Darkness Wakes by Tim Waggoner

Darkness Wakes by Tim Waggoner is a horror novel set in the Midwest. I had someone recommend Waggoner to me, so I grabbed one of his older books at a used bookstore (Bookmans) on the cheap. The story revolves around Aaron who is a veterinarian going through a midlife crisis. With his kids growing into teens and shutting him out, to his wife who has become more of a roommate than a lover, Aaron is finding little which thrills him as one day limps into the next.

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Leisure Books

Released: 2006

Stars: 3.5 Stars

Reviewer: Michael D. Griffiths

This begins to change when something as simple as returning movies (yeah, it’s an older book) allows him to spy his attractive neighbor leading a stranger through an unlabeled door in the strip mall. A series of random events sees Aaron becoming more involved with his neighbor, Caroline, until she seduces him and leads him to the hedonistic club which lurks behind the mysterious door called Penumbra.

Inside the party goers fuel themselves on a steady diet of booze and lust, but there is something darker in the second room. Beyond the second door lurks a dark shadowy figure which exchanges life for pleasure beyond measure. Aaron is initially seduced by the spirit until he discovers the club is sacrificing humans to get an even greater high.

Aaron tries to remove himself from the situation, but it has already become too late and soon both he and his family might pay the ultimate price for his transgressions.

This book did not thrill me as much as I had hoped. The author develops some characters but leaves the others feeling flat. I should also include a trigger warning of sorts, for if anyone does not want their horror to dip into pornography, you might want to steer clear of this one. Darkness Wakes is easily the most erotic novel I have read in the last five years. I was going to give it just 3 Stars, but the author rallied in the last fifty pages and the end proved to be better.

This is probably the type of book publishers think sixteen-year-old boys want to read. I do not mind a bit of hanky and some panky but this got a little gross, I would not let anyone under eighteen read it, but if naughty horror is your thing this one should satisfy you.