Review – Darlington Woods

Back Cover: Rob Shields has just lost his wife and son. Battling depression, denial, and an irrational fear of darkness, Rob travels to the small town of Mayfield, MD to check out a house he has inherited from his great aunt Wilda, a woman he has never even met. There in Mayfield strange things begin to happen that lead Rob to believe his son, Jimmy, is not really dead. After a restless night and eerie dream, Rob is convinced the answer to the mystery surrounding Jimmy s disappearance and alleged death is to be found in a village called Darlington, a town found on no map.

Teaming up with a quirky local waitress who insists she has been there, Shields begins his quest to find the truth about the town and his son. In Darlington, Rob and Juli come face to face with the town s secret; creatures called Darklings inhabit the night and instill paralyzing fear in Darlington s citizens. Their search for Jimmy leads them into the woods surrounding Darlington where, once in, there seems to be no way out.

REVIEW: I don’t normally read scary books like this one because I’m a chicken at heart! This book is ACFW’S Book Club pick for February 2011. I’m in the ACFW book club and leading the discussion so I’m committed to reading this book. I’m thankful for the review copy of this book from the author.

I’m so glad I read the author notes before I started reading the first chapter of this book. It gave me a glimpse into the author’s heart when he said, “Let’s talk about monsters, shall we? Let’s just sit-down and spend a little time in conversation about things that go bump in the night and images that haunt us while we sleep peacefully in our beds…I believe in monsters. I’ve seen them, even battled them. And no, I assure you, I’m not crazy.

The monsters of which I speak are around us every day and come in varying forms. They are called cancer…Parkinson’s juvenile arthritis. Monsters’ called abuse, murder and neglect…the web they spin, the wounds they carve, the hatchet they swing all go by the same name: fear.

Mikes words drew me in and gave me a clue that I was about to read something heartfelt, unnerving, and unusual about fear and what it looks like? I was right, here’s what Rob says, “When fear rules you, when it calls the shots, tells you what you can and can not do, when it paralyzes you for days on end and robs you of the freedom others enjoy so carelessly; that’s crazy.”

Mike wrote in several points of view which made the story move along. The pov’s were Rob, Julie, Mary Jane, Jimmy and Waxman. This helped to create quite a suspenseful, creepy tale of how fear got a strong hold of the minds, emotions and lives of a whole town. Switching pov’s helped me be able to read this scary story. I have to say that had this author stayed in Jimmy’s point of view the whole book I wouldn’t have made it past chapter one. It would have just been too creepy and horrific to read a whole book through little Jimmy’s eyes.

Rob Shields is a man on the edge. His wife was murdered three months ago and his son Jimmy is missing. Rob is convinced that his son is in the town of Darlington. Rob starts to question his own sanity as he struggles with knowing the difference between nightmares and real life. It’s getting hard for him to know when the nightmare stops and reality begins.

Rob stops at a restaurant and asks for directions to Darlington; people get fearful and nobody wants to talk. Then a mysterious man leaves a note with directions on Rob’s table. Julie, his waitress, says she’d like to help him find his son. This seemed odd, but everything about this town and adventure was odd. I did enjoy Julie’s character and the comic relief she provided with lines like this, “This is a problem I don’t think duct tape could solve.”

Mike’s wit, compassion and effective story-telling through the many different points of view and how they all wrestled with fear was intriguing given the fact this author went face to face with the cancer monster while writing this book. I enjoyed the twists, turns, suspense and the “aha” moments when truth was brought to life in the middle of the darkness. I rooted for Rob and Juli as they fought fear and looked it in the face, and saw there was hope of breaking the chains of fear and living free of its grip. God is always with us. When we shine our light inside the darkness (fear), that darkness has to leave. It’s not welcome anymore. I really enjoy this aspect of the story. It’s strong, powerful and oh so real! Treat yourself to something unusual that will have you look at fear and monsters in a whole new light!