Review ~ Hold the Dark by William Giraldi

No Exit Press
To be published
February 2015

Dark secrets combined with horrifying revenge form the basis for this cleverly controlled and decidedly creepy thriller.

The dark menace of Hold the Dark permeates throughout the narrative until you begin to feel an ice cold chill of dread. In the Alaskan village of Keelut, wolves have allegedly slinked right into the village in order to take away small children.  When her six year old son disappears Medora Slone enlists the help of wolf expert Russell Core, who must try to get to the heart of this horrific mystery. And when Medora’s husband, Vernon, is invalided out of the army, he returns from Iraq hell bent on finding his son and wreaking revenge.

Hold the Dark is exceptionally bleak, and probably not a story to read if you are feeling downhearted. However, even though the story is uncompromisingly desolate, there is no escaping that it captures your attention from the beginning and literally gets right under your skin. The core of its darkness comes in the uncompromising violence which is threaded throughout the book, and whilst this is not to my personal taste, I acknowledge that it adds credibility, not just to the barrenness of the story’s landscape, but also to the obdurate nature of its characters.

As thrillers go it held my attention throughout, however, I must say I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the book was over and the darkness receded.

My thanks to Real Readers and No Exit Press for my review copy of this book.

Edited

 ** Now published 26th February 2016 **