A Darkness Shattered: Review

                   Matt Boiselle

   
    What point is there in reading any novel if you aren't able to gain a feel for the surroundings that envelop you ? I have put down many a book because I need to be placed in an environment that is almost tangible, and for that almost too picky sense of being that I possess, I'm sure that I've lost out on many a good read.

   I was having feelings of trepidation when " A Darkness Shattered" was thrown into my lap, and after this read, those feelings quickly disappeared further and further within each page turn. Up-and-coming author Bruce Clothier has the ability to paint you, the reader, a scene that is as clear and concise as any you could hope to read. Each terrifying moment in the book is graphically and gore-iffically (just made that one up) detailed in such a fashion that anyone who jumps into this book, will swear that they are watching it play out in front of them via live-action.

  The story itself follows main character Michael Nelson, a 16 year old who is faced with the choice of heading out into a world that has fallen to pieces due to the zombie apocalypse to find shelter for himself, or wait out in hopes that his parents, who have been missing for a week will somehow return to safety. After much thought, Michael ventures out on his own to begin a search for a safe haven, and clings to little remaining hope that he can be reunited with his Grandparents. He runs into Abby in his travels, a teenage girl that also has been thrust into the unknown yet obviously fateful future. Together they begin a journey together into the heart of a violent new world, all along the way meeting up with a variety of characters, some that will aid in their survival, while some others are hell-bent on taking away from them all that they hold dear to each other.

   I will spare all of the details, mainly due to the fact that no matter what I may type, it simply does not do enough justice in comparison as to what you can read for yourself. Rest assured, the atmosphere is thick in this book, and the amount of detail will leave your mind feeling as if you too are a character tossed into the middle of this violent scarefest.

    The book is available on http://www.amazon.com/ for a mere .99 cents (e-reader format), so toss up a dollar and watch the zombie entrails rain down around you - Happy Reading !