The Dark Game

A few years ago I may have said Jonathan who? These days I need only see the name Jonathan Janz to know that I need to grab the book without even reading the description. Jonathan Janz knows horror, More than that he is an amazing story teller who doesn't need to go for the cheap scares or the gore only route. Every character has a purpose and I am not going to go into the plot much except to say each character has their own twisted little back story and the way in which it all played out was deliciously creepy. I also loved the way it mentioned The Siren and The Spector, which is another book by this author that you really need to read if you haven't yet.

I received an advance copy for review.

There is a wide and varied cast of characters, but I didn’t find myself losing track of who’s who or disliking the number of perspectives; if anything, it was intriguing to watch the story-telling style change as the players began to exit the game. And believe me...they do exit quickly. The story’s action picks up early and never lets up. A word of warning: If you get a letter in the mail that begins with, “Mr. Roderick Wells invites you...”, just throw it away. Don’t read the rest. Don’t consider it for even a moment, and most importantly of all... DO NOT RESPOND!!!.

I have been wanting to read a book by Jonathan Janz for quite a while because I have been hearing/reading so many raving reviews on Instagram about his books. I managed to snag a copy of, "The Dark Game" and now I am mentally smacking myself for taking so long. I was literally hooked by the first sentence in the first chapter. I am not sure if I am allowed to quote a sentence or not so I won't but pick up a copy of this book and you will see exactly what I mean.
Imagine the tv show, "Survivor" but the contestants are writers and not survivalists. Ten writers are chosen by the most famous and successful author in the world to go on a retreat where they will learn and benefit from his expertise. The catch is there can only be one winner. show more The truth is that they are now in the grasp of a sadistic and possibly insane host. Throw in a hint of the supernatural and you have the perfect storm.
The book drew my interest from the beginning and didn't let up until the very last page. Mr. Janz knows how to slowly raise the suspense and keep it going until the very end. I actually ended up staying up late to finish which is unusual for me. I also gave 5 stars which I do not do very often either. Do I recommend this book? The answer is a resounding, hell yes!
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As a pre-reader for horror novelist, Jonathan Janz, I have to good fortune to read his work before almost anyone else. He's become one of my favorite authors because of his ability to quickly draw readers into creative stories that are filled with memorable and identifiable characters.

So, as an early reader for one of his latest books, “The Dark Game”, it is my happy duty to report that Mr. Janz has done it again! In this novel, Janz has mixed the best elements of Agatha Christie's book, “And Then There Were None” (or as it's better known “Ten Little Indians”) with film director Willam Castle's great “House on Haunted Hill”.

Ten young, aspiring writers are invited to the house of renowned horror novelist, Roderick Wells. show more None of them know why they were chosen but all have been promised the professional opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to learn at the foot of a master. And, as a bonus, the writer who produces the best work is promised riches beyond his or her imagination.

As part of their invitation to this summer “retreat” at Wells' mansion, the novices are instructed to bring their best manuscript with them. Shortly after the first meeting with Wells, he collects all of the manuscripts and throws them into the fireplace burning them beyond salvage. Above their cries of anguish and dismay, Wells announces that their best work lies ahead for these inexperienced authors under his tutelage. The challenge that he's established calls for each writer to create a brand new work of horror fiction within a six-week time limit.

From that point, the book takes off with Janz' usual great characterization. The reader is quickly drawn into the plot as Janz shares the backstory of each aspiring novelist. Another Janz trademark soon takes its place in this novel. He is not afraid to kill off popular characters early in a book which stokes the levels of anxiety and curiosity for his readers. I should add that one of my favorite characters in the entire book doesn't even come from the group of writers, but instead in the form of one seriously deranged sheriff.

One by one the surviving writers begin to question the real motivation for this gathering as they continue to polish their novels and compete against one another. As their numbers dwindle and the stakes become higher, the survivors of this gruesome game realize that Wells is an unbalanced puppet master capable of blurring the lines between fantasy and reality.

Hard to put down, “The Dark Game” is truly a wonderful read by a horror novelist at the top of his game. Janz will scare the pants off of you while giving an experience that will stay with you for a while. show less

While THE DARK GAME turned out to be a good book, I had a couple of problems with the beginning. I'll admit that those problems were probably might fault for the way I consumed the story. I listened to the book on Audible instead of reading the words. Part of me wonders if I would have had the same problems if I had read the words instead of listening to them. It's never been a problem before but maybe this time it was. Other reviews have compared the book to LORD OF THE FLIES, the more obvious comparison in my mind is the TV show "Survivor".

Ten authors are invited to a summer-long retreat at famous author Roderick Wells' hidden mansion in the woods. While he promises to tutor and assist the writers in becoming better, he also frames it show more as a challenge. One-by-one the authors are slowly eliminated until one is left. That one will win three million dollars plus a publishing contract for the book that was written during the summer. Unknown to the authors, the elimination is permanent and directly beneficial to Roderick. Once they accept the reality of what is happening, the fight to win the challenge morphs to a fight for their lives.

As I mentioned, I had a problem getting into the book. With the ten contestants, Roderick, and a small supporting staff, I had issues keeping track of all the characters. It was more of a surface issue though; the characters were defined and relatable but it would take me a minute or two to realize who the character was. "That's right. Amanda is married to Roderick. Lucy is another writer." That type of thing. Of course, once authors started being eliminated, it was easier to remember everyone. Some of the initial deaths were also annoying, sort of. Each contestant in the story was chosen in part because of their past, their personal demons. While at the retreat, the authors had to face those same demons. In some cases, those demons killed. It made sense and fit the reality of the story. However, it also was disappointing to see them die because they gave up rather than fighting. Defeating personal demons is always hard but maybe those early deaths could have been done differently. On the other side of the coin though, once enough characters died, I was pulled completely into the story. And in normal great book fashion, I couldn't get through the final third of the book fast enough and yet also couldn't stretch it out so that I could enjoy it longer. As an additional plus, there are Easter eggs in the story. I unfortunately haven't read enough Janz to have found them all; hell, I only found one when he mentions one of his books: THE SIREN AND THE SPECTER. While I didn't recognize most of the Easter eggs, they were written in a way that I knew there was something there that I was missing. I don't know if it would be better considered as surreal or a meta-reality, but that line between the fiction of the story and the reality of our world was smudged a little. I think I'm going to read more books by Janz and then come back and read this book again. Maybe then I'll catch a few more of those references. show less

Very engaging read. There are A LOT of characters but you are introduced to them gradually. They are fleshed out and distinct so I never felt confused about who was who. I'm pretty sure one of the influences for this book was In the Mouth of Madness (which is one of my favorite movies BTW), and Janz runs with that idea and makes it his own. Very enjoyable to read and Janz is now one of my favorite authors.

This review first appeared on scifiandscary.com. I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.
I spent 2018 only reading female authors. At the same time I was introduced to some of the new names in horror fiction through my involvement in Sci Fi and Scary and the horror fan community Instagram. Going into 2019 there were a bunch of male horror writers I really wanted to try for the first time. Jonathan Janz was definitely on that list, along with the likes of Josh Malerman and Keelan Patrick Burke. I’ve heard great things from people whose opinion I respect about other books by Janz (see Lilyn’s review of ‘The Siren and the Specter’ here), but I’m afraid that my experience with ‘ The Dark show more Game’ was massively disappointing so I won’t be rushing to read him again.
There is a fun concept at the core of ‘The Dark Game’, it just isn’t a very original one. 10 writers get invited on a retreat with a famous author who will reward one of them with his patronage. It quickly becomes obvious that sinister forces are at play and the 10 start being confronted with dark secrets from their pasts and dying one by one. The setup has promise, but soon gets overwhelmed by lazy writing and uninvolving characters. Perhaps the biggest problem is the fact that there’s noone to root for. The participants are equally dislikeable and boring. Watching them die was fun at times, and Janz is certainly creative, but any sense of horror was quickly dulled by the fact that just didn’t care about any of them.
On top of that there are plot holes you could drive a truck through and I was often left scratching my head at the twists. It feels like Janz had a decent idea to begin with, but any development of it into a story that actually worked was lost in the rush to get the book finished.
This being a book about writers having a writing competition, there is ample discussion of the craft and the horror genre. That can be fun in a book, but here I’m afraid it felt self-indulgent and the many references to better books simply highlighted the flaws with this one. The fact that pretty much all of the many chapters end with a “da da dahhh” type line was the straw that broke camel’s back for me, and the book ended up annoying me more than it entertained.
That’s a shame, because there are some good ideas here and many of the bloody set pieces are well handled. Overall this was definitely a miss for me, which is a shame as I had high hopes for it. show less