Blog Tour: The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz
Today is my turn and the final stop on the Blog Tour for The Dark Game by Jonathan Janz. My many thanks to Anne Cater and Flame Tree Press for allowing me to be a part on this tour.
Author: Jonathan Janz Publisher: Flame Tree Press Pages: 352 Genre: Contemporary Horror Publication: 11th April 2019
Synopsis:
Ten writers are selected for a writing retreat with the most celebrated author in the world, the legendary Roderick Wells. They think they are signing up for a chance at literary prestige, but they are really entering The Dark Game – a lethal contest pitting them against one another in a struggle for their sanity and their lives.
Review:
I’ve never read a book by Jonathan Janz before, but I’m always ready to discover new authors. Although I really had no idea the ride that was in store for me. The author grabbed me from the very first page, I felt hypnotised by his writing, I didn’t want to put the book down, and as I went far deep into the story, the hard it was to get out. The characters are the central point of the story, and getting to know them all was addictive. I loved to read about the skeletons each of them had in their closets, the dark past and secrets they all wanted to hide, and these 10 authors had the worst ones!
So what happens when 10 authors and Rodrick Wells all live together under the same roof deprived of contact with outsiders? Blood, blood, and more blood. Every twist kept surprising me. I never knew what was going to happen next, who was going to die, or which of them would win (if any would). The story kept me on the edge of my sit, for the most part, creeping me out, frightening me, and even making me laugh. Between all the darkness and gory moments, there was time to laugh and even to get some justice.
However, I didn’t enjoy the book as much when all the supernatural elements took over the story. That is not my cup of tea, and it made me detached from the story. I would rather a tale of a maniac, of pure human evil with no influence from the paranormal world. That being said, I can appreciate how well thought all the supernatural parts were. Everything had a reason, nothing happened by chance, even if at first sight it doesn’t seem like it.
Even though supernatural horror isn’t for my taste, Jonathan Janz created an amazing story, spilling out secrets as well as guts, with a creepy atmosphere, full of murder, and finishing all off in a fast-paced tale of writers facing their demons.
About the author:
Jonathan Janz grew up between a dark forest and a graveyard, which explains everything. Brian Keene named his debut novel The Sorrows “the best horror novel of 2012.” The Library Journal deemed his follow-up, House of Skin, “reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and Peter Straub’s Ghost Story“.
Since then Jonathan’s work has been lauded by writers like Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, Tim Waggoner, Bryan Smith, and Ronald Kelly. Novels like The Nightmare Girl, Wolf Land, Savage Species, and Dust Devils prompted Thunderstorm Books to sign Jonathan to an eleven-book deal and to give him his own imprint, Jonathan Janz’s Shadow Side.
His novel Children of the Dark received a starred review in Booklist and was chosen by their board as one of the Top Ten Horror Books of the Year (August 2015-September 2016). Children of the Dark will soon be translated into German and has been championed by the Library Journal, the School Library Journal, and Cemetery Dance. In early 2017, his novel Exorcist Falls was released to critical acclaim.
Jonathan’s primary interests are his wonderful wife and his three amazing children, and though he realizes that every author’s wife and children are wonderful and amazing, in this
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1 Comment
Huge thanks for your blog tour support x