In Darkness, Delight: Masters of Midnight — edited by Andrew Lennon & Evans Light

May 15, 2019

In Darkness, Delight by Andrew Lennon

TITLE: In Darkness, Delight: Masters of Midnight
EDITORS: Andrew Lennon & Evans Light
GENRE: Horror
AGE RANGE: Adult

SYNOPSIS:
In Darkness, Delight is an original anthology series revealing the many facets of modern horror- shocking and quiet, pulp and literary, cold-hearted and heart-felt, weird tales of spiraling madness alongside full-throttle thrillers. Open these pages and unleash all-new terrors that consume from without and within.
Midnight is here. It’s now time to find . . . In Darkness, Delight.

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Sometimes, as reviewers, there are books that are hard to review for one reason or another, and to me, the worst of those occasions comes when there’s a book that I felt so confident I would love (in this case, due to my pre-formed love for quite a few of these creators), only to find that the end result was nothing like my expectations. Sadly, In Darkness, Delight is one of those occasions.

I’m not sure what it was about this anthology and me that seemed unable to mesh, but there were a disappointingly low number of stories in the collection that warranted 4 or more stars from me. I found many of them to be anticlimactic, and there’s an overarching theme in many of them that I struggled with: I adore it when a horror creator can merge heartbreak and fear, but when I’m only given the former without the latter, I find myself wondering how that particular piece fit the theme of the collection at large.

There are a lot of talented creators in this lineup who I will continue to support and eagerly await each release from — I’m still obsessed with last year’s Doorbells at Duskcollection, which featured many of the same creators — but sadly, In Darkness, Delight just didn’t ever quite pan out for me.

Finally, I’d like to quickly give a shout-out to my favorites in the collection: ‘In the Ground’ by Patrick Lacey, which details a boy’s descent into possible madness after the loss of his father; ‘The Pipe’ by Israel Finn, in which we’re treated to a terrifyingly claustrophobic view of a white supremacist’s torture methods; and ‘The Rules of Leap Year’by Monique Youzwa, which has one of the most interesting and unique premises I’ve ever seen as a family attempts to murder one of their own on each Leap Year.

Content warnings for violence, murder, body horror, suicide, racial slurs, ableist slurs, murder of a pet, substance abuse, and domestic abuse

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3stars

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

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