Darkness on the Edge of Town

By: Brian Keene

Narrated by: Chet Williamson

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

One morning, the residents of Walden, Virginia, woke up to find the rest of the world gone. Just...gone. Surrounding their town was a wall of inky darkness, plummeting Walden into permanent night. Nothing can get in - not light, not people, not even electricity, radio, TV, internet, food, or water. And nothing can get out. No one who dared to penetrate the mysterious barrier has ever been seen again. Only their screams were heard. But for some, the darkness is not the worst of their fears. Driven mad by thirst, hunger, and perpetual night, the residents of Walden are ready to explode. The last few sane prisoners of this small town must prepare a final stand against their neighbors, themselves, and something even worse...something out there...in the darkness.

©2010 Brian Keene (P)2019 David N. Wilson

Excellent

Brian Keene delivers an excellent story with Darkness on the Edge of Town. While definitely not a new idea (what really is these days?) his telling of a town (world really) plunged into permanent darkness and the struggles for survivals by those that remain is tight/suspenseful story. The main characters are believable, flawed but sympathetic, making you want to cheer them on and hope for them to overcome their struggles and survive. Chet Williamson's narration is excellent and he does a great job breathing life into the people as well as the dying town, and while I read tis book a long time ago, hearing Chet's narration made it feel fresh and new all over again. Definitely worth a listen for people who enjoyed Stephen King's The Mist.

Really terrific little novel...

I’ve read quite a bit of Keene’s work over the years. Nowhere near all of it, but a fair amount. Something I’ve learned along the way with him is that there is a REASON he’s a legend in the horror community. His characters connect with the reader, come across less like the ideas from someone’s imagination but rather like real individuals. He’s got some grand ideas about multiple worlds and different dimensions and God and the devil and other gods and creatures and so on.

Of the books of his I’ve read, I still say Ghoul is my favorite, but much of that is the fact that I just love coming-of-age stories, especially when they’re set back when I was growing up. So Ghoul has that going for it ON TOP OF being just a terrific novel. But…I have found what I would consider my favorite Keene this side of Ghoul, and that would be DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN.

We have that awakes to find that some sort of darkness has surrounded it from above and at all sides, and anyone who ventures into the darkness never returns, but their screams can be heard from time to time. The darkness also seems to be showing things to people when they get close; things that scare them sometimes, other times loved ones enticing them to come just a little closer. But whatever the darkness is, it’s evil, and a strange homeless man in town seems to have kept the darkness from coming inside of the town. He’s held it at bay with magic. But the darkness can still play with their minds.

I wasn’t so sure about the premise here when I started, though Keene has never let me down. It seemed a lot like The Mist by Stephen King to me, but once I actually started reading, I saw that it was entirely its own story, having little to do with King’s story. This was really a terrific powerhouse of a novel, pulsing with increasing dread throughout all the way to the bitter, breath-stealing ending.

Let’s talk about that ending for just a second, without giving anything away. The novel builds a little slowly, but I wouldn’t call it a slow burn. We’re dropped right into the craziness from page one and hear about how it came about. We watch as people in town are growing more and more paranoid, their morals are deteriorating, their sanity is crumbling. It’s leading to what I was expecting to be an apocalyptic finale. But it takes a different turn, and I really think it was the right choice. It’s more of an unknowing ending. There’s a sprinkling of hope, but there’s also gallons of forboding doom as well. The fact is, we don’t know what’s going to happen. And there’s no need for a sequel to come along and tell us (though I’d read it in a heartbeat if one came along), because in the context of this story, it’s just a perfect ending.

Stephen King said this book was a terrific short novel. I have to agree. For some, the ending seems anticlimactic. But I disagree. The battles being waged in the characters’s minds is where the suspense came from and the ramping up of tension from the situation of the darkness is nearly secondary. Because of this, I thought it was a terrific book with a terrific ending that would have been cheapened if done any other way, and I’m thankful that Brian has such a Keene (pun intended, wow, that joke came out of nowhere) eye for such things.

Chet Williamson absolutely SLAYS the narration here, as he always does. Excellent reading.

If you like horror, get this. If you like Keene, get this. If you like character-driven studies in human psychology during a stressful event, get this. For me, it hit all the right notes. In fact, it was so good I immediately went out and got another Keene novel to rip into next. I rarely do that, reading the same author multiple times in a row. But Keene’s books are something special. Read this, and find out why.

Solid Horror/Mystery/Magic; it’s all here

If you’re a fan of the author; this lovely Horror/Mystery novel will be a nice addition to your Brian Keene reads

Darkness and Despair

The story is certainly bleak. Mr. Keene has a knack for leaving little to no hope in his stories. But I like his world building and mythology. The performer’s voice was a little off-putting at first, but I got used to his presentation after a bit and came to enjoy his characters.

I guess at some point the author just didn’t feel like writing anymore?

I guess I would have to agree with the “don’t like the lazy ending” reviews.

What can I say?

Well, the story was like a good F***, without I good ending….I need more, what happened? Otherwise 4/5.

Darkness at the edge of town

This was really good!A town wakes up and finds that everything else is gone,it is dark and people are going mad really fast. Chet Williams was a terrific narrator.

Meh...

The concept is pretty cool, but the execution is lacking. Dumb decisions, aimless plot, mediocre characters. Lots of promise but absolutely no depth.

WTF

Enjoyed the story, HATED the ending.... a lot. Exceptional performance by Chet Williamson as always.

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