What Lies in Darkness by Jeff Seymour
This is Ellie Mailer’s story. She watches out for her little sister, Georgie, in a house that is coming apart at the seems. Her parents drink and fight. Her degenerate uncle recently moved in and she can hear every move he makes in his upstairs bedroom because it is right above her own room. Toss in some bad storms knocking out the electricity and a man with darkness for a face, and you get some pretty bad nightmares.
This is a horror story, no doubt about that that. It’s nitty gritty and Ellie is my kind of heroine. She doesn’t have all the answers, but she does have guts and a purpose: protect Georgie. She doesn’t kid herself, but she also doesn’t leave herself out of the equation. If the darkness is going to consume her, literally, then it will have to work hard to do so.
The darkness itself is wicked but also clever. It does have patience, and brutality. This combination makes it much more interesting than just some evil that slashes and breaks for fun without pausing for breath. Also, it means that Ellie has to out think this malevolence.
All in all, it was a pretty entertaining piece for a lunch break. Though I would definitely keep the volume down if you are at work. Ellie doesn’t mince her cuss words.
Narration: Jeff Seymour did a pretty good job narrating his own work. He has the range of emotion the story called for. However, he lacks female voices. He still imbues his voice with Ellie’s kick ass attitude.