My rating:

4.5 stars show less

I got this with my teenage daughter in mind, but she said she was too busy to read it so I read it myself. And I really enjoyed it.

Yes, it’s YA fiction and some of the characters are a bit shallow – but it also raises some interesting questions about the rights and wrongs of putting people in prison, and how we should respond when faced with injustice. It’s interesting that the note at the back refers to the inspiration the author took from real-life POW stories from WW2, and contains show more a useful list of further reading that children (or even adults) interested in “heroic escapes and general derring-do” might like explore.

The story centres around Adam, who is sent to a time-warp prison for betraying his friend. But the punishment seems out of all proportion to the “crime” – children are imprisoned for hundreds of years, yet no time passes in the world outside and they don’t get old. Adam wants to escape, but he has to decide who he can trust and who might betray him!

This book has a great plot and the story is well told. Short chapters make it easy to read, and give it a great pace. Personally, I found it a compelling and easy read, with plenty of twists and turns in the last half to keep the reader engaged. I also have Darkside (Tom Becker’s first book) on my shelf, and now I feel motivated to get that down and read it! show less

The radio message could have been a fluke, even the letter could be taken for a joke, but a giant zeppelin on an abandoned beach can not be ignored. When a stupid mistake, a thoughtless act breaks apart a friendship, the traitor must be punished, and the only way for a traitor to learn their lesson is imprisonment on the Dial.

No one on the Dial is innocent, all have betrayed someone, been a traitor to someone, and all are paying for their actions. Life on the Dial is slow, existing outside show more of time, and a sentence on the Dial will last years, hundreds of years in fact. But as long as there are those who are traitors there will be the Dial to punish them, with no chance of escape.

The Traitors on the Dial are all children who have committed acts of betrayal against family and friends. With the majority of betrays being petty acts and thoughtless mistakes, here there is no allowance for the young to learn by their mistakes, only a harsh punishment for actions regretted. The idea behind this story is quite intriguing however the execution is a little standard. Still, this is a prison story young boys will enjoy. show less

Adam Wilson has made a mistake as he betrayed his best friend but does that mean he is deserving of a long jail term? The people at the Dial think so in this exciting Prison/Sci-fi children's book that I would heartily recommend to top-end primary pupils and above. Adam is taken to a parallel universe where children are imprisoned for hundreds of years for betraying friends and family, it sounds and feels a little unjust but it could provoke some interesting classroom discussions about show more betratayal and loyalty if used as a class text!
As acknowledged by the author he was inspired by stories of wartime prison stories with escape parties and tough prison guards plus you also have the 'fixer' character who is getting hold of contraband goods; for anyone young or old who has enjoyed war stories these add depth and truth to the story telling. Becker has added to this some interesting twists and turns: we have a 'traitor' in the midst; there is a mystery surrounding an inmate who might have escaped; and we also wonder if this is all a dream that Adam will wake from soon!
Adam and his friends are very engaging and we have a classic 'baddie'/hate figure in Mr Pitt; they are well written and the tale draws you in very quickly. You have short chapters that are quickly flicked through and I found it an easy enjoyable read with an intriguing and surprising ending that unlike many YA/children's books was not predictable from the start. I will certainly recommend this to many younger friends and family but there was also much to enjoy for someone a little past childhood! show less