Book Review: Darkness Rising by Brian Moreland

Title: Darkness Rising

Author: Brian Moreland

Genre: Horror, Supernatural Horror

Age Group: Adult (18+)

Rating: 4 stars

Purchase: Amazon

Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

It’s all fun and games until…

Marty Weaver, an emotionally scarred poet, has been bullied his entire life. When he drives out to the lake to tell an old friend that he’s fallen in love with a girl named Jennifer, Marty encounters three sadistic killers who have some twisted games in store for him. But Marty has dark secrets of his own buried deep inside him. And tonight, when all the pain from the past is triggered, when those secrets are revealed, blood will flow and hell will rise.

In Darkness Rising, Marty Weaver has been bullied his entire life, and not just by his peers, but by ust about everyone. His past was filled with tragedy, and the only source of light in his life is his love for Jennifer, the first girl who ever seemed interested in him, and who might even love him back. Second to that is his love for poetry – he’s been writing poems as a way to get rid of the pain he feels over his past and over being bullied. But when he drives to a nearby lake and runs into three sadistic killers who want to kill him, shoot it on camera, and have some sadistic fun while doing so, something dark erupts from within Marty, and the demons of his past have come back with a vengeance. One may ask themselves te question who is more twisted that night at the lake: the killers, or Marty.

For a novella, this book packs a whole lot, and brings an awful lot of depth to its main character, Marty.  He is so realistic one could almost picture him as a real person. In comparison, the killers are too thin, too easily falling back into stereotypes. We’re given little reason as to why they’re doing the killing (well, we are giving a reason, but not what would bring them to do such a thing) and they seem just too evil just for the purpose of being evil, not for any deeper reason.

The plot is original though, I have to credit that, and I didn’t know what to expect half the time. The prose is haunting in a good way, and as a whole, the novella is definitely impressive. If you’re a fan of horror that doesn’t shy away from some gore, then give this book a shot.