The Worms Crawl In

 Darklings - Ray Garton 

                                                         

      Darklings isn't a new book nor is it one that a lot of people remember, It was released during the horror boom of the eighties and what a time it was! So many classic novels were released and of course Stephen King was leading the charge with his middle finger raised high. I would spend the majority of my allowence on horror novels and shit, there were a lot to choose from. The covers on some of these were so good, and yes, even terrible but that was what grabbed my attention. If it had an interesting cover odds were I'd pick up the book just to see what it was about and odds were, I'd end up buying it. The problem was a lot of these writers were just looking to cash in on the horror boom so while you had a lot of great and even mid level horror novels you were also stuck with a lot of shit. Novels so had you ended up throwing the book across the room in disgust. Where does Darklings fit into all of this? It's in the range of pretty decent to almost classic. It fell through the crack which is a shame because I really enjoyed it. 

       Garton's novel is simple enough to follow and while it may start out slow, it does pick up a little momentum in the second half. Jeffery Collinson is hit by a car and is brought into the ER where he starts talking gibberish about dark Christs and how something is going to come now. What that is, is what drives the novel. When Hunt sees what looks like a worm escape from Jeff's nose we know that business is about to pick up. These worms burrow into the brains of their hosts and allows them to act upon their darkest thoughts. In one case a patient eats the arm of her room mate and a pregnant mother kills her two kids and then uses the knife on herself. Once these worms get inside your head, there's nothing you can do. It's up to Hunt and his gang to stop it. Of course no one believes him until it's too late. It's an interesting book that somehow fell through the cracks which is a bit sad because Darklings is good and falls into a couple of horor tropes. Good vs Evil being the main thing and of course the simple comcept of evil being unleashed onto the world. 

       Collinson was an evil, vile person who is the heart of the novel Through his beliefs evil has manifested itself as worms and burrows into the minds of its victims enabling them do unspeakable acts.  While the novel itself is a bit cheesy at times and taps into the satanic panic of the time but it's a well written book that isn't too gory or even graphic but the kill scenes are ones that do stick with you . It's the kind of book that could have been huge but somehow wasn't and I can see why. Garton's writing style is decent but the first half stumbles along slowly. When it does pick up in the second half we begin to see where Garton's going and the story begins to reveal itself and sure, it now feels dated, but it's a decent read despite its lackluster ending, The ending is anticlimatic but how else could it have ended? Darklings is a horror novel that sometimes doesn't make sense, but good horror doesn't have to. All it needs is a decent plot and characters you can believe in or even root for. When it comes to books like these I just want a great story, a story and Darklings has that. Not everyone will enjoy it and they'll probably roll their eyes a bit but let's be honest here and admit that not eveyrone is going to enjoy a book like this and that's okay. If you're a fan of horror and evil worms this is worth looking up.  I give this one 4 stars.