Darkness Falls

The X-Files: Middle Grade #2

by Les Martin, Chris Carter

unusual book

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Paranormal, Supernatural, Thriller

108 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 1995

About the author

Les Martin has written dozens of books for young readers, including the RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM movie storybooks, and many Young Indiana Jones middle-grade novels. He has also adapted many classic works of fiction for young readers, including THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, EDGAR ALLAN POE'S TALES OF TERROR, and THE VAMPIRE. Mr. Martin is a resident of New York City.

Reviews

[Cameron]

I could not sleep for *weeks* after I read this as a ten-year-old. I actually made my father put new weatherstripping on my bedroom window and close all the vents to my room.

That said, it's got a, uh, great environmental message.

[Stephen the Librarian]

“When you mess with nature, justice turns blind. And everybody gets punished.” —– Mulder

Although not found anywhere in the broadcast episode, the above line from Mulder is thought-provoking and brilliantly made with environmental ethics in mind. In this X-Files novelization of “Darkness Falls," Agents Mulder and Scully travel to Washington state to investigate the strange disappearance of a team of loggers working deep in the Olympic National Forest. Although eco-terrorism is initially suspected, the agents soon find themselves trapped by a seemingly ancient menace lurking in the dense woodland.

Sure, the killer-bug idea is nothing new, but the plot is certainly compelling, providing young audiences with a bonafide survival horror thriller. In fact, the deadly insect swarm works better here than on television because readers are left to imagine the terrifying prospect of being attacked by these unearthly mites—as opposed to relying on CGI pixels to sell the scare. Given that this show was produced in the earlier 90s, the greenly swarm was hardly an impressive visual. Much like the show's earlier installment, "Ice" (inspired by John Carpenter's The Thing), "Darkness Falls" strands the dynamic agents and a team of auxiliary characters in a remote location where they are pitted against mind-boggling horrors. And not everyone makes it out alive.

Topping in at just over a hundred-pages, the book is written for a middle-grade audience. Like most other X-Files novelizations, much of the scientific dialogue is reduced or carefully expounded so as to be more accessible to younger readers. The book contains a lot of additional dialogue not found in the episode, some especially interesting exchanges between the guest cast—Larry Moore, Doug Spinney, and Steve Humphreys—that lends a greater dimension to their one-shot characters. As an avid fan of the TV series, much of what I’ve enjoyed about re-reading these juvenile adaptations is these added scenes and dialogue that feel much like the bonus deleted scenes one finds on a DVD. On the other hand, the story’s pacing is rather hampered by some of this supplementary material, and occasionally the excess dialogue doesn’t ring true to what we know of Mulder and Scully. If you remove all the added content, the book would’ve been at least ten pages shorter. Again, I’m not complaining, as most of the bonus material in this book complements the story.

Darkness Falls plays to our most primal of terrors—fear of the dark and the nightmarish entities lurking amidst the shadows. Right from the get-go, a palpable sense of dread and doom is evoked from the book's opening lines, in the dreary descriptions of the dense forest and low fog snaking through the tree trunks. Still, the book's hardly a worthwhile read unless you’re deeply vested in The X-Files and yearning to recapture the nostalgia of a series past in a different medium, then in which case consider giving this meager book a try.

[Kristi Clemow]

Sad I can't get the rest of the series from the library. I like the series

[Elaine]

Surpreendentemente, continuo gostando muito. Ainda apresenta pontos sexistas, mas, como eu disse sobre o primeiro, temos de nos lembrar que os anos 90 não foram exatamente um exemplo em qualquer área. As notas completamente desnecessárias do editor me fizeram descobrir que o Harrison Ford não foi para a guerra do Vietnã por escolha própria e que as sequoias vivem até 4.000 anos. Um vídeo mais completo deve sair no meu canal (Naneverso e Prosa) na semana que vem.

[Tracy Smyth]

A fun read - bugs sucking the life out of humans

[Derya Melody]

Liebe die X - Akten und das Buch war einfach super. Ich konnte mich gar nicht mehr an die Folge erinnern. Kann die Bücher nur empfehlen wer ein Fan der Serie ist!

[Gilbert Stack]

This is a novelization of an episode of The X-Files TV series aimed at middle school children. I vaguely recall seeing the episode decades ago but really only remembered the very end. It’s a nice plot for the show. A group of loggers has disappeared in the deep forests of the northwest and Mulder and Scully are investigating. As often happens in classic horror stories, the location of the investigation isolates them from any realistic possibility of reinforcement if they get into trouble. With them are an official from the logging company and a representative of the Forestry Service. The reader will immediately guess that they are “red shirts” included in the story to have someone to kill off. The corporate man is convinced that extreme eco terrorists are behind the disappearances, but the reader already knows it is something far worse.

When Mulder and Scully’s vehicle is disabled by an eco-terrorist booby trap as they approach the logger camp, the sense of isolation grows more intense. The camp is deserted but shows signs of a rapid departure. There are also plenty of signs of sabotage, feeding the eco terrorist theory. But when they begin to investigate the woods around them, Mulder and Scully discover that the loggers were logging forbidden old growth trees—one of which has a highly unusual tree ring—and that at least one of the loggers was killed in a bizarre fashion that ended with him being cocooned. This is actually a hint at a major weakness of the story. Presumably the other loggers were killed in camp but there are neither cocoons or bodies showing their remains.

Anyway, Mulder and Scully begin to get evidence of what happened when they stumble upon an eco-terrorist raiding their camp. He doesn’t simply sit down with them and tell them everything he knows, but evidence begins to develop that the loggers have released something in the forest and only light wards it away from the camp. The camp’s generator with its dwindling fuel supply becomes a critical element of the story as Mulder and Scully slowly shift from trying to discover what killed the loggers to trying to survive their visit to the camp.

I’ve always liked this ending.

[Nika ;)]

4,5 gwiazdki ⭐
To było niesamowicie wciągające i angażujące. Zdecydowanie zachęca do sięgnięcia po następne tomy. Uwielbiam to, że relacja Scully i Muldera idzie coraz dalej w przyjaźń. Scully jest niezwykle ważną kobiecą postacią o jakiej możemy poczytać czy oglądać, jest silna, zaradna, daje radę, a kiedy trzeba jest trochę ostra i to w niej bardzo lubię. Nie potrzebuje być ratowana przez samca alfa i jest kluczową postacią w przeprowadzaniu różnych operacji, więc otrzymujemy bardzo fajnie wykreowaną feministyczną postać. Czuć niesamowity klimat serialu i agentów FBI co bardzo doceniam <33

[Brent C Ward]

I liked this book. The plot kept me pretty riveted to the storyline. I'm an adult, but I've discovered these short books meant for teenagers give me the thrill I need, are short to read, and focus mostly on plot. This juvenile X-Files series fits the bill for a short, easy read, with decent plots. This book was no exception.

[John]

I remember watching this episode and really wish I would've read these when first published. I like this episode and the book was a fun read, though a bit short. I would love to read the whole series and a collected volume would be great, since these paperbacks are starting to fall apart.

[Gloo The third]

I'm pretty sure X-files created a common horror trope with this story: bugs bleeding humans dry. There also was an Supernatural episode that featured said problem, kind of funny how common this seems to be in the world of television.

[Linda]

A quick read. Very entertaining. Like the TV show leaves you wondering.

[Christina Mages]

Loved this book.

[Kylie Abecca]

A very easy read that can instil a very unhealthy fear of bugs 🐛

[Savannah Thompson]

a quick enjoyable read .

[Antonio N]

3.75/5 Podobało mi się, jednak nei było jakieś cudowne

[Weronika]

Uwielbiam! Ale mogłoby być dłuższe.

[Melodye]

Reread a book I read in middle school that I found at the library. Quick read, definitely middle grade reading lol.

[Nicole]

Quick read. Very true to the episode from season one.

[Maria Laura Ferron]

Questa puntata l'avevo totalmente rimossa!

[Sharknado Reads]

Besides being a huge Xfiles fan since the 90s, I really love the sense of humour of this series

[Rosemary]

Scary through and through! Tense as anything, and well-adapted for younger ages to read easily.

[LealooDallas]

A quick and super enjoyable read - I devoured it!
Another episode of the X files that I remember so well. Such an excellent story and I could vividly visualise it. Would happily read again

[Ethan]

Solid novelisation of the episode. Very chilling and effectively nails the paranoia of the whole thing. I felt genuinely itchy for a while during.

[Giulia Renzi]

Good middle grade book, too bad Dana Scully doesn’t feel like her at all in this one.

[Regalia Lenzi]

Atak tajemniczych robali - byłoby ciekawiej, gdyby nikt nie przeżył. Ale przynajmniej poznaliśmy ekoterroryzm.

[Chuck White]

Cleaning off the shelves - Part #3

The third part of a new, continuing series dedicated to finally reading those books that I have had forever.

Part #2 can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This is the second in a six book series that adapts first season X-Files episodes. As mentioned before, when I bought them 20 years ago, I didn't realize they were geared towards middle-graders.

As with the first volume, I enjoyed this adaptation of the episode "Darkness Falls". I haven't watched the show since it originally aired, but the book took me right back to the episode.

Recommended for X-Files fans, 12 and over.

[Malcolm Cox]

This books is a literal write-up of the twentieth episode of season 1. It was easy to read and told the story accurately. I would say this is a 'bare bones' write-up in that there is little to no embellishment upon what was shown on screen. There may be a bit more clarity regarding what a character is thinking at any particular moment, but nothing that couldn't be inferred. The only advantages to reading the book rather than just watching the show is that the dialogue is easily readable and not muffled by mumbling actors and it can be read on and off anywhere. At barely over 100 pages it can even be read in the time taken to watch it.

[Mileena]

Darkness Falls
3/5 stars

This was a really simple, really small middle grade book that I figured would be a quick good start to the booktubeathon. And it was.

It's amazing how in a little children's book Mulder and Scully can still manage to have immense chemistry. Plus I've seen this episode before and this is one that actually scared me because of the theme and it was a good summary and Dow to the point.

[Al]

Impressionante a capacidade do autor em adaptar o clima o roteiro da série televisiva em livro. Sem absolutamente nenhum prejuízo da história, o suspense e a dinâmica do enredo são mantidos, fazendo da leitura um filme que se desenrola.
Muito bom, especialmente para fãs.