Darker Than You Think [Paperback]

Jack Williamson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1979

Who is the child of the night? That's what small-town reported Will Barbee must find out. Inexorably drawn into investigating a rash of grisly deaths, he soon finds himself embroiled in something far beyond mortal understanding.

Doggedly pursuing his investigations, he meets the mysterious and seductive April Bell and starts having disturbing, tantalizing dreams in which he does terrible things--things that are stranger and wilder than his worst nightmares. then his friends being dying one by one and he slowly realizes that an unspeakable evil has been unleashed.

As Barbee's world crumbles around him in a dizzying blizzard of madness, the intoxicating, dangerous April pushes Barbee ever closer to the answer to the question "Who is the Child of Night?"

When Barbee finds out, he'll wish he'd never been born.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Darker Than You Think yields sheer enjoyment, generating wonder and suspense as Williamson springs his sequence of trap doors with the effortless agility of a master."--Peter Straub --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jack Williamson published his first short story in 1928, and he's been producing entertaining, thought-provoking science fiction ever since. The second person named Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America--the first was Robert A. Heinlein--Williamson has always been in the forefront of the field, being the first to write fiction about genetic engineering (he invented the term), anti-matter, and other cutting-edge science. A renaissance man, Williamson is a master of fantasy and horror as well as science fiction. He lives in Portales, New Mexico.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dell Pub Co (June 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440117461
• ISBN-13: 978-0440117469
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,870,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meet the Child of Night., October 18, 2000

By 

"mars13" (Elkton, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darker Than You Think (Paperback)

I'm very happy to see Tor return an old favorite of mine to print -- Jack Williamson's novel of shapeshifters, witches and the seductive power of evil. I don't use the term "classic" lightly, but DARKER THAN YOU THINK certainly deserves it.

Yes, the book's pulp origins are apparent. But modern readers should not let it distract them from this dynamic and highly original novel (which includes some great plot-twists that must have been very shocking in the 40's).

My only complaint with this new edition is the cover, which is pretty darn ugly. However, the book does contain David G. Klein's black and white illustrations from the 1980's Bluejay edition, which is a nice bonus.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enduring novel standing the test of time, July 25, 2005

By 

Book Reader 222 "John Howard" (Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darker Than You Think (Paperback)

The most pleasant surprise about "Darker Than You Think" for me is how NOT-dated it was. When I realized that it was a reprinting of a novel from the 1940's, I kind of expected the writing style to reflect its age. Not that 60 years is a LONG time in the writing world, but I have read other novels that practically screamed "Hey! I was written in the 1970's!" and so on. There was some jargon and lingo that was dated, and the newspaper was clearly NOT run in the computerized world. But other than that, this novel could ALMOST have been written this year.

My favorite element was probably the loose interpretation of lycanthropy. I wasn't as crazy about the use of the law of probability and such, but it was cool seeing one individual being able to turn into a wolf AND a saber tooth tiger AND a snake and so on. The explanation behind this was new and interesting, not quite like any other horror novel I have ever read.

The one thing about the writing style that DID bug me was the constant "shivering" by the main character. That and his flip flopping attitude about humanity versus the monster. For the first part, once the real "horror" of the plot started to unfold, the guy was CONSTANTLY "shivering" in horror or "shuddering" in fear, and let's not forget "gasping" words such as "Huh." By the end of the book, I think one of those words was used at least once per page. As for the flip flopping, he would embrace the monsters, then he would rebel on behalf of his human friends, then he would embrace the monsters again, then he would rebel. And on and on. It got a little tiring.

BUT ... looking past those two elements, I enjoyed the novel quite a lot. It is definitely a worthy read.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And better than you could hope..., May 31, 2000

By 

Claude Avary "West Coast Reader" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darker Than You Think (Paperback)

It is great to have this pulp classic (first published in the pages of "Unknown" in the early forties and expanded in 1947) back in print. This is the best in "epic horror"; every chapter has a new suprise, a new shock, a new monster -- but Williamson keeps it all together in his focus on a tortured and confused protagonist, caught between his friends and his confusing "lust". Although supposedly a werewolf novel, the author expands the story into a titanic struggle of humanity and the dark unknown, a struggle that lasts through all time and infects all of us. Impossible to put down, and worth it for the surprising emotional climax that reverses all conventions of horror (at least as horror was known then). Get it now!