Book Review: Deep Night by Greg F. Gifune

Deep Night
Greg F. Gifune
JournalStone Publishing (July 13, 2018)
Reviewed by Andrew Byers

Originally published in 2006 as the second novel after Greg F. Gifune’s powerful debut The Bleeding Season, Deep Night was re-released by JournalStone in 2018. It is as chilling and unsettling as The Bleeding Season, a highwater mark indeed. In Deep Night, the tale begins innocuously enough with a group of old friends vacationing in the remote woods of northern Maine. However, what unfolds is far from the idyllic getaway they envisioned. A chance encounter with a blood-stained woman introduces an ancient and malevolent presence, setting in motion a series of events that will irrevocably alter the course of their lives. The narrative seamlessly shifts between the initial time at the cabin and the haunting aftermath, a year later, where the characters grapple with their fragmented memories and an unrelenting evil that refuses to be forgotten.

Gifune’s narrative prowess is on full display as he navigates the temporal intricacies of the plot. The alternating timelines heighten suspense and allow readers to piece together the puzzle of that fateful night alongside the characters. This nuanced approach to storytelling elevates Deep Night beyond mere horror conventions, transforming it into a profound exploration of memory, trauma, and the unreliability of perception.

The characters, particularly Seth Roman and his brother Raymond, are intricately woven into the fabric of the narrative. Gifune deftly explores their vulnerabilities, fears, and the complex dynamics that bind them. Raymond’s childhood night terrors, an enigma that becomes a linchpin in the unfolding horror, add a layer of psychological depth to the narrative. As the characters grapple with their fragmented recollections, the line between reality and nightmare blurs, intensifying the narrative’s psychological impact.

The novel’s atmosphere is an entity unto itself, a palpable force that permeates every page. The desolate woods become a character in their own right, shrouded in an eerie silence that amplifies the sense of isolation and impending doom. Gifune’s evocative prose brings the chilling setting to life, immersing readers in an otherworldly realm where malevolence lurks in the shadows.

Pacing, a crucial element in any horror narrative, is meticulously handled in Deep Night. Gifune masterfully controls the ebb and flow of tension, allowing suspense to mount organically. The gradual escalation of fear mirrors the characters’ descent into an abyss of terror, creating an immersive experience that captivates readers without resorting to gratuitous shocks.

As the narrative hurtles toward its climax, the boundaries between the corporeal and the supernatural blur, and the characters find themselves ensnared in a malevolent force that defies comprehension. Deep Night becomes an exploration of the human soul, a harrowing journey into the darkest recesses of existence, where the quest for survival is intricately entwined with sacrificial love and unwavering faith.

Deep Night transcends the conventional tropes of horror, offering readers a nuanced and thought-provoking exploration of fear, memory, and the human spirit. This is not merely a tale of supernatural horror but a profound narrative that lingers, inviting readers to confront the shadows that lurk within the depths of their own psyches. For those seeking a horror experience that resonates on a psychological level, Deep Night is a haunting odyssey into the heart of darkness. Definitely recommended.

This review originally appeared in Hellnotes.

Book Review: Falls the Darkness by Mark N. Drake

Falls the Darkness
Mark N. Drake
January 30, 2024
Reviewed by Andrew Byers

Over the last few years, Mark N. Drake has created and extensively developed a fictional place, Darkisle, a foreboding island inhabited by Lovecraftian horrors and cultists, where he has set three previous novels, The Gathering Shadows, Those Under the Hill, and What Festers Within, as well as several short stories. Drake has returned to Darkisle with his fourth novel, Falls the Darkness, continuing the adventures of two-fisted 1920s-era detective Jack Glennison as he battles against various occultists and Mythos horrors. I had a lot of fun with this one, as I did the first three books in the series—it’s a terrific blend of Cthulhu Mythos lore with pulpy action and thoughtful investigation.

I don’t want to give too much away about the Mythos horrors that await Jack, but I will say that it takes as its foundation my favorite cosmic horror story: HPL’s “The Colour Out of Space.” ‘Nuff said. Here, Jack has been hired by his friend, the wealthy occultist Sir Charles Deverby, who we’ve met previously, to locate a missing employee. The employee was part of a team sent to a rural area of Darkisle to locate more pieces of a meteorite that has…odd properties. When Jack gets there, he finds plenty of intrigue among the remaining members of the team. Also, the locals don’t want him or the team nosing around in their affairs, and there is clearly something extremely dangerous inhabiting the heath where the meteorite fragments can be found. All the components of a great Lovecraft-inspired mystery are here.

Drake is a meticulously detailed plotter who I always trust to get the details right. Past reviews of Drake’s work have noted the clarity of his prose. Like all of its Darkisle predecessors, at no point does the plot of Falls the Darkness depend on characters doing stupid things or behaving irrationally; everyone here behaves sensibly and according to their own best interests. Glennison is a smart, methodical investigator. Drake plays it straight with the reader, which I very much appreciate: there is an actual mystery to be solved here, and Glennison systematically sets out to gather clues. He finds them, and the reader has access to all of them as he does so. When the resolution of the central mystery is presented at the end of the novel, you, the reader, had all the same clues that Glennison had access to. Drake’s writing is always satisfying and well-crafted.

Drake is very good at telegraphing the direction of his next Darkisle novels at the end of each book, and it seems that the next novel—one that I’m already anticipating—will finally return to the site of Jack’s university days where something terrible happened and exposed him to his first brush with cosmic horrors. I have been looking forward to learning more about that since it was first alluded to in Glennison’s inaugural outing, so I can’t wait to see how this next one turns out. Jack, his assistant Josine, and the host of secondary characters who surround them become more fully realized with each novel in the series. Though it may be trite to say, Darkisle itself is as much a character in the novel as anyone else. I now have a clearer sense of this benighted island than some real-world places I have visited!

Falls the Darkness is very much recommended, though if you’re new to Drake’s Darkisle, I suggest you start with the first in the series, The Gathering Shadows, as each novel really does build on everything that came before it.

This review originally appeared in Hellnotes.

You can purchase this book on Amazon HERE.

Weekly Horror Short Story Review Project – Year 6 in Review

I began this project on February 16, 2017 and it’s been going strong ever since. Over the course of the last six years, I’ve had the chance to read A LOT of and dark fiction short story collections and anthologies I might never have had a chance to read. I’ve read some phenomenal stories, some real stinkers, and a lot in between. I’m proud that I’ve been able to maintain a pace of reading and reviewing about four of these stories a week for six years. That’s a lot of stories. But all things must come to an end.

When you’re reviewing four stories a week, one from each of four books simultaneously, and doing this solidly for five years, you end up working your way through a lot of books. I have now completed reading and reviewing 68 story collections. Here’s the complete list:

• Weeks 1-17: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, by H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi (Penguin, 1999)
• Weeks 1-55: The Dark Descent, edited by David G. Hartwell (Tor, 1987)
• Weeks 1-18: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, by Stephen King (Scribner, 2015)
• Weeks 1-21: Black Wings of Cthulhu, edited by S.T. Joshi (Titan Books, 2010)
• Weeks 18-29: The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories, by H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi (Penguin, 2001)
• Weeks 19-33: Books of Blood, Volumes One to Three, by Clive Barker (Berkley, 1998)
• Weeks 22-39: Black Wings of Cthulhu 2, edited by S.T. Joshi (Titan Books, 2012)
• Weeks 30-50: The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories, by H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi (Penguin, 2004)
• Weeks 34-47: Books of Blood, Volumes Four to Six, by Clive Barker (Sphere, 2007)
• Weeks 40-56: Black Wings of Cthulhu 3, edited by S.T. Joshi (Titan Books, 2015)
• Weeks 48-78: The Yellow Sign and Other Stories, by Robert W. Chambers (Chaosium, 2004)
• Weeks 51-76: The Book of Cthulhu, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books, 2011)
• Weeks 56-91: Alone With the Horrors by Ramsey Campbell (Tor, 2004)
• Weeks 57-74: Black Wings of Cthulhu 4, edited by S.T. Joshi (Titan Books, 2016)
• Weeks 75-99: Mammoth Book of Cthulhu, edited by Paula Guran (Running Press, 2016)
• Weeks 77-88: The Crawling Chaos and Others: The Annotated Revisions and Collaborations of H.P. Lovecraft, Vol. 1, edited by S.T. Joshi (Arcane Wisdom, 2012)
• Weeks 79-89: The Hastur Cycle, Second Edition, edited by Robert M. Price (Chaosium, 1997)
• Weeks 89-106: Medusa’s Coil and Others: The Annotated Revisions and Collaborations of H.P. Lovecraft, Vol. 2, edited by S.T. Joshi (Arcane Wisdom, 2012)
• Weeks 90-114: The King in Yellow Tales, Volume 1, by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Lovecraft eZine Press, 2015)
• Weeks 92-95: Dark Feasts, by Ramsey Campbell (Robinson Publishing, 1987)
• Weeks 96-106: Cold Print, by Ramsey Campbell (Tor Books, 1987)
• Weeks 100-115: Madness on the Orient Express, edited by James Lowder (Chaosium, 2014)
• Weeks 107-118: Demons by Daylight, by Ramsey Campbell (Carroll & Graf, 1990)
• Weeks 107-126: A Mountain Walked: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, edited by S.T. Joshi (Dark Regions Press, 2015)
• Weeks 115-124: Legacy of the Reanimator, edited by Peter Rawlik and Brian M. Sammons (Chaosium, 2015)
• Weeks 116-123: The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books, 2014)
• Weeks 119-136: Made in Goatswood: New Tales of Horror in the Severn Valley, edited by Scott David Aniolowski (Chaosium, 1995)
• Weeks 124-132: Behold the Void, by Philip Fracassi (Lovecraft eZine Press, 2018)
• Weeks 125-126: The Inhabitant of the Lake & Other Unwelcome Tenants, by Ramsey Campbell (PS Publishing, 2018)
• Weeks 127-153: A Mythos Grimmly, edited by Jeremy Hochhalter (Wanderer’s Haven Publications, 2015)
• Weeks 127-136: The Red Brain: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, edited by S.T. Joshi (Dark Regions Press, 2017)
• Weeks 133-154: The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016)
• Weeks 137-152: To Rouse Leviathan, by Matt Cardin (Hippocampus Press, 2019)
• Weeks 137-156: Degrees of Fear and Others, by C.J. Henderson (Dark Quest, 2011)
• Weeks 153-168: The Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories, edited by Stephen Jones (Skyhorse, 2019)
• Weeks 154-165: Cthulhu’s Reign, edited by Darrell Schweitzer (DAW, 2010)
• Weeks 155-178: Haggopian and Other Stories, by Brian Lumley (Solaris, 2009)
• Weeks 157-171: Dark Equinox and Other Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, by Ann K. Schwader (Hippocampus Press, 2015)
• Weeks 166-187: The Mammoth Book of Body Horror, edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan (Robinson, 2012)
• Weeks 169-185: Tales of Jack the Ripper, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Word Horde, 2013)
• Weeks 172-180: The Casebook of Carnacki the Ghost Finder, by William Hope Hodgson (Wordsworth, 2006)
• Weeks 179-275: The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories, edited by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer (Tor, 2012)
• Weeks 181-192: The Gods of H.P. Lovecraft, edited by Aaron J. French (JournalStone, 2015)
• Weeks 186-196: Alfred Hitchcock’s Monster Museum, edited by Robert Arthur (Random House, 1965)
• Weeks 188-207: Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign, edited by James Chambers (Hippocampus Press, 2021)
• Weeks 193-203: The Skinless Face, by Donald Tyson (Weird House Press, 2020)
• Weeks 197-208: Young Mutants, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles Waugh (HarperCollins, 1984)
• Weeks 204-216: Just After Sunset, by Stephen King (Scribner, 2008)
• Weeks 208-237: Weird Vampire Tales, edited by Robert Weinberg, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, and Martin H. Greenberg, (Gramercy Books, 1992)
• Weeks 209-219: Alfred Hitchcock’s Witch’s Brew (Random House, 1983)
• Weeks 217-228: Cthulhu 2000, edited by Jim Turner (Del Rey, 1999)
• Weeks 220-240: Hellbound Hearts, edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan (Pocket Books, 2009)
• Weeks 229-248: The Children of Cthulhu, edited by John Pelan and Benjamin Adams (Del Rey/Ballantine, 2002)
• Weeks 238-249: A Taste for Blood, edited by Martin H. Greenberg (Barnes & Noble Books, 1992)
• Weeks 241-269: The Black Magic Omnibus, edited by Peter Haining (Taplinger, 1976)
• Weeks 249-265: Whispers, edited by Stuart David Schiff (Jove/HBJ, 1979)
• Weeks 250-263: Caped Fear: Superhuman Horror Stories, edited by Steve Proposch, Christopher Sequeira, and Bryce Stevens (IFWG Australia, 2022)
• Weeks 264-280: Knifepoint Horror: The Transcripts, Volume 1, by Soren Narnia (self-published, 2018)
• Weeks 266-276: Reassuring Tales: Expanded Edition, by T.E.D. Klein (Pickman’s Press, 2021)
• Weeks 270-286: Dracula Unfanged, edited by Christopher Sequeira (IFWG Australia, 2022)
• Weeks 276-289: The Book of Cthulhu II, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books, 2022)
• Weeks 277-293: Tails of Terror: Stories of Cat-Themed Horror, edited by Brian M. Sammons (Golden Goblin Press, 2018)
• Weeks 281-296: Knifepoint Horror: The Transcripts, Volume 2, by Soren Narnia (self-published, 2018)
• Weeks 287-296: The Call of Poohthulhu, edited by Neil Baker (April Moon Books, 2022)
• Weeks 290-309: Nightmares & Dreamscapes, by Stephen King (Signet, 1994)
• Weeks 294-311: Shadows Over Baker Street, edited by Michael Reaves and John Pelan (Del Rey/Ballantine, 2005)
• Weeks 297-311: Cruel Stories, by Donald Tyson (Weird House Press, 2022)
• Weeks 297-304: The Edogawa Rampo Reader, by Edogawa Rampo, translated by Seth Jacobowitz (Kurodahan Press, 2008)

As one might imagine, of the 68 books I’ve read, some were better (MUCH! better) than others. Some turned out to be real stinkers. Of the 68, here were my favorites, and ones I would recommend HIGHLY:

• If you haven’t yet read Lovecraft, start with this one: The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, by H.P. Lovecraft, edited by S.T. Joshi (Penguin, 1999).
• If you don’t know Clive Barker’s work, and aren’t averse to body horror, start with: Books of Blood, Volumes One to Three, by Clive Barker (Berkley, 1998).
• If you’re looking for more Lovecraftian tales by people who followed in Lovecraft’s footsteps, read these two: The Book of Cthulhu, edited by Ross E. Lockhart (Night Shade Books, 2011) and A Mountain Walked: Great Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, edited by S.T. Joshi (Dark Regions Press, 2015).
• If you’re looking for an introduction to Laird Barron’s work, read: The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books, 2014).
• If you want other recommendations for cosmic horror, try: The Madness of Dr. Caligari, edited by Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. (Fedogan & Bremer, 2016) and Dark Equinox and Other Tales of Lovecraftian Horror, by Ann K. Schwader (Hippocampus Press, 2015).
• If you want to be scared out of your wits, or at least sincerely unsettled after reading, try: Knifepoint Horror: The Transcripts, Volume 1, by Soren Narnia (self-published, 2018).

As I have mentioned previously, the life of a blogger is a sometimes lonely one, so let me know what you think of the reviews, or hit me with any other questions or comments you might have. As always, thanks for reading!