Deep In The Darkness

Non amo il libri in cui gli autori, per aumentare il numero complessivo di pagine, inseriscono scene inutili ai fini del racconto, o si dilungano eccessivamente in descrizioni o storie parallele, ma allo stesso modo non amo neanche quando si taglia eccessivamente sulla storia, lasciando nel lettore troppi punti interrogativi.

Questo è il caso di questo libro, che è il perfetto esempio di "could have been better". La partenza nei primi capitoli è quasi un palese plagio di Pet Cemetary: famiglia che si trasferisce in un paesino sperduto, casa isolata, marito che fa il medico, animale domestico (qui è un cane, ma fa una fine peggiore del gatto di pet cemetary, visto che almeno lui tornava una volta morto), vicino di casa amichevole ma show more inquitante e cimitero posizionato nei boschi dietro la casa dove si viene portati dal vicino inquietante. Se si riesce a tollerare tutto ciò, la storia poi riesce a prendere una sua piega personale, riducendo notevolmente le similitudini con il libro di King; purtroppo però la sensazione che si ha è che tutto avvenga troppo velocemente, ma non con ritmo serrato allo scopo di creare trepidazione e suspance, ma proprio per sorvolare su determinate situazioni.

Alcuni esempi:
-la storia si svolge in un paese, ma di tutto il paese vengono presentati tre abitanti in croce e tra questi non c'è neanche lo sceriffo, personaggio immancabile della narrativa americana;
-la descrizione storica degli Isolati, i cattivi del libro per intenderci, è solo abbozzata in maniera molto frettolosa;
-gli stessi Isolati prima sembra siano umani mutati geneticamente, poi sono creature sovrannaturali che risponondo ad un Dio cornuto, ma non si capisce chi sia questa divinità , cosa faccia e perchè lo faccia;

Tutte queste situazioni contribuiscono a rendere la storia, che poteva veramente essere molto avvincente e con un buon potenziale orrorifico, in un libretto buono per la spiaggia o per un pomeriggio invernale, a patto di non avere grosse pretese in termini di emozioni.
Ultima nota, la scenza gore finale era ampiamente risparmiabile. show less

Dr. Michael Cayle moves from the city with his wife and young daughter to set up a private practice in the small town of Ashborough, New Hampshire. His new home is a half mile away from his nearest neighbor and the woods beyond his house seem to stretch on forever. He thinks his biggest problem will be trying to adjust to a new, quieter, slower pace of life, after always living in the city. Little does he know that he has bigger problems awaiting him beyond in those deep woods, where glowing golden eyes seem to be looking out at him and his family from the darkness of the woods.

This was a very enjoyable horror story that would make almost anyone afraid to live near the woods. I liked the main character Michael, and the story is written show more in his 1st person POV. It was interesting getting into his head and living out his terror and worst nightmares with him. The Isolates that lived out in the woods were horrifying little creatures. Very entertaining, disturbing, creepy, bloody and gruesome story. I never knew what to expect next. show less

Deep in the Darkness, at its heart, is a city folks move to a small town to get away from the stress and dangers that are part and parcel of life in the city. It seem that the “way” of all horror of this type is that ultimately the stress and danger of city life has NOTHING on the dangers lurking in this seemingly quite small town and its surrounding woods. The focus of the novel is the Cayle family (Dr. Michael Cayle; his wife, Christine; and Jessica, their daughter) and their seeming good luck of finding an existing country practice with a town in serious need of a regular (and exclusively theirs) doctor. What at first seems to be their incredible good luck, quickly becomes something else entirely…something the whole town knows show more about and which they conspire to draw the Cayle family into. Deep in the Darkness has an interesting premise with a seriously creepy vibe yet somehow manages to fall short of being a great read. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it…but the amount of disbelief I had to suspend really kept Deep in the Darkness from being the book it wanted to be.

Overall, Deep in the Darkness has good bones and great creep factor but ultimately doesn’t deliver…especially at the end, I was a little disappointed with the ending (it felt like a cop out). I give it three stars; Laimo successfully takes the reader on a journey from YEA RIGHT…to holy cow in this supernatural horror novel and best of all, it’s a quick read (I read it in one evening…about 4 hours)!! I’d definitely read more by this author despite my disappointments with this particular book…he’s got a twisted take on the world that is an enjoyable part of his work. show less

To quote Grandpa Simpson, "I've coughed up scarier stuff than that!"

A book this size I would generally finish in 24 hours. This one took seven days. Each time I put it down I had to make myself pick it back up. The last few chapters picked up the pace but I was still left to re-read several pages lest I had missed something -- which I hadn't but the story certainly was.

The protag was strong, then wimped out at the end. Defeated? Okay, but why not go out in a blaze of glory like this character's character indicated? I was going to rate this book a 3 but the wimp-out at the end merits nothing but a 2.

This was an interesting book. There were many times late at night as I read this book that it gave me chills and honestly frightened me a bit. It was however pretty predictable and I had most of it figured out early on. It did not however end how I had envisioned and was really quite depressing. But overall an enjoyable read.