The Dark

A Novel of the Other Ones

By: Andrew Michael Schwarz

Narrated by: Danielle Lorentz

They are among us....

Annabelle was born immaculately, coming from a place of dreams and memories into the corporeal world, a Gemini or doppelganger of the ever popular Chelsea Clarke. She was meant to remain in secret. Discovered by Chelsea, Annabelle finds herself in the grip of a dysfunctional sisterhood, unable to do anything right and totally subject to Chelsea's cruelly whimsical treatment of her. Chelsea's overbearing control and insistence on immoral personal errands keeps Annabelle from finding out what her true purpose really is.

Plagued by the strange inner dream world she calls "the Dark Place," and tormented by the harsh abuses of her twin, Annabelle is constantly reminded of her inferiority, captivity, and sense of impending doom. Until she meets someone who claims to know everything about her, and who promises to set her free...for a price.

©2015, 2021 Andrew Schwarz (P)2022 Andrew Schwarz

An Exciting, and Dark, Tale

Quite honestly, this book is pretty far outside of my usual wheelhouse, but I was excited to challenge myself and read something new. From a story perspective, I thought the concept was really interesting. A race of people who are dopplegangers to random people. It seems like they can get up to some pretty interesting antics. However, right off the bat, things go awry for our narrator. This audiobook is a collection of 5 short stories written about the same narrator. There are technically 5 other stories before this book picks up, which I didn't read. I think it could provide some interesting background information, but it's not necessary to listen to the book! Honestly, I think there was a little bit of unnecessary repetition, and some of the "parts" of the story felt very disconnected, I would have liked to see more build up to the ending. That said, despite never having read anything like it, I did enjoy my experience. I was on the edge of my seat at times, and yelling at my phone (and the characters) at others. Needless to say, I was engaged.

When it comes to the narration, Danielle Lorentz did a great job of bringing the characters to life. It was easy to distinguish between the different people and it was clear that the narrator was connected. Lorentz's particular strength is dialogue. It was incredibly engaging, and Lorentz always committed to telling the story as clearly as possible through the use of voice.

Overall, if this is your type of story, I would check it out! If you're brand new to the genre, as I am, it's not a bad place to start when it comes to dark fiction!