REVIEW: Into The Dark by: Patrick D’Orazio
Six weeks ago, the mysterious virus came out of nowhere and engulfed the world. Everyone seemed to die than rise again.
Jeff Blaine did his best to hold his family together and to protect them from the horrors scratching at their door, but in the end, they were ripped away from him like everyone else that ever mattered. Lost and alone, Jeff decided his only option was to destroy as many of the monsters that stole his life away before they destroy him as well. But when he discovers Megan, George and Jason, three other survivors not interested in giving up just yet, he reluctantly accepts that there might still be a reason to fight and live to see another day.
Traveling through the blasted landscapes their world has become, the quartet discovers that the living dead aren’t the only danger with which they must cope. Even our survivors who promise safety and security from the hordes of ghouls roaming the wastelands will test loyalties and their faith in mankind.
Jeff and his small band of newfound friends must forge a semblance of life in the newly blighted world. And they will have only the light of their own humanity by which to navigate as everything around them descends into the dark.
Okay, this is Patrick D. Orazio’s second novel in the Dark trilogy. It was a fun read, just like the original. I will make a few references to my review of Comes the Dark because I will be discussing what parts of the work improved and what didn’t improve throughout this review.
Plot: Okay, I have to start out with the bad news. The plot was cliché in a few spots, which hurt the story big time in my eyes. In the review for Comes the Dark, I stated “the story itself plot wise is average, in my opinion” Well I am afraid to say that this is the same case for Into the Dark. The story’s plot is lackluster and it is very predictable. The cliché foreshadowing did not work well in favor of the author; I wish he would have done something a little different with the plot. I would not want to elaborate too deep into the structure and formulation of the plot because it is the only element that when reviewing, that I could end up spoiling the story for readers. And I don’t want to spoil the story. The story did have a few good spots when it came to the plot, but the majority of it was a little predictable.
Pace: Okay, there are a few good comments to be made about the pace. Patrick D. Orazio is a descriptive driven author who can vividly create a grotesque image of a zombie. I noted that in Comes the Dark, he is a descriptive author who takes more time delving into the visuals, than he did with the action and other events that keep the story moving forward. This time he takes to a faster pace by cutting back some of the descriptive text. Now, the story does move at a faster pace than it did in the original Comes the Dark, but he did it in such a manner that he didn’t veer too far away from his descriptive laden pages. I hope that he doesn’t stray too far from his descriptive style because it sets his work apart from a lot of the other authors, who spend most of the time writing only to appease the modern reader, which calls for a fast paced story with little to no descriptive text. But he seemed to coordinate and balance his descriptions within the scenes without going too far away from his original style of writing.
Gore: The gore was much more appropriately placed than it had been in Comes the Dark. In Comes the dark, I commented that “It was a tad bit overdone.” Now, I am not a huge fan of overloading the pages with scenes describing gore. But he seems to hold back on some of the gore in this book, but this can be because the tempo of the story has changed since Comes the Dark. Comes the Dark had a plot that kept moving, and between events in the storyline it was hard for the reader to gather his thoughts sometimes. What I mean by this is that he gave very little opportunity for the characters in the story to have some down time. Like a chance for the characters to relax and it involves scenes which don’t benefit the plot but benefit the character’s depth. Comes the Dark had little of this, but Into the Dark has plenty of character benefit scenes that I classify as “down time”.
Down time can be something as simple as two characters having a conversation about something besides the apocalypse around them. The author incorporated a few down time scenes that really did add texture to the story, and I applaud his decision to do such, cause it did add a lot to the story, to veer away from the constant action, and to give the reader some down time. If utilized properly, Down Time can be very suspenseful if its structure well.
Realism: The realism of the story is pretty well constructed, like I have mentioned a few times in previous reviews, I believe realism is a strong element in horror and Patrick D. Orazio seems to stay in line when it comes to horror. The only issue I had with realism was in Comes the Dark concerning gas within the van, I know by experience that some vans aren’t very fuel efficient, but he went throughout the story, without any concern towards the van’s gas level, and he even makes a point in saying later in that novel that the van’s gas tank was nearly full, even though they spent most of the day driving, and he didn’t mention much about them stopping to get gas. But he does keep true to a lot of realism in his story, and again, kudos.
Characters: The new band of characters that we are introduced to are well drawn. A very diverse group of survivors with very different personalities create a lot of the conflict in the story. Patrick D. Orazio tried to show readers that during the zombie apocalypse, ( or any apocalypse) that you must try and get used to surviving with anybody, and that WILL include some pretty shady characters. He manages to keep some of the characters true to their personalities through dialogue, whether it be their diction or mannerism of speech that set them apart from other characters. The only problem I had with it was that it was a cliché cast of characters. I know I have used the term cliché a few times now but it’s the best way to describe some of the character’s he had presented. Again, he should have changed some of the characters and he should have tried to include someone fresh and new when it came to characters.
Writing: The writing itself is good, just like in the original. Nothing much to say about the writing because it pretty much hasn’t changed in tone since Comes the Dark.
Overall: The plot and characters were cliché, but both were well written and well constructed. The pace of the story was a little faster than the original and he managed to keep the story moving without deterring too far from his style of writing, which is a descriptive driven style. This is a good sequel to Comes the Dark, and the ending will leave you biting your knuckles with anticipation for the next book.
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