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The Innocent Dark
The Lefland family curse becomes horribly manifest as a traumatic experience causes young Jason to develop a split personality.
- GenresHorrorFamily Drama
Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
October 14, 2023
A better title for this would be Incest in the Dark as this sordid little tale takes incest to another level. Forrester oscillates the narrative between two siblings, Jason (14) and Quinn (12), who tell of the events that took place 6 years prior. Quinn had just turned 12 when she started to sense her family was not the perfect, loving household she always imagined. Her perfect mother, her perfect father!
The family lives in a sprawling mansion somewhere in the California hills; pretty isolated to say the least. Fairly soon after the disastrous birthday party, where the parents openly fought, the mother was taken away by the father; he returned the next day and told the kids she died. While they had a funeral and everything, Jason refuses to believe his mother died and suspects the father is up to something. So, for the rest of the summer, the kids plot and try to find their mother.
We know pretty much off the bat that something is wrong with Jason; he does things around his sister and then cannot recall them for example. Not much of a spoiler to say he has a split personality. Yet, the story unfolds as something of a mystery. What really happened to their mother? Forrester drops all kinds on hints along the way that some streak of madness runs in the family; is their mother really just insane and now institutionalized? During the kids search of the house they find their mother's diary, where she wrote down how she was sexually abused by her father, repeatedly, when she was about 10 or so.
While Jason comes off as the crazy one, Quinn is the innocent just trying to figure out who is lying and why. Expect lots of family drama. Expect lots of incest, but at least Forrester is not graphic about it. The ending came as a surprise as the mystery unfolds, and the truth is more sordid than I expected. Need something to read that will make you feel icky all over? Look no further! I might dive into the sequel as I have it, but need a little break first. 3 nasty stars!
The family lives in a sprawling mansion somewhere in the California hills; pretty isolated to say the least. Fairly soon after the disastrous birthday party, where the parents openly fought, the mother was taken away by the father; he returned the next day and told the kids she died. While they had a funeral and everything, Jason refuses to believe his mother died and suspects the father is up to something. So, for the rest of the summer, the kids plot and try to find their mother.
We know pretty much off the bat that something is wrong with Jason; he does things around his sister and then cannot recall them for example. Not much of a spoiler to say he has a split personality. Yet, the story unfolds as something of a mystery. What really happened to their mother? Forrester drops all kinds on hints along the way that some streak of madness runs in the family; is their mother really just insane and now institutionalized? During the kids search of the house they find their mother's diary, where she wrote down how she was sexually abused by her father, repeatedly, when she was about 10 or so.
While Jason comes off as the crazy one, Quinn is the innocent just trying to figure out who is lying and why. Expect lots of family drama. Expect lots of incest, but at least Forrester is not graphic about it. The ending came as a surprise as the mystery unfolds, and the truth is more sordid than I expected. Need something to read that will make you feel icky all over? Look no further! I might dive into the sequel as I have it, but need a little break first. 3 nasty stars!
April 11, 2019
I read this a long time ago. Basically this is sort of "Flowers in the attic" on steroids. No exaggeration. I did enjoy the Flowers series back in the day and so I wanted to read this.
I did moderately enjoy it at first but it became to freaky. It sort of keeps all the negative elements of Flowers and leaves out any of the good. At any rate the book isn't very good but I would still give it a 2.5 because it sure isn't boring. It is also where I heard the name "Quinn" applied to a female for the first time and I loved that. Quinn's a great name. That is all I took from the book unfortunetly.
I did moderately enjoy it at first but it became to freaky. It sort of keeps all the negative elements of Flowers and leaves out any of the good. At any rate the book isn't very good but I would still give it a 2.5 because it sure isn't boring. It is also where I heard the name "Quinn" applied to a female for the first time and I loved that. Quinn's a great name. That is all I took from the book unfortunetly.
September 14, 2012
So over the top and such a blatant Virginia Andrews rip off, I gave it full marks for nerve! Was so trashy I couldn't resist tracking down the sequel on eBay.
October 9, 2023
Summary:
Siblings Jason & Quinn Lefland are left alone in their grief after the sudden passing of their mother. Unknown to them, a terrible curse has haunted their family for many generations & they are to be brought face to face against it.
My Thoughts:
This is a very dark & disturbing book that is impossible to put down. I’d recommend it for 18+.
My Rating: * * * *
Siblings Jason & Quinn Lefland are left alone in their grief after the sudden passing of their mother. Unknown to them, a terrible curse has haunted their family for many generations & they are to be brought face to face against it.
My Thoughts:
This is a very dark & disturbing book that is impossible to put down. I’d recommend it for 18+.
My Rating: * * * *
December 14, 2017
Trashy 80s incest soap opera fiction with a little macabre flavor.
November 11, 2017
(SPOILER ALERTS)
I initially commented that this is 'only for those with a taste in incest' but subsequently noted that a number of people have enjoyed it and I do not want to disrespect their opinions by casting aspersions on their character. Nevertheless, this is imho a silly book that is about as convincing in its 'pure innocence' as a porno star in a schoolgirl uniform. It's one of the rare occasions where I regretted wasting my time by even picking a book up (it was one of a large job lot I bought many years ago and have been working my way through) and thought I owed it to others to offer a warning.
The lead characters frequently ask the question "how can love be wrong?" but you only have to read about the things they do in the name of love to see the absurdity in that notion. Twisted values, twisted beliefs, twisted reasoning = insanity, I think.
Not sure how a 14 year old boy and his 12 year old sister, posing as the parents* of a newborn baby, could get by even in liberal California, especially as the boy was clearly off his rocker, but going by the ending and the comments of other readers, the author subsequently inflicted a '6-years-on' sequel upon his audience.
* the baby was actually the product of the boy's sexual relations with his mother (the instrument for passing on the 'family curse'), and he had also initiated his 'baby sister' into sex. I hope the readers are able to distinguish between sex and love, even if the protagonists cannot!
I initially commented that this is 'only for those with a taste in incest' but subsequently noted that a number of people have enjoyed it and I do not want to disrespect their opinions by casting aspersions on their character. Nevertheless, this is imho a silly book that is about as convincing in its 'pure innocence' as a porno star in a schoolgirl uniform. It's one of the rare occasions where I regretted wasting my time by even picking a book up (it was one of a large job lot I bought many years ago and have been working my way through) and thought I owed it to others to offer a warning.
The lead characters frequently ask the question "how can love be wrong?" but you only have to read about the things they do in the name of love to see the absurdity in that notion. Twisted values, twisted beliefs, twisted reasoning = insanity, I think.
Not sure how a 14 year old boy and his 12 year old sister, posing as the parents* of a newborn baby, could get by even in liberal California, especially as the boy was clearly off his rocker, but going by the ending and the comments of other readers, the author subsequently inflicted a '6-years-on' sequel upon his audience.
* the baby was actually the product of the boy's sexual relations with his mother (the instrument for passing on the 'family curse'), and he had also initiated his 'baby sister' into sex. I hope the readers are able to distinguish between sex and love, even if the protagonists cannot!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews