Conditions Are Different After Dark - Matt Moves to the Folkish Country

Conditions Are Different After Dark

Owen W Knight (@OwenKnightUK)

Reviewed by Matt Adcock (@cleric20)

"James and Faith sprung upright in bed as glass from the bedroom window crashed onto the sill and oak floor. 'What was that?' Faith cried. 'Someone's breaking in.' James rushed to the window. awake and alert in an instant from the shock. In the half moonlight, he saw a figure, wearing what looked to be a hooded cloak running away towards the far end of the garden and woods."

Come to the country they said. It will be peaceful and good for the soul. It's definitely not going to end up in a folk horror scenario either... Or will it!?

Conditions are Different After Dark is the new thriller from Owen W Knight (he of the excellent Another Life and The Visitors novels). And I'm delighted to say that Conditions is his best yet!!

If you're a fan of folky oddness with a darker tinge, such as The Wicker Man film(s), Midsommer, The Lord of Misrule et al, then you're absolutely in the right place... This is the tale of James and Faith, city slickers who move to a quaint country village in order to slow down and potentially raise a family.

Here is the official blurb: 

In 1660, a man is wrongly executed for signing the death warrant of Charles I. While awaiting execution, he asks to speak with a priest, to whom he declares a curse on the village that betrayed him. The priest responds with a counter-curse, leaving just one option to nullify it. Over four centuries later, Faith and James move to the country to start a new life and a family. They learn that their village lives under the curse uttered by the hanged man. Could their arrival be connected? 

Faith and James fear that their choice of a new home is no coincidence. Unexplained events hint at threats or warnings to leave, including the slaughter of their hens, an attic break-in and other menacing incidents. They become convinced the village continues to live under the curse despite denials from their new friends. Who can they trust, and who are potential enemies?

'the mind behind the fable'

Owen writes with a deliberate style, the book is very much dialogue driven and a key plot point is how the two leads don't communicate with each other very well... Slight trigger warning for anyone of a very sensitive disposition but as a horror aficionado, the is nothing here too gruesome, in fact, I'd have liked more - but then I'm a very sick minded person :)

Hopefully, you'll know by now if this is potentially your cup of tea. I recommend it and will put it into my very select pile of 'books I will probably read again!'

Out of a potential 5, you have to go with a Darkmatters:

ööööö

(5 - Another winner from Knight, his best yet!) 

BUY YOUR COPY OF CONDITIONS ARE DIFFERENT AFTER DARK HERE

>>> Imagine a world where the earth is becoming hell?

Click banner below to find out in my dark sci-fi novel 

(now an audiobook and becoming a graphic novel too)...