Darkness on the Edge of Town

One of the few books I read long ago and still remember as if I read it yesterday. Very well executed and enjoyable. Compared to The Mist, which I didn’t care for but can see the relation.

I highly suggest anything from Mr. Keene. I have read all his stuff and it doesn't dissapoint. If your looking for some good horror novels look no further.

Yes, we're a visual society, and that visceral craving for lewd, crude visuals has spilled over into horror writing. So the genre writers have responded in kind by giving their readers bloodlettings that start on the first page and compound in succeeding pages with ever-more doses of gratuitous violence and graphic gore and prurient dysfunction. In other words, we in the audience are given hundreds of pages of gross-out festivals. In another word, here is what makes Brian Keene's DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN such a satisfying horror read: Moderation. Instead of a bloodletting, Keene gives his readers a story--a story about a small town in Virginia waking up to an inexplicable veil of darkness cutting the community off from the rest of the world. Nothing works: there's no power, no cell phones, no Internet, no TV, no radio; those who dare to venture into the absolute darkness on the edge of town are never seen again--those who merely go to where it begins see all sorts of gruesome manifestations, or they see long lost loved ones trying to lure them inside. The darkness is maniacal, evil, and it's influencing the behaviour of the citizens in the town--compelling them to do unspeakable things to one another. Told from the point of view of Robbie, a free-spirited pizza delivery driver, the reader sees through his eyes the implosion of the human condition. So instead of relentless gore Keene tells an edge-of-your-seat story about a town besieged by evil incarnate. Sure, there is gore, but in amounts to enhance--not overwhelm--the story. The ending is sufficiently and satisfyingly open-ended. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN is a grand horror read. Enthusiastically recommended. --D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning

Yes, the title of this review is actual dialogue from Brian Keene's unabashedly MIST-influenced DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN! But let's give Keene some credit here - at least he has good taste in, uh, source material, and at least he's willing and able to poke fun at himself. And did I mention that he also just happens to be one of the most consistently effective and entertaining Horror novelist working today? Also: even if DARKNESS ON THE EDGE is a bit of a Stephen King rip-off, then I'd say Keene's basically just evening the score. Check out THE RISING - one of the best and most influential zombie novels ever written - and then read King's CELL, and see who ripped off who first. But again, this only proves that SK also has good taste in, um, research material. Now getting back to my original point, DARKNESS is pure, state-of-the-art, guilty-pleasure Horror. Plain and simple. Premise: The small town of Walden has been entirely cut off from the rest of the planet - assuming the rest of the planet even still exists! - by an enveloping and possible sentient blackness. And while this inexplicable living void is not yet able to consume the town itself, it is able to poison the imprisoned Waldenites' minds and souls with increasingly twisted thoughts and dark impluses. You guessed it - pandemonium ensues. Fun characters, a great premise, and propulsive storytelling fuel this great new effort from one of today's best post-King/Koontz/Barker/McCammon-era Horror noveleists. So, long story short: if you liked THE MIST (especially the great novella upon which the so-so film was based), and if you enjoy good old-fashioned Horror Fiction, then DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN is four or five hours of your life that you'll not regret surrendering.

I always look forward to Keene's next book and this one did not disappoint me. I never set it down once I started reading it. It is descriptive with great character depth. I see that people are complaining about how short it is but believe me folks, I would much rather read an excellent short book than a long boring one. God knows that I have read my share of those!

Before any of you knuckleheads think Keene nicked this idea off of King's UNDER THE DOME...forget that. This was a novella before King published his doorstopper. Keene added a lot of new material to stretch this into a novel...a novel that is creepy. Walden is a normal town, until a darkness surrounds it...you can't get into Walden, and you certainly can't leave Walden...well, not alive anyways. Keene delivers another great book dealing with a town's fears and how they deal with them. Themes looked at are trust, belief, good and evil. A thoroughly entertaining yarn that just adds to the Keene legacy of top notch horror books. Do yourself a favor and buy DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN...and buy one more for a friend.