The Sound of the Dark

A mix of folk horror and true crime - if you’re me, that’s enough to draw you in - but what makes The Sound of the Dark by Daniel Church special is the characters - especially relatable heroine Cally Darker.

Cally is a struggling true crime podcaster - financially struggling as her single-digit Patreon subscribers aren’t exactly paying the bills, mentally struggling as she battles depression and anxiety, and physically struggling thanks to hay fever and the physical impacts from depression and associated medications.  Church does an impressive job describing what is going on inside Cally as well as the all too common reaction from her boyfriend, à la, “just be happy.”

This isn’t one of those character-driven works where nothing happens. There’s plot bursting at the seams of the proverbial cloth binding of this book.

Cally receives an email suggesting she do an episode of her podcast about a man called Tony Mathias who, for no apparent reason, suddenly and violently kills his family and himself, and this is the catalyst she needed to end her dysfunctional relationship which prompts her to drive two hours away to stay at her father’s house while he’s away on vacation.

As she starts her research, reaching out to anyone still alive who was connected to the 40-year-old case, she also reconnects with an old friend and makes a new one - both with romantic interest in her. Even a true crime podcaster who may or may not be losing her mind needs a little romantic entanglement. Why is she maybe losing her mind?

Her research has led her to a mysterious abandoned military facility and some recordings made by Mathias just before his death - and since playing the first one, she has been plagued by night terrors involving giant shadowy, malevolent creatures.

As she goes down the rabbit hole, we are right there with her. She makes all the assumptions that any horror/sci-fi fan would make, and each twist and turn and trope turned on its head is exciting and horrific.

Besides folk horror and true crime, there is also cosmic horror, body horror, and some good old-fashioned shady government cover-up activity - a lot going on! - but with Cally as our proxy, we are in good hands.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angry Robot for the advance copy for my honest review.

Support your favorite indie bookstore (and give us both 20% off if it’s your first purchase) by using my link at https://refer.bookshop.org/candidanorwood.