| Title | : | The Dark |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1503382753 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781503382756 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 438 |
| Publication | : | First published December 8, 2014 |
Once again, award-winning horror master David C. Cassidy takes his readers into a realm of terror, a world unlike any other. With the inspired flair of Clive Barker and the pulse-pounding beat of Stephen King, The Dark is a supernatural thriller that will leave you breathless, reminding us all that for all we desire there is always a price, the currency in suffering and sacrifice.
IT KNOWS WHAT YOU WANT. IT KNOWS WHAT YOU NEED.
In denial over his father's death in a horrific accident, Kelan Lisk has grown fearful and withdrawn. For this meek and bullied child, a burning desire to tame a deadly sledding hill consumes him, drawing him inside a wondrous place where anything is possible ... including his father. But as this strange new realm spills into this one, twisting an innocent little boy into an agent of evil, the world is forever changed, devoured by an even greater evil--the Dark.
Praise for The Dark:
"While reading The Dark, you're going to wonder why David C. Cassidy isn't the household name that Stephen King's or Dean Koontz's are. The writing and story plot are on par with both of those illustrious authors."
"The Dark is a lean, mean psychological thrill ride that offers generous shades of horror masters such as King or Koontz."
"Cassidy doesn't write scenes--he puts you in them."
"Terrifying, gripping, The Dark is a taut read that will make you want to keep turning the pages."
The Dark Reviews
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Wow! This was a huge book of just utter creepiness!
They call it The Dark.. it reels you in and takes your soul.
Little Kelan was in the car with his father when they wrecked and his father was killed instantly. He is devastated thinking it's his fault. His mother Susan and brother Eric try to help him but he just can't get over it. So he starts going to a place everyone calls, The Run. It's a big hill you sled down and try not to land in the river, you either stop before it or if your lucky you can fly over it. Kelan is terrified of the run and he always runs into his bully Arnie when he's up there and gets tortured and so forth. Kelan stays out late one night and meets what he thinks is a new kid that seems kind of weird but is nice to help and says he can make the run. Kelan is so happy to have a friend that he sleds down the slope and does make it over the river. But little does he know this is the beginning of horrible things to come. The Dark steals little kids and brings them to a world they think is all fun..until... it's not! The Dark also takes out as many adults as it can.
You can go back and forth in this world until it takes you for good.
This book has so much creepiness and gory parts you can just feel The Dark's eyes on you!! It makes you not want to go out in the woods again that's for sure.
I recommend this book to any horror fan. It's a good 500 pages, but it's worth it and doesn't drag at any point, it's just too creepy for that and there is way to much going on with a group of people.
I look forward to more of this author's books!
www.melissa413readsalot.blogspot.com -
REVIEW: THE DARK by David C. Cassidy
How scary IS this book? Well, I had to stop reading and come back to it again at least four times, because I was just too frightened to go on. Second, I tried reading at night, alone, and quickly found out that was way too scary. [ Next time, I'll try reading in the midst of a bustling community library!] This is high praise indeed from a reader who has fed on horror in many stripes for upwards of 5.5 decades. THE DARK is terrifying! Implacable, inescapable, the kind of terror that paralyses the muscles and stops the breath. Welcome to The Dark: you've never encountered anything like it. -
I was very excited when I won a signed copy of The Dark by David Cassidy in a Goodreads Giveaway last month. It's a keeper - he personalized it to me and it was a fantastic read! I loved the personal touch but that was not all that I liked about it. I went in with high expectations as he was compared to Stephen King & Dean Koontz - two of my favorites - okay Mr. King is probably my favorite since I go back a long way reading his stories. Mr. Cassidy isn't quite as funny. Anyway, I was NOT disappointed - this new to me author from Canada is here. So glad I won this book and I look forward to reading his others.
The Dark brought out the child in me and I went into this story excitedly. I was ready but afraid for the adventure I would take with this child, Kelan Lisk. I was absorbed the night I began reading and woke only to pick it up again soon thereafter. Once the coffee had begun to brew I began to wonder what Kelan and his family were up to. Kelan was attracted to the run - it was alive and called to him and his sled. That is what he wanted to do... to make it across without dying.
Kelan had a brother Eric. Eric loved and Kelan feared spiders. Eric, after an incident whereby he tricked Kelan with a "gift" of spiders was beaten by Kelan with a possessed stick. Eric now fears the now violent Kelan. Kelan is being consumed by the Dark through the stick. This is how it all seems to begin.
Mom and Eric are also feeling the Dark creep into their beings - their dreams.
Susan, Kelan's mom and the kids are alone after a car accident that killed their father, her husband, Paul. Paul's death has been blamed on Kelan and he is subsequently bullied by other kids while he is still grieving for his dad.
The Dark isn't just talking to Kelan. The Dark also talks to Harmon Wyatt, a black man who lives alone, he feels the Dark as well. It makes him take out his own eye own but in the end it basically turns him into a tree. Slowly. While he is turning you learn of the daughter and wife the Dark took and that it still has his son. I totally got into his story about how the Dark got his family. There is also Eckert the asshole rapist, pedophile pig who gets his in the end by Susan. That was good too. The other rotten character, Arnie Kovacs appeared enough that I was glad when he got his too!
The stick has a lot to do with the delivery method. People who are possessed and yield the stick are a dangerous bunch as the Dark is consuming everyone and warping their minds. If it pierces you, the wound is the site where you start turning. The woods are coming alive it seems. They are growing enormous! It's crazy. You see the Dark enhances your own existing fears and turns them against you. It effects every person/family differently. It speaks to you in your dreams. Wyatt, the tree man knows the Dark didn't totally "have" his son. So as he is turning, he is hoping to save his son. Insane heroes. Jeez, what will his son think when he sees his dad who cut off his hand, poked out his own eye and looks like a tree. That's great. I love this guy - he cauterized his own wounds only half way through the book.
There were many other side stories I could tell you about but this is good enough for a review I believe. Sorry if I included any spoilers.
This author is delightfully demented! Very well written. Thoroughly engaged me and I was pulled right into this fantastic story. All issues seemed to come to a nice ending and nothing was left with me asking questions. I was happy with the ending. I do love ghosts and dreams. It took me two weeks to complete this book. I slowed down to grasp as much as I could so it really wasn't a "quick" read but it was a satisfying one. Even Mr. Cassidy's bio (background) - it was interesting. Thank you GoodReads and Mr. Cassidy! -
***The Kindle copy of this book was purchased with my own funds with no expectations of a review on the author's part.****
Cassidy's The Dark will draw you in, and leave you spellbound in a world tinged with madness.
In the sleepy, snow-bound town of Keys Corner, something ancient and eldritch is once more on the prowl, luring in new victims, and tormenting old ones with nightmare turned reality. For Kelan, it begins with meeting a boy out of time, with the seductive call of the Run, a snowy slope not to be sledded by the faint of heart.
For Harmon, it is a call that hearkens back to a sins of necessity and to a staggering loss. For others, such as Susan, Kelan's mother, and Eric, his brother, and passers-through such as Fran, Pedersen, and the Four-Pack, they are secondary and tertiary players, tapped because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
To me, Harmon's story was the most terrifying, because it dealt with the super-sensitive topic of eyes. I've lost one, and book and cinema scenes involving eyes in any connotation is enough to make me shiver in fear. Here's your fair warning, folks. If you are sensitive about eyes, like me, be prepared. The eye theme carried through from Harmon to Ellis's story, though the themes of 'the watcher in the woods', and eyes in general were persistent throughout the book.
Despite the creepy eye theme, I was hooked from the start. I devoured the story, wanting to learn what this being was....is... I was not disappointed. -
While reading The Dark, you’re going to wonder why David C. Cassidy isn’t the household name that Stephen King’s or Dean Koontz’s are. The writing and story plot are on par with both of those illustrious authors.
The Dark is a fascinating read. Cassidy doesn’t write scenes, he puts you in them, smelling the nothingness of the air, or the stench. You shiver when the characters are cold, and try to slide back in your chair when they recoil. I found myself shaking my head often at how well Cassidy captures the personality of the characters.
There are scenes that are gruesome that’ll make you squirm, but I couldn’t stop reading. I kept flipping the pages hoping that the horror that was about to transpire wouldn’t. But it does. There are numerous other scenes that won’t curdle your stomach, but will have you ignore the things going on around you as you’re unable to stop reading until you learn what happens.
If I had a complaint about the book, and it’s a small one, this is a tome of a novel. It also stole three hours of one day when I neared the end and had to finish it or the day would have been a waste until I knew what happened.
If you love getting lost in a dark, frightening, world that holds a promise of all will work out in the end, even though you can’t see how, reward yourself with this novel. You won’t be sorry. -
I was unfamiliar with David Cassidy, or his work prior to this book. I can say with 100% certainty that I am a fan. While I do love horror movies, I am woefully behind on reading novels in the horror genre, other than Stephen King. The Dark is a book that reminds me that I need to find and read more horror novels, especially if they are as well crafted as this book is.
In a classic good vs. evil storyline, the battlefield is a small town, one hit hard by the economy, in the middle of a harsh winter. The opening chapter is a bit disjointed but as you read it, you realize how well that first chapter captures the fear and the mentality of the young boy who becomes the focal point of the story. In the afterward, the author mentions that this book was based on a short story they had written. How lucky are the readers that this was expanded into a book.
I found this to be a riveting book - as a frantic single mother tries to understand what has happened to her youngest child. Evil lurks, using children as a conduit and this is not the first year that it has happened. Together, a few try to solve the puzzle of what The Dark is and why it takes the children. Kelan, the young boy, is not totally aware of the evil that has him in thrall, his visions begin as a fantasy playground and soon degrade into a nightmarish hell.
The characters are believable, and translated well to the pages, so the come alive. Flat and two dimensional characters are my number 1 pet peeve in any book (as anybody who has read my reviews about recent James Patterson books can tell you) and there is none of that with David Cassidy's writing. The action is good and well written, both outlining the horrors and leaving just enough to the reader's imagination to make you want to turn on a nightlight and nudge your own heater up a notch.
This is a very effective horror novel. I really look forward to reading more by this author.
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review. -
Cassidy's The Dark will draw you in, and leave you spellbound in a world tinged with madness.
In the sleepy, snow-bound town of Keys Corner, something ancient and eldritch is once more on the prowl, luring in new victims, and tormenting old ones with nightmare turned reality. For Kelan, it begins with meeting a boy out of time, with the seductive call of the Run, a snowy slope not to be sledded by the faint of heart.
For Harmon, it is a call that hearkens back to a sins of necessity and to a staggering loss. For others, such as Susan, Kelan's mother, and Eric, his brother, and passers-through such as Fran, Pedersen, and the Four-Pack, they are secondary and tertiary players, tapped because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
To me, Harmon's story was the most terrifying, because it dealt with the super-sensitive topic of eyes. I've lost one, and book and cinema scenes involving eyes in any connotation is enough to make me shiver in fear. Here's your fair warning, folks. If you are sensitive about eyes, like me, be prepared. The eye theme carried through from Harmon to Ellis's story, though the themes of 'the watcher in the woods', and eyes in general were persistent throughout the book.
Despite the creepy eye theme, I was hooked from the start. I devoured the story, wanting to learn what this being was....is... I was not disappointed. -
The Dark is a brilliant work of horror
ByMiss Lyn "Lyn Askew"on September 1, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition
David C Cassidy has written a brilliantly scary book.His characters,both good and bad pull you in and truly bind you to the pages of this journey of evil, death and the inescapable horror of the Dark.
I haven't enjoyed a horror novel this much since the early days of Stephen King's work.
Seemingly normal small town people face and original and exceptional horror that can ruin them forever! I can't wait to read more of Mr, Cassidy's work. Don't miss this amazing book.
I received this book in return for an honest review. -
I loved it! Mr. Cassidy can draw you in and captivate you with his words! This is a chilling tale including a form of evil we can lose sleep over. The author has woven a tale with such rich characters that you root for the good guys and curse out loud for the bad. From the bully to the tree man you won't forget these characters. The ending is bittersweet and I found myself tearing up. BRAVO David C. Cassidy!
As a final opinion, I have read every Dean Koontz and most of Stephen King. David is their equal. -
Absolutely Great!
One of the best books I've read for awhile & I read a lot.
From the very start I was drawn in by the characters & storyline. This author has a gift of bringing the story to life in his words. One of the best creepy stories I've come across. I will be anxiously awaiting the next story by David C Cassidy! -
I won The Dark from GoodReads. I have never read any of David C. Cassidy's books. I have read all of Gillian Flynn's books. So I have to say I enjoyed the creepiness of The Dark. I will definitely read his other books.
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David Cassidy does it again! Seriously creepy, seriously enthralling, seriously GOOD READING. I love you, David Cassidy, wherever you are!! Now, go write me some more books 'cause I done read the three listed here at Goodreads!!!!
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Fantastically creepy atmosphere with my favorite kind of unexplainable horror. A great read throughout. I never felt as though it dragged on at any point. The ending, however, did not sit as well with me as it did with others. What does it say about me that That aside though, I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves horror.
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1.5
