4.5 out of 5 stars
This was a thrilling debut novel from Courtney Gould! The Dead and the Dark was fast-paced and kept me guessing pretty much right up till the end. My favorite part just might be how expertly Gould takes something as seemingly unremarkable as a negative feeling and materializes it into something monstrous, growing its own sharp teeth and dark desires.
Also, you can feel the off-ness of Snakebite so so strongly. That lovely little unnerving feeling holds onto you and won’t let go all throughout the story. Such an under appreciated feeling in the time of jump scares imo. It feels like a more classic type of thriller/horror to me and I really dug that.
If that’s not enough to entice you, there’s also a whole bunch of jaw-dropping moments, secrets revealed, rich family dynamics, and really an intense look at grief and trauma as their ripple effects branch across time and people. I quite enjoyed this one and I’m really looking forward to more from this author in the future.
I received an arc of this book from Wednesday Books via Netgalley and this is my honest review.
