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A Review of "Darkness on the Horizon"




Introduction

I've always loved a good suspenseful mystery novel, and Darkness on the Horizon by debut author Christopher Renna absolutely qualified as making the list! Although the "mystery" is solved about half of the way into the novel, it by no means takes away the thrilling suspense that Darkness on the Horizon has to offer. This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review, and I can honestly say that it is a beautifully set, well-executed tale of dark secrets, small towns, and horrific murder--and I couldn't get enough of it!

My Rating: 

Synopsis: "All Morgan Fischer wants is to graduate high school and escape small-town Colby, Pennsylvania. Since the death of his mother, childhood friends have become his tormentors, and his father has become an absent and neglectful alcoholic. When a lack of food forces Morgan to earn money, he develops a friendship with the new residents in town, Ava and Jonathan. They give Morgan the loving attention and guidance he doesn't receive at home. As their bond deepens, he learns the older siblings have a dark secret. And because of his love for them, it's a secret he promises to keep.

During the summer, a series of murders have rattled the small town. The arrival of a mysterious stranger from Ava and Jonathan's past threatens danger. When the threat becomes too great, Morgan must alter his plans for the future and confront his fears. Thrust into a world of deception and murder, can Morgan summon the courage to survive?" (via Goodreads)


Thoughts and Comments

Pros

  • The writing is simple and lovely, without any noticeable mistakes, and the descriptions always do well at allowing the reader to image the settings and objects.
  • The dialogue is always incredibly natural and it flows excellently--I never felt that I could see the author showing through the novel, only the characters.
  • The novel drags a sense of teenage angst and nostalgia out of adult readers--although the protagonist is a senior in high school, I would certainly qualify the book as an adult book rather than something belonging to the YA genre.
  • The mystery aspect of a serial killer in small-town America is extremely appealing by itself, but when you add vampires into the mix, it makes the concept that much more interesting.
  • The concept of vampires (known as "Immortals" in the book's case) has nods to the original legend without being cliche, and yet, it also adds its own quirks to the "disease" of immortality and vampirism, which is something that I greatly appreciated. No sparkles here!
  • The scenes with the killer are always very disturbing and do a great job at portraying just how random and innocent the killer's victims are. The element of strangeness never leaves the scene, even though we as readers clearly see the killer's attitude in dialogue and narration throughout the novel.


Cons

  • Some scenes, such as the dinner scene in the second chapter with Ava and Jonathan, seemed to be both rushed an an excuse for blatant exposition through dialogue, but this was mostly in the first third of the book. The rest of the novel seemed very evenly-paced and appropriately explained.
  • When it's first expressed that Jonathan and Ava are vampires, Morgan believes them far too quickly for my liking. I did not personally believe that it was realistic--if the situation was in real life, I would imagine a high school boy would react a bit differently to finding out the people he mowed the lawn for were bloodsucking monsters. I understand that they provided Morgan with a sense of home and friendship that he didn't have before; however, it seemed that Morgan barely even questioned the existence of vampires, much less that he knew two of them personally.


Conclusion

Darkness on the Horizon was one of the best paranormal suspense novels that I've read in a long while. I would certainly recommend it to fans of classic vampire stories, such as Interview with the Vampire and 30 Days of Night. Setting the novel in a small town like Colby, Pennsylvania was the icing on the cake with this book, and the likable protagonist forced me to keep reading until the end--I couldn't put it down! Mr. Renna, thank you for the opportunity to review your work. I look forward to seeing more from you in the future!



Amazon Link: See here
Goodreads Link: See here
Riffle Link: See here


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