Joan has suffered a traumatic past, which has left her always longing for a home of her own. Because of that, she is ecstatic when she has the opportunity to purchase a house with her husband Jon even if the circumstances of that opportunity seem suspiciously convenient.
Kevin is an employee of "Maintenance" a company which does not advertise, does not have customers and doesn't want any. These characters who seem to have nothing to do with each other do in fact share a common thread and they are going to meet, in a big way.
This was a creepy read, reminiscent of the classic 80s horror that I so love.

I received a complimentary copy for review
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I received an advance review copy of this novel from the publisher, Darkfuse, through NetGalley. Darkfuse is an excellent publisher of dark fiction—tending more recently toward crime and dark fantasy than horror.

I have read several of Waggoner’s novels/novellas through NetGalley and I always enjoy them, including The Last Mile and The Winter Box. Those two swing more toward fantasy than horror and Eat the Night is no exception—so judge how much you will like it accordingly. This one had a definite The Great and Secret Show (Clive Barker) vibe to me. I don’t mean it was derivative; it is just similar in theme. Lovecraft did it first, really, the whole nameless dark forces slowly encroaching our universe, inevitable, all consuming, and from which there is no escape. Stephen King explored it recently in a Revival, a book that I really loved but just don’t hear much about.

The one thing those other novels (TG&SS—which actually has a sequel that concludes the story, and King’s Revival) had that Eat the Night doesn’t is depth, and quite a few more scares. Eat the Night deals with a very deep and broad subject and really just skims the surface. The ideas were fantastic, especially “The Maintenance” organization which propels much of the plot—I would definitely be interested in reading more about them. In the end, however, Eat the Night had it its moments but it never quite reached the potential of its really good ideas.

Sign me up for any future installments, however. There are some great ideas here.

3 ½ stars rounded up to 4 because of good writing and because it was fun.
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4.5 stars!

Eat the Night really worked for me!

At first, this story features 3 plot-lines which, (of course), eventually end up coming together. Joan and Jon discover a hidden door which leads to a basement, something they thought they didn't have in their new home. Kevin works for Maintenance, an extremely important job, the details of which become clear as the story moves on. Debbie's story is the third-a woman subjecting herself to the whims of cult leader/heavy metal star, Maegarr.

The world-building regarding Maintenance and the Gyre is definitely something I'm interested in reading more about. This relates to cosmic horror but without any Lovecraftian Old Ones or anything of that sort. For this reason my curiosity about this world is piqued. I want MORE!

These three lines came together in a more than satisfactory way. I loved the ending and I believe if the story were any longer, it would have been difficult to maintain the level of tension that hummed throughout. I do have one question though: will there be more stories set in this world? I am hoping the answer is YES.

Highly recommended, especially for fans of cosmic horror, (with or without Old Ones)!

You can get your copy here: Eat the Night

*Thank you to Net Galley and Darkfuse for providing an e-ARC of this story in exchange for my honest review. This is it!*
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If you’re looking for a good ol’, classic horror tale in the flavor of Evil Dead or Army of Darkness, Tim Waggoner’s Eat the Night is a must-read. It’s fast paced and filled with the sort of material horror fans like me grew up with. Death cult? Check. Mass suicide? Check. Possession? Check. Vivid, gore-filled scenes? Hideous monsters from another dimension? Reincarnation? Check, check, and check. I can’t even begin to describe how hungrily I devoured this book, and though it has its ridiculous moments, I’ll definitely be looking out for more from this author!

Thirty years ago, retired rockstar Mark Maegarr and his devout followers, in true Jonestown fashion, committed suicide in tropic Suriname. It was Maegarr’s belief that this ritual would hasten the approach of Entropy, or the total dissolution of the world as we know it. Unfortunately for Maegarr, something went wrong and he spends the next several decades reaching from beyond the grave to finish what he started.

Joan Lantz and her husband, Jon, are first time home-owners. Burdened with a troubled past, Joan is glad to finally have a home of her own. After waking from a horrific nightmare detailing the grisly end that befell Mark Maegarr and his cult, she discovers a hidden basement in her home, which had not been on the house’s plans and was previously unknown to the home’s last owners, who were friends of hers.

Kevin Benecke works for Maintenance, a secretive company that is reminiscent of Men in Black. Aware that they cannot save the world from its fate, their goal is to slow the coming of the end down from the sidelines. He’s an unfortunate sort of fellow and things don’t happen to go the way they ought to in his line of work, but he has his own boyish charm.

Together, these three characters weave a story that is brimming with horrific scenes and action. The plot is fairly solid as well, and Waggoner doesn’t hold back when it comes to the laws of the world he has created to coexist alongside the one we know so well. Maegarr’s cult is expertly crafted, with a belief so plausible it could be defined as chilling.

Eat the Night is easily one of my favorite reads so far this year and is perfect for those looking for a good Halloween read. I would like to extend a special thanks to NetGalley, DarkFuse, and Tim Waggoner for providing me with an advanced copy for the purpose of an honest, unbiased review. ( )

Review copy

Sick. Demented. Delightful. Three words which can easily sum up my reading experience with this relatively new work from Tim Waggoner.

Eat the Night begins with Joan Lantz waking from a nightmare that was so real, it was more like a memory than a dream. A dream of a charismatic singer turned cult leader and the lyrics of a song with the refrain...

Eat the night, eat the night, eat the night, we're gonna—Eat the Night!

This is also the story of an ultra secret organization simply known as Maintenance with Surveyor's, Analysts, Intervention Teams, all serving a Calling to keep entropy at bay. And then there's the Durg. It wasn't merely a carrion eater. It was an everything eater, a thing whose sole purpose was to break down existence as swiftly and efficiently as it could. It was a servant of the Gyre, perhaps in a way even a part of it, an avatar of sorts. That meant the creature was diametrically opposed to everything Maintenance stood for, and it had to be stopped—even if killing it ultimately increased entropy too.

As is the case with many of Tim Waggoner's original works, Eat the Night is incredibly complicated and assuredly less than believable, but somehow the author manages to have it make complete sense in the end. Although, brutally merciless at times, there are a few chuckles along the way, and the result is escapism of the highest order.

There were several moments while reading Eat the Night where I got a Douglas Adams vibe. It could be because I've been watching Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency in BBC America, or it could just be me. Either way a Douglas Adams vibe is a good thing.

This is a quick read I can solidly recommend.

Eat the Night is published by DarkFuse and is available in paperback and e-book formats. If you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited you can read it at no additional charge. Also, if you are an Amazon Prime member you can read it for FREE using the Kindle Owners Lending Library.

Tim Waggoner’s first novel came out in 2001, and he’s published over thirty novels and three collections of short stories since. He writes original fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He’s been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and the Scribe Award, and his fiction has received numerous Honorable Mentions in volumes of Best Horror of the Year. In 2016, the Horror Writers Association honored him with the Mentor of the Year Award. In addition to writing, Tim is also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College. ( )