I really wasn't too impressed with this book. The idea was interesting but it was mostly boring, to me at least. I'm not really into these kinds of books anyway. I mostly just read it to pass the time until I found a better one.

This was the first John Saul book I've read, and I wasn't too impressed. The story is a little hard to follow, since the perspective jumps around. Each character knows something that the others don't so when it switches to a different character, you're reading about something brand new. One chapter you're reading about some of the victims, and then suddenly you're reading about the bad guy from one his follower's point of view. Then, as you start to get farther into the story, it begins switching perspective after only a few paragraphs.

Though the storyline itself is hard to follow, John Saul is a pretty good author. He really captures the many characters in the book, from a 16 year old girl, to the 60-something year old bad guys, to a 90-something year old woman. Though I was constantly confused by the plot, I couldn't stop reading due to his exceptional writing. Overall, the plot was pretty good, if slightly confusing, and the writing was wonderful. I would recommend this book to anyone who can follow a twisting plot line, and I'd recommend this writer to anyone.

Darkness was my first foray into the catalogue of John Saul and I must say I was very pleased with my decision to give him a try. If you are a fan of horror novels of the likes of Dean Koontz, Stephen King, and Richard Laymon you will certainly being doing yourself a favor by taking a look at Mr. Saul. It fits right in with the horror novels of the 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s and could have easily been made into something beyond a book if it had gained more notice at the time.

Darkness is an easy novel to get into and starts right off with a very intense and gripping first chapter. Normally when you see this, the following chapter is a sharp slowdown that allows the reader to “calm down” and relax a bit. Darkness does not give you that reprieve. You jump from one exciting / thrilling, even horrific scene to another for quite a while. You really get the feeling that there is some deep darkness (no pun intended) looming over all the characters involved. Even after you do get the “cool down” you are not subjected to a long wait before things pick up again. And things move pretty fast which I like.

There is a strong sense of the unknown in this novel. You are led down a few different paths and I found myself changing my expectations quite frequently. I was considering supernatural forces, cosmic influences, mafia like crime syndicates, and even almost comic book like topics like swamp people / creatures. I will admit the reality of the situation is a bit of a let down when you consider how things happen and where it could have possibly led. But it is certainly enough to keep the reader interested and wanting to read to the end.

The characters I found to be interesting and well fleshed out without too much extra dialog. Some novels from this time had a habit of padding page numbers with long descriptive explanations that could really be boiled down to as little as half of the word count. The characters of Darkness are given just enough so that you can understand them and their motivations. Then you are expected to be able to draw your own conclusions on why that character would behave the way they do in each situation. I really appreciate this. When a novel gets over descriptive, especially with everyday people, places, situations, and things, it can get difficult for me to stay interested and it causes a drag on the pacing. You don’t run into this at all with Darkness.

The setting of a rising town on the edge of a moldering offshoot swamp of the everglades I also found to be fun. While again, not incredibly original, these kinds of culture clashes, if you will, I really like. Old meets new, tradition vs progress, and of course superstition against modern knowledge. Fun themes that have spawned some of the most beloved stories in human history. Darkness takes that and gives us another great story to add to the list.

I will not claim that this book is some deep and extremely inventive story. You will probably not finish this novel and find yourself wondering about what to do now with your life. But I am confident that if you like this kind of story, you will have a smile on your face and be happy you took the time to read it. As I was making my way through it, I was reminded of the made for TV movies or miniseries that were spawned from this kind of novel. If you have ever seen the IT miniseries (Stephen King), Phantoms movie (Dean Koontz), or Intensity movie (Dean Koontz) you will know what I mean. There is an atmosphere to these kinds of stories, and I personally love them.

Darkness

Darkness had me in suspense from the beginning to the end. I couldn't put it down. There were so many twists and turns, that every time I thought I had it figured out something new would happen. His imagination has no boundaries. This was an excellent read. I enjoy John Saul's books. He never disappoints me.