Deep in the Darkness

by Michael Laimo

Book Overview

A Manhattan doctor moves to a small New Hampshire town, only to find a race of unimaginable creatures that control his life. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843953144
• ISBN13: 9780843953145
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 369 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.1" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Plunge deep into the eyes of doom

Imagine being stalked by something dark and evil, hungry for your tender muscles and soft skin, something that lives deep in the darkest shadows of the forest outside of your cozy new home. Something that is part beast, part man, part myth and living folklore, deadly, conniving and consciously set on making your life a little piece of hell. Such is the tale of Dr. Michael Cayle and his family who unknowingly move to Ashborough to escape the gray city life but instead they walk right into the lion's den. From the start something is off about the quiet place, the neighbors act strange, Cayle's new patients seem to have bizarre problems that leave them disfigured and the absence of pets and animals is truly alarming. Terror starts to build when Michael stops feeling welcome and starts to feel like a prisoner in his own home. He feels trapped by something lurking in the shadows, something that has glowing gold eyes watching him from the darkness. And so the battle begins, to save his sanity and his family, Michael Cayle must do some unthinkable acts and dirty his soul in the process. With each chapter being more outlandish than the last, the reader is almost scared to see what awaits on the next page. The climax of the novel seems to flow without ceasing as more chills and thrills continue to build up. The author does a great job of building up the chill factor, I felt the terror, the cold iron grip on Cayle's throat and chest, the suffocating feeling of hopelessness and isolation, the feeling that end is near and there is no way out but to surrender to the hunger that waits in the deep dark woods. The scenes in the quiet, eerie woods were marvelous, I had the pleasure to spend many hours in various forests in my native country and they can be scary even in daylight with no monsters running around. The best part of the book, other than how damn creepy it was, must have been the writing. The words melt of the pages and sink right in, reading this book almost didn't feel like reading at all, everything felt as if it was happening before my very own eyes. Of course this is horror, so things go from dandy to rotten in a matter of moments and the book flows fast, it's a real luxury to enjoy a good book and breeze though it at the same time. With so many books out there and so little time to actually read any of them I find myself being more picky and critical. After reading "Deep in the Darkness" my cynicism for finding good writers out there melted and my list of favorite authors opened its cob webbed door, and trust me, it's hard to get into my tightly woven list of favorites. Michael Laimo writes with passion and heart, humor and wit, not overshadowing his talent for gruesome and creative ways to raise the hairs on the readers flesh. Each page was skillfully woven with words that send electricity though my system, I can't remember the last time I had such an incredible time with a book. Another great thing about his writing is how real the character

A Gothic forest

I grew up on a literary diet of pulp fiction adventure and horror when I wasn't nose deep in the classics. Consequently, when I come across stories today that hark back to the good old days, I recognize some of the early literature that might have influenced the authors of these stories; and it is here that I would like to take a few seconds to rhapsodize over the merits of such writers as H. P. Lovecraft, William Hope Hodgson, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, the list goes on. Many purists regarding style and mechanics often speak disparagingly of these writers and their works, which never fails to elicit pity from me because it seems to me that these purists missed out on something magical during childhood if they never thrilled to the works of these wonderful authors -- which brings me to the subject of this review, Michael Laimo's _Deep in the Darkness_. I experienced Mr. Laimo's Gothic novel as homage to some of these greats, William Hope Hodgson's _The House on the Borderland_ in particular. Good for you, Michael Laimo. In an almost epistolary style, the novel is written in first person POV by the protagonist, Dr. Michael Cayle, who has recently relocated from the city to the New Hampshire countryside, to a little town called Ashborough. (The ash is a sacred tree in mythology; and the word itself connotes "ruins.") With Dr. Cayle are his wife Christine, and his daughter Jessica. All three characters are happy about the move, and excited over the wonderful old house that is to be their new home, a house once occupied by the previous town physician, who is no longer among the living. The house, however, soon reveals itself to Dr. Cayle as something more than a mere dwelling, for in this home are locked steel reinforced doors that open to the outside, and to his office where he is to treat his patients, the residents of Ashborough. It isn't long before Dr. Cayle becomes suspicious regarding these steel doors, which harbor well guarded secrets that have their origins in a grove deep in the forest abutting the property. I enjoyed this dark novel that inspired some shivers in me. And I celebrate the recurring themes upon which the great ghost or Gothic or monster stories are built. It has been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and what is "homage" if not the sincerest form of adulation and respect? Michael Laimo has created an original and scary story built upon the ruins of the ubiquitous ancient ones who have always viewed us humans as either chattel or an inconvenience (at the very least inferior). We know who these gibbering ancient ones are, don't we?

A very surrealistic landscape

When dreams are achieved too easily, freedom, sanity, trust and the heart's blood are sacrificed. Dr. Michael Cayle lives in Manhattan and practices internal medicine, but his daughter, Jessica, starts school in the fall and his wife, Christine, wants another child. New York is no place to raise a family. Moving to the suburbs is the best plan, but Michael would have to start a practice in competition with an established doctor who has already built a reputation. Michael needs a miracle. A wild dog kills Dr. Neil Farris, an elderly physician in Ashborough, New Hampshire, and Michael's boss in Manhattan, Dr. Lou Scully, has the inside track. Michael has his miracle. The Cayles move to the country and into what they believe is an uncomplicated and simple life. And to the edge of the abyss. During their first moments in front of their new home, Jimmy Page, the Cayles' purebred cocker spaniel, runs off into the woods, Jessica begins vomiting, Christine cries, and Michael drives a rusty nail into his foot. Philip Deighton, who lives a half mile down the road, brings back Jimmy Page and rescues the bewildered family, only to plunge them into the midst of an ancient blood pact that will destroy everything the Cayles hold dear. Deep in the Darkness uncovers the rot at the center of a bucolic existence. Natural curiosity, and a desire to find their place in rural New Hampshire, herds the main characters into the green shadows of an untamed wilderness reeking of bloody sacrifice and terror. Michael Laimo paints a surrealistic landscape where bloody trails, lit by glowing golden eyes like summer fireflies and thick with writhing maggots and gore-drunk flies, weave in and out of a pastoral scene, sending snail tracks of icy fear along your spine.

A new star

Michael Laimo's second novel from Leisure Books is one of the most compulsively readable horror novels I've had the pleasure to encounter in quite some time. Rare is the book these days that grips me and actually compels me to keep reading even if there are other things I should be doing. Deep In The Darkness is a classic stay-up-with-the-lights-on-'til-4 a.m. page-turner. The atmosphere is pervasively spooky, the sense of teeth-gnashing dread is unrelenting, and there's even a fair amount of gruesomeness. This book is what real horror is all about, and I'll be reading anything Mr. Laimo writes from now on.

Stay away from the dark!

Michael Laimo's first novel, Atmosphere, was a great mix of suspense and sci-fi, one of those rare debut novel that really promises and actually pleases and all levels. I was eagerly awaiting Laimo's next novel, and now that I've read Deep in the Darkness, I'm happy to report that Atmosphere was no fluke. With this novel, Laimo will leave his mark on the horror genre as a great new voice in the horror field.When Doctor Michael Cayle moves into the small town of Ashborough with his wife Christine and daughter Jessica, he thinks that this move is for the best. Bringing his young family away from the big city seems to be just the right thing to do. So he moves into town, taking the practice of the recently departed doctor and hopes for the best.Unfortunately, everything that goes wrong does and, soon enough, Michael seems to be standing knee-deep in a nightmare come true. Nothing is at it seems in Ashborough. Secrets is the only rule of the game. Something dwells in the woods, something old, something that rules the town with its darkness. What seems to be nothing more than a legend at first turns out to be the horrible reality. Soon enough, Michael and his family are trapped in a nightmare so horrible, so terrifying that their very lives are being threatened.Giving too much of the plot away would be ruining a great and completely satisfying read. I loved every single minute of Deep in the Darkness. The suspense seems to peak on every page, and the characters never feel false to the reader. But the greatest thing about this one is Laimo's writing. The author has a way of reeling his reader in, until he's cornerned with no means of escape. The writing feels natural and effortless.Laimo is able to involve his readers in the very story. Note a certain scene where the main character commits his first deed to the things living in the woods. That section had my skin crawling with shivers. And the ending? I had to read the last two hundred pages in one sitting. The suspense never ends. I can easily see this one becoming a great horror flick in the near future. If you haven't tried Laimo already, this is the perfect time for you to do so. Laimo is sure to quickly climb to the top of his game, where great genre writers like Stephen King and Douglas Clegg reside. Not to be missed!