Customer Reviews

The Children of Black Valley

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"The Children of Black Valley" begins with action and does not let up for its 328 pages. In the first four pages, Daniel, a young boy about to go to school, finds his pet dog dead and then must fend off an attack from an unknown man. Daniel manages to escape. However, for him and his father, Sam Mackie, things are about to become very bad. Sam is trying to raise Daniel mostly on his own after the abduction of his first son, which led to his wife's descent into alcohol, the end of their marriage, and Sam's immersing himself in his work, where one of his coworkers seems to have gone missing.

Events unfold rapidly, and the novel, which reads as if the author clearly anticipated a film based on the book, races along so rapidly that it becomes easy to turn the pages. Sam finds, for instance, that the missing coworker had transcripts of Sam and his wife from the moment of their first son's disappearance. He finds himself tentatively reuniting with his wife, forming an uneasy alliance with another coworker who believes (rightly) that someone is watching their every move, and soon watching helplessly as his surviving son lies in a coma, an apparent victim of a bizarre form of radiation poisoning. In the race to save his son, figure out what happened to his first son, perhaps repair the rift in the marriage, and figure out who is watching and trying to harm him, Sam begins to uncover clues about his own past, which, as far as he knows, began in an orphanage.

"The Children of Black Valley" is a true page turner, and that's a good thing since the novel has problems that, for the reader who stops too long to think, might present difficulties. For example, after Daniel is attacked at home, he goes to school more or less as normal and fails to tell anyone about what has happened. There is also the cop who helps Sam, putting his job and life on the line without what seemed to me sufficient motivation. The writing itself, by which I mean the grammar, sentence structure, and style, is mostly competent and workmanlike, but there are some errors and lapses that jarred me out of the story. Still, the book races along, and it's mostly an enjoyable and extremely fast-paced read, especially for those who prefer action in their reads.

A family is destroyed when their child vanishes. Riley Mackey is the son of Sam and Ann Mackie. One day Riley just disappears. His room remains as it was on his last day at home but his mother and father are separated. Riley's disappearance caused a rift between the couple that even their other son Danny couldn't span. Danny never knew Riley but he knows where his room is and he knows that it is off limits to him.

Sam is tied to his job and although Danny lives with him he spends very little time with the boy. Now something has happened that pulls Sam and Ann back together and makes Sam forget about any responsibility except his family. Danny disappears.

This time though Sam and Ann are going to leave no stone unturned until they locate their son and bring him home. Sam is determined that he will show Danny how much he loves him and how sorry he is for the time spent at work instead of with his son.

Sam has always been haunted by a vision of a dark tower. This goes back to his childhood when he went from one foster home to another. Now it seems that somehow this dark tower has played a part not only in the life of Sam but also his son Riley and his son Danny.

Sam has one friend, a fellow worker that believes in him and his theory. A police officer believes Sam and risks his life as well as his career to help Sam and Ann to track down where Danny is and if he is still alive.

This book is shocking and haunting and I hope and pray that the writing is only something formed in the author's imagination and not something that could actually happen.