July 23, 2002
Darker Than Night
Owl Goingback

Here’s the review I wrote for Amazon, which diplomatically states how I felt about this book:

"I try to keep up with all the Stoker Award winners, and this was the first of Goingback's books that I'd read. The story itself was extremely entertaining - the Indian lore, the kachina dolls, etc. - but I think it could have been even better.

Too often, the narrative voice takes on a soapbox feel - i.e., a little mini-rant about gun laws. It detracted from the story, and resulted in too much "telling" instead of "showing". Secondly, there was often an attempt made to switch voices/points of view, and while it was adequately done between the protagonist and the protagonist's wife, the switch was unsuccessful when trying to "speak" from the kids' point of view. There was a section, for instance, that spoke from the younger boy's POV. The voice would be right for one paragraph, but then it would veer off into a very adult voice. That section in particular was glaring.

Other than a need for polishing, though, it was a very entertaining story."

I wanted to be diplomatic – even though I made sure it was an anonymous review – because you never know when negativity will come back to bite you. Since I want to break into the horror market and be a member of the HWA, I probably shouldn’t personally annoy a Stoker Award winner! Again though, my review was anonymous.

I told Mickey last night that this book actually rekindled my desire to start writing again, because I honestly think – and I didn’t say this in my review, of course, cuz it’s kinda rude – I can do better.

There were times when this book was just ridiculous. It talked down to the reader. It was a platform for personal opinions. The “voices” were flawed. Not that I’m perfect, but I bet I can do better. ( )