I thought I had figured out the plot twist, so I read some spoilers to verify. Guess what, I was right. So I've stopped reading this. I wasn't too invested anyway. The dialogue just didn't ring true to me, and the story sort of plods along at a very slow pace. There are some "atmospheric" parts which were nice and creepy, but overall this just didn't live up to expectations. ( )

The Darkling is a throwback to the genre that once was horror. The tales of terror and dark corners that move ever so slightly. The sense that out of the corner of your eye, there is something watching and waiting that you cannot see when you turn and look directly its way.

In July of 1974, in the city of Coden, Alabama, the stately mansion of Belle Fleur has a new family to call it home. The Hendersons, Bob and Berta, their three children, Margo, Erin and Donald. Living with them is the children's tutor, Mimi. Into this family comes the orphan teenage girl Annie, who has lost her memory through some untold trauma. Yet can recall the oddest facts. Annie's arrival sets forth a chain of events that will cost the fall of the Henderson household and the descent into fear and darkness of their tutor Mimi.

The tale is told through the eyes, the heart and the fears of the Tutor Mimi, who's loyalty and love for the Henderson's knows no bounds. She views Annie as the evil that has stepped into their lives and in time, feels that there are creatures in the woods that mean her and her charges harm. Creatures brought to Belle Fleur by the orphan girl; Annie.

There is more to Annie then first appears and her lost tale of abandonment and amnesia do not ring true. But there is much more to Mimi as well and the mansion of Belle Fleur holds tales of its own. In the end...what is in the woods and who or what is The Darkling?
( )

Full review on my blog

This is an effective horror novel that nonetheless has a lot of problems.

Oh, but this could have been so good.All the elements are there. An isolated family, a strange interloper, an unreliable narrator, a creepy old house in the woods. It should have been marvellous, the sort of book that chills you on even the hottest summer day. And the writing, at least, is very good. Atmospheric, descriptive, properly horrifying.

It’s jsut that none of the rest seems to fit together. The pacing is off- not dramatically so, just enough to make the book feel wrong, disconnected. Because the pacing is off, we lose our sense of tension, and so we lose the horror. That, alone would have been enough, but it has problems with characterisation, too ( )

Full review on my blog

This is an effective horror novel that nonetheless has a lot of problems.

Oh, but this could have been so good.All the elements are there. An isolated family, a strange interloper, an unreliable narrator, a creepy old house in the woods. It should have been marvellous, the sort of book that chills you on even the hottest summer day. And the writing, at least, is very good. Atmospheric, descriptive, properly horrifying.

It’s jsut that none of the rest seems to fit together. The pacing is off- not dramatically so, just enough to make the book feel wrong, disconnected. Because the pacing is off, we lose our sense of tension, and so we lose the horror. That, alone would have been enough, but it has problems with characterisation, too ( )

Synopsis: Mimi is finally in a place in which she feels loved; as tutor to three great children in a wonderful home. Her grandmother brings a foster child, Annie, into this group. Their idyllic life is shattered by the disappearance of the oldest daughter as a feeling of evil pervades their home.
Review: This is one scary book. The setting is Alabama and includes the 'normal' southern ambiance. The characters are thoroughly developed and the 'bad guys' are chilling. ( )