Darker Days - by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Paperback)

About the Book

"From the author of the internationally acclaimed bestseller Hex comes a modern horror story with echoes of Paul Tremblay, Joe Hill, and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," about a gilded street in a small Pacific Northwest town where the charmed residents have made a frightening bargain . . . with devastating consequences"--

Book Synopsis

"Darker Days is a meticulous work of terror, a harrowing drop into a moral nightmare. If you can imagine the philosophical oomph of Bergman's The Seventh Seal joined to the rustic shocks of Midsommer, and all of it transported to America's suburbia, you'd have something like Darker Days. It's a scream."--Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of King Sorrow

"One of the most vital and exciting voices in modern horror."--Film Director Mike Flanagan

From the author of the internationally acclaimed bestseller HEX comes a modern horror story with echoes of Paul Tremblay, Joe Hill, and Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," about a gilded street in a small Pacific Northwest town where the charmed residents have made a frightening bargain . . . with devastating consequences.

Sometimes you think you can see things behind the fence. Bad things. So it's better not to look. . . .

In Lock Haven, a quiet little town in Washington State, Bird Street is a special place. The residents of this pretty cul-de-sac on the edge of the woods are all successful, healthy, and happy. Their children are prodigies: well-mannered, unnaturally smart, and enviously talented.

But come November, the Darker Days descend, bringing accidents, bad luck, conflict, and illness. Luana and Ralph Lewis da Silva prepare for this, and so do their children, Kaila and Django. It is in November when a stranger appears to collect on a longstanding debt. A price must be paid for the good fortune the Bird Street community enjoys the rest of the year. A sacrifice must be made.

So it has been for more than a century. To assuage their guilt, the residents of Bird Street choose carefully who will be sent into the woods. Usually, it is an elderly or terminally ill individual who wishes to enter the void with dignity.

But this year, things don't go to plan and events take a terrifying turn. . . .

Review Quotes

The Guardian's "Best Recent Horror" * A Mother Horror "Most Anticipated" * A Cinema Chords "Horror Novel to Haunt You" * A Crime Reads and Reactor "New Book" * A Bookish "Horror Novel that Will Keep You Up at Night" * A Book Riot "New Release"

"Darker Days is a meticulous work of terror, a harrowing drop into a moral nightmare. If you can imagine the philosophical oomph of Bergman's The Seventh Seal joined to the rustic shocks of Midsommer, and all of it transported to America's suburbia, you'd have something like Darker Days. It's a scream. - Joe Hill, #1 New York Times bestselling author of King Sorrow

"Thomas Olde Heuvelt is back with another wicked, fascinating, chilling tale, expertly balancing the supernatural with the horrors inherent in human nature. Darker Days reinforces that Olde Heuvelt is one of the most vital and exciting voices in modern horror." - Mike Flanagan, director of The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher, Dr. Sleep, and Life of Chuck

"This masterly work of horror, gripping and terrifying on more than one level, is probably Olde Heuvelt's best novel yet." - The Guardian

"A very King-esque novel...(Olde Heuvelt's) tale neatly and slyly probing the rotten roots of privilege, all the way to a gut-punching final twist." - Financial Times

"[Darker Days] presents a unique and interesting take on a dark deal and what the consequences could be. It will also challenge readers to think about what they would be willing to do for some luck..." - Booklist

"Stephen King is so associated with horror stories set in cozy small-town America, seamlessly blending pedestrian everyday living with supernatural dread, that it comes as a surprise that Darker Days is not from his pen....Utterly creepy and mesmerizing. "

- Irish Independent

"Thomas Olde Heuvelt's Darker Days splits open suburbia's rotten core and shines a light on what festers behind manicured lawns and clean windows....This is definitely one of Heuvelt's best, and that's saying a lot." - Gabino Iglesias, Locus Magazine

"No one builds agonizing tension like Thomas Olde Heuvelt. Darker Days is his best yet- a terrible sacrificial offering that doesn't reveal its shocking nature until the very last page." - Catriona Ward, award-winning author of The Last House on Needless Street and Looking Glass Sound

"Darker Days is a remarkable and disturbing morality tale about the true cost of lucky lives. It's a tremendous achievement by Thomas Olde Heuvelt as well as a frightening gift for readers." - Owen King, author of The Curator

"What price would you pay for a life of comfort, privilege and good luck? In Darker Days, Thomas Olde Heuvelt weaves a masterful modern fairytale that builds towards a horribly tense, shocking and devastating twist of sacrifice and disaster. You know it's going to be bad. Just how bad . . . let the wonderful Olde Heuvelt show you the way." - Tim Lebbon, the New York Times bestselling author of Secret Lives of the Dead and 30 Days of Night

"The pursuit of happiness as an existential nightmare and a hellishly good read." - John Ajvide Lindqvist, International bestselling author of Let the Right One In

"The devilish genius behind HEX brings us a new collision of sly suburban satire and devastating folkloric nightmare. Darker Days is the perfect read for fans of Shirley Jackson, Sarah Langan, and stories you want to read from behind your fingers, as if that'll somehow keep you safe from the escalating darkness." - Nat Cassidy, USA Today bestselling author of When the Wolf Comes Home and Mary

"Darker Days is a classic horror story, but its deal-with-the-devil couldn't be more timely. With a beautifully-rendered, struggling family and a murderous pact at its core, the suspense is killer, and the central question--what are you willing to do in exchange for your own comfort and happiness--is chilling and deeply disturbing. This one will haunt me." - Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Birds and Road of Bones

"Darker Days is a novel of reckoning, calculating the balance between what you want and what it will cost, and a meditation on unthinkable bargains. An ingeniously constructed chronicle of fear from a master storyteller." - Angela "A.G." Slatter, award-winning author of The Crimson Road

"What price would you pay for a life of privilege? Darker Days is a new take on the Faustian bargain completely in keeping with our new age of greed and entitlement, with a twist at the end you won't see coming. This is Olde Heuvelt at the height of his powers." - Alma Katsu, Bram Stroker Award-winning author of Fiend and The Hunger

"Thomas Olde Heuvelt's Darker Days begins on an uncomfortably grim and mysterious note. Olde Heuvelt increases the dread and tension over the course of this labyrinthine and distressing novel until the pressure is almost unbearable. There's a distinctly unpleasant current of inevitability coursing beneath every page of this genuinely distressing work--the inevitability of ritual, retribution, sacrifice, and death. This is a daring and uncompromising jewel of horror fiction. Reminiscent of the flawless work of Stephen King, Michael McDowell, and Robert R. McCammon, but still completely its own singular and disturbing vision." - Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"There are days where I can't help but wonder if Thomas Olde Heuvelt made a deal with the devil. His writing is so completely captivating, his forged worlds so engrossing and expansive, there has to be some soul-selling afoot. Darker Days is his Dr. Faustus on the grandest of scales, which makes Olde Heuvelt our modern day Marlowe." - Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes and Ghost Eaters

"On the surface Darker Days is a deliciously grim and twisted fable about a bargain with a Devil. But it is also an unflinching examination of human nature and how easy it can be to look away from the suffering of others, which is a very timely and poignant reminder in this particular moment in time." - Hildur Knútsdóttir, author of The Night Guest

"From the author of HEX, this novel twists the Faustian bargain into something fresh and fierce, soaked in atmospheric tension and moral complexity -- a must-read for anyone who loves unsettling, character-driven horror....You're in for something truly special." - Cinema Chords

"Darker Days is the kind of novel that keeps lurking in your mind, long after you've finished the story.... Compelling characters, a deep story and moral values, and gripping horror make Darker Days a must-read for all horror fans."

- Fully-Booked

"Darker Days delivers a chilling tale" - Novels Alive

"HEX is reminiscent of vintage Stephen King, and I can think of no higher praise. Chilling, moving and . . . profound." - John Connolly

"Thomas is a great writer, the next genre superstar." - Paul Cornell

"Olde Heuvelt's HEX sets ancient magic against contemporary technology to create a kind of dark fairy tale that seems ultimately believable in today's world. A terrific debut novel." - Jeffrey Ford

"Hidden tensions and human weakness trigger a witch-hunt that boils over into persecution, scapegoating and a shocking denouement. A powerfully spooky piece of writing." - Financial Times

"The best horror debut since John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let the Right One In." - Alan Kelly, Rue Morgue

"Equal parts Stephen King and The Cabin in the Woods, Thomas Olde Heuvelt's novel is a pop page-turner with an intriguingly weird ambience . . . a funny, surprising and eerie novel." - SFX Magazine

"Olde Heuvelt offers up a truly terrifying parable about mankind's depravity and the depths of evil of which we are capable. The story is not merely unsettling, it is horrifying." - Kirkus Reviews