Darker Days

A Novel

De: Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Narrado por: Teri Schnaubelt

"Darker Days reinforces that Olde Heuvelt is one of the most vital and exciting voices in modern horror”— Mike Flanagan, director of The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher, and Dr. Sleep

"Darker Days is a remarkable and disturbing morality tale about the true cost of lucky lives. It’s a tremendous achievement by Thomas Olde Heuvelt as well as a frightening gift for readers." — Owen King, author of The Curator

From the author of the internationally acclaimed bestseller HEX comes a modern twist on the Faustian tale about a gilded street in a Pacific Northwest town where the charmed residents have made a frightening deal . . . resulting in devastating consequences.

Sometimes you think you can see things behind the fence. Bad things. So it’s better not to look . . .

In Lock Haven, a quiet little town in Washington State, Bird Street is a special place. The residents of this pretty cul-de-sac on the edge of the woods are all successful, healthy, and happy. Their children are prodigies; well-mannered and… unnaturally smart.

But come November, the “Darker Days” descend, bringing accidents, bad luck, conflict, and illness. Luana and Ralph Lewis-da Silva prepare for this, and so do their children Kaila and Django. It is in November when a stranger appears to collect on a longstanding debt. A price must be paid for the good fortune they enjoy the rest of the year. A sacrifice must be made.

So it has been for over a century. To assuage their guilt, the residents of Bird Street choose carefully who will be sent into the woods. Usually, it is an elderly or terminally ill individual who wishes to die with dignity and is content to be helped on their way.

But this year, things don’t go to plan, and events take a terrifying turn . . .

Darker Days is a propulsive, haunting novel that begs the questions: “How far will we go for our own happiness and what sacrifices are we willing to make?”

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Strong Story & Characters

This was a good one! If you liked Hex, you'll like this one too. Good character development, interesting plot, and I always like these types of stories focused on a town going through something with jumping perspectives (something Stephen King did a lot of in his early career especially). I'd recommend giving it a listen in October/November for maximum thematic timeliness.

Love Heuvelt’s work, but……

I’m a fan of Heuvelt. Hex is one of my favorite books. His stories are compelling, well written, and dark. Darker Days has a great premise and was well executed. It’s probably however the last one I’ll read because of his instance on bringing politics into his stories. I don’t read horror to be preached at. I’ll miss his great story telling.

surprisingly good

i quite liked this and was pleasantly surprised by the plot developments. i figured there was no way there could be a satisfying ending, but i was wrong! my only real complaint was that it was annoying that the narrator pronounced the korean name incorrectly and that the author associated manga with korea, when that’s japanese. other than those blips though, i really liked this.

Love this

A Faustian fable written for a modern era

While act one sets up the situation and gets you familiar with the characters and the stakes, you’ll really enjoy the twists and turns of act two.

Ending was great! This is my second favorite of this authors right after Hex.

The book has a good premise but..

I liked the story line. The plot is really unique; however, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters nor did I feel any distress for any of them. This felt like more of a thriller then a horror novel. I was left feeling "thats it?" at the end of this novel. About the 9 hourish mark, I realized I still had 6 hours left to listen and kept expecting the horror portion to kick in, to see more of our villain but nothing came. If you like light spooky cult novels this is for you.