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The Crawling Dark
After receiving a phone call telling her that her father is dead, Sandra Bryant and her brother arrive in Rockville, Tennessee to make funeral arrangements, only to find that everyone in town is dead--or more precisely, undead--at the hands of an unknown evil
- GenresHorror
349 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1991
86 people want to read
About the author
Pauline Dunn
4 books2 followers"Pauline Dunn" was the pen name used by sisters Dawn Pauline Hartzell Dunn and Susan Hartzell. They wrote three books under this pseudonym before getting in legal trouble for plagiarizing sections of Dean Koontz's "Phantoms" in their books "The Crawling Dark" and "Demonic Color".
Dawn Dunn continued writing after the scandal, publishing under her own name a number of short stories in different genres. Her last published works were released in 2001. She currently works as a Nurse Practitioner in her home state of Indiana.
Dawn Dunn continued writing after the scandal, publishing under her own name a number of short stories in different genres. Her last published works were released in 2001. She currently works as a Nurse Practitioner in her home state of Indiana.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 19, 2018
This novel is probably most well-known for having been recalled due to supposedly plagiarizing a sizable portion of Dean Koontz's Phantoms (1983), but that doesn't change the fact that it was entertaining as hell, at least for the first 240 pages or so. Right off the bat main character Sandra receives a call notifying her that her father is dead, so she meets up with her estranged brother and they head out to their small hometown in Tennessee for the first time in years. When they arrive, they discover it's a literal ghost town. Not a soul to be found anywhere, at least not living ones. The phones don't work anywhere and none of the cars will start, so they're pretty much trapped there with a shadowy evil force that they feel is watching their every move. They'll just have to somehow stay alive until help arrives. Hopefully the bodies stay dead in the meantime.
All of this was awesome, very well-written (or copied) pulp horror, with good pacing and quite a few freaky deaky moments. It's pretty intense with no real letup. Too bad it eventually devolves into pure "come to Jesus" nonsense,
What the hell happened? It's almost two completely different novels. I can only imagine that Dunn* plagiarized much of the stellar first half, but was forced to come up with her own ending, and absolutely butchered it. Part of what made the majority of the novel so intriguing is the whole mystery of it all, and for it to all come down to, basically is cheap. I'd rather there be no explanation than that.
Still, I'm giving it 3 Stars, as I'm not the type for whom a bad ending will retroactively ruin the entire reading experience for me, no matter how terrible or Deus ex Machina-filled it is. Plus the ending falls into the "so bad it's good" category, going so far beyond the pale that it's hard not to be amused. I'd give it a mild rec for those into the trashier side of horror (though the first couple hundred pages aren't that trashy at all, quite excellent in fact), and I'd be willing to give another Dunn novel a go in the future.
3.0 Stars.
*Actually a pen name for sisters Dawn Pauline Hartzell Dunn and Susan Hartzell. And by the way, why the hell would anyone plagiarize Dean Koontz? It's not as if he was some obscure author back in the early 90s. So of course one of his readers discovered the similarities and notified Mr. Koontz, who was none too happy, understandably. I'm not a fan of what little Koontz I've read, but I'd be interested in checking out Phantoms so I could try to spot the similarities. Plus I really dug the whole "sudden ghost town" plot.
All of this was awesome, very well-written (or copied) pulp horror, with good pacing and quite a few freaky deaky moments. It's pretty intense with no real letup. Too bad it eventually devolves into pure "come to Jesus" nonsense,
What the hell happened? It's almost two completely different novels. I can only imagine that Dunn* plagiarized much of the stellar first half, but was forced to come up with her own ending, and absolutely butchered it. Part of what made the majority of the novel so intriguing is the whole mystery of it all, and for it to all come down to, basically is cheap. I'd rather there be no explanation than that.
Still, I'm giving it 3 Stars, as I'm not the type for whom a bad ending will retroactively ruin the entire reading experience for me, no matter how terrible or Deus ex Machina-filled it is. Plus the ending falls into the "so bad it's good" category, going so far beyond the pale that it's hard not to be amused. I'd give it a mild rec for those into the trashier side of horror (though the first couple hundred pages aren't that trashy at all, quite excellent in fact), and I'd be willing to give another Dunn novel a go in the future.
3.0 Stars.
*Actually a pen name for sisters Dawn Pauline Hartzell Dunn and Susan Hartzell. And by the way, why the hell would anyone plagiarize Dean Koontz? It's not as if he was some obscure author back in the early 90s. So of course one of his readers discovered the similarities and notified Mr. Koontz, who was none too happy, understandably. I'm not a fan of what little Koontz I've read, but I'd be interested in checking out Phantoms so I could try to spot the similarities. Plus I really dug the whole "sudden ghost town" plot.
March 8, 2008
According to what I wrote in the front cover of my copy, this was the 7th Zebra horror book I had acquired and read. I used to walk across the street to Walgreens and pick up any new Zebra horror books, maybe splurge on a few Airheads, then go home and get down with the sickness. Or not. With a publication date of 1991 and my handwriting inside obviously that of my junior high self I highly doubt I was getting down with a whole hell of a lot. I’m not the type to throw out a book, however lame and cheesy it may be, so this has stuck with me since, taking up shelf space for over 15 years now. Unbelievable. It was finally time to give this a second reading, to see if there is any way that I can justify my earlier infatuation with this kind of trash.
The result; slightly disappointing.
The Crawling Dark starts off solid enough, firmly grabbing the reader by the man-marbles and letting it be known it isn’t about to let go anytime soon; much like getting your laptop bag stuck on a protuberance from a passing train, you’re along for the ride, whether you want to be or not. In the first 5 pages of the book, Sandra Bryant is alerted via an early AM phone call from her little brother Martin that daddy has died; and we immediately discover that she’s been estranged from her family for years, having run off in her teens without looking back, leaving her kid brother to deal with the alcoholic lunatic posing as her father, the same man who’d allegedly driven their mother to suicide and tried getting busy with his own daughter. She also has to quickly accept the indelible sense of abandonment which Martin was imparted with when she ditched out on him. Having escaped all this childhood torment, she now has to go back home for the funeral, back to Rockville, Tennessee, where she is sure to be overwhelmed and haunted by the years of crappy memories the place bestowed unto her. Now a successful restaurateur in Indianapolis, she has her brother (who has migrated as far as Chicago) meet at her place where a friend flies them into Rockville.
Despite whatever tragedies may have befallen Sandra previously in this small mining town, it was nothing compared to what is going on now, which is the sudden, apparently terrifying Death-By-Worm that has taken the life of the entire population of five thousand. To complicate matters, a vicious winter storm has been a-brewing, and it seems that somehow every vehicle, phone, and radio in the city has also been rendered non-functional by god knows what. In checking the homes of former friends, family, and mere acquaintances it becomes obvious that no one has escaped; everyone is dead, covered in disgusting worms which gleefully burrow throughout the inanimate flesh of the villagers. Overwhelmed by their findings, despite having grown up tough through their rocky childhood experiences, the pair immediately realizes that getting the hell out of town in their Hush Puppies is the only viable plan. That is, until the police arrive to save the day; local hero and Sheriff Rick O’Brien and his trusty crew, which includes fresh-faced right-hand man Lt. Walter Bishop, Nam Vet badass Dep. Tom Barclay, foul-mouthed, abrasive womanizer Dep. Sonny Crance, reliable long-time deputy Loyal Bennett, coroner Vernon Hess, and a few other meat puppets who serve as fodder for the forthcoming slaughter. Upon arriving into town, they encounter the devastated siblings and do a quick investigation of the place, but things seem a bit screwy when they advise Sandra and Martin they received a distress call from a local resident about an hour previously, and the Bryants already discovered this woman was dead many hours prior. Something is seriously f*cked up in Rockville, and the wise decision to make a hasty departure is made, except the police cars and their radio equipment has also become disabled. Wonderful.
Some of the cops start getting iced, then rising from the dead to attack the living, one of the stiffs places a call for reinforcements, and soon enough, over twenty police and medical assistants have been dispatched to the area, each time their vehicles and communication equipment is rendered useless, and more people are exposed to infectious bites of the worms, which inspire uncontrollable rage in their victims. Even those that aren’t immediately overwhelmed and killed slowly succumb to the thoughts of throttling everyone they can lay their hands on. Soon enough the governor is alerted and a team from the CDF arrives and places the survivors under quarantine. Tensions mount, as the few remaining police just want to get the hell out, but Colonel Ritter and his men aren’t about to disregard their orders. Up until this point, I was totally sold, happy to confirm my taste had been so good even prior to high school.
**********SPOILER ALERT***********
Suddenly, it all falls to $hit. Not the situation with the haggard survivors and their varied myriad struggles with the reanimated and vengeful dead, or the CDF, the worms, or even with each other in the paranoid and claustrophobic they are ensnared within. For some reason, an old woman who happens to be a clairvoyant tool of God is drawn to the scene, a serial killer whom O’Brien busted breaks free and resumes his craft under Satan’s direction, a priest is discovered as Rockville’s sole survivor in the church, and the whole thing turns into a showdown between the powers of good and evil. All I could do was sadly hang my head, wishing that the collaborative team of Dawn and Susan Dunn (who use the pseudonym Pauline Dunn on their output) had just stuck to what was working. These additional characters are all completely pointless, and only serve to detract from the story with this paranormal bull$hit concerning a battle about free will from some higher plane of existence. The cops are unfortunately drawn into this garbage as well, and soon they are scouring the church for a religious relic supposedly containing a lock of Christ’s hair, and demonic possession becomes the norm. WEAK!!
To pay my respects for the fulfilling years Zebra Horror gave me, one brief positive before going off to hang myself. There are few women of historic importance I’d ever want to meet, Sydney Steele, Caligula’s favored trollop Caesonia, and the Dunn sisters. In each of their books I have read, they always have some shady bureaucrat living it large, pulling the strings behind the scenes, usually complete with a cocaine habit (or some other solid narcotic with a strong potential for addiction) and a secretary that does nothing but fellate the dude. That’s right, a character who exists for no other reason than to pay her oblations to power with her oral cavity. Aside from the unavoidable love interest that always spawns between two pivotal characters due to the shared life-changing and desperate circumstances which highlight ever promising attribute they possess, this is always the only other romance within; which I can genuinely respect as a practicing misogynist.
The result; slightly disappointing.
The Crawling Dark starts off solid enough, firmly grabbing the reader by the man-marbles and letting it be known it isn’t about to let go anytime soon; much like getting your laptop bag stuck on a protuberance from a passing train, you’re along for the ride, whether you want to be or not. In the first 5 pages of the book, Sandra Bryant is alerted via an early AM phone call from her little brother Martin that daddy has died; and we immediately discover that she’s been estranged from her family for years, having run off in her teens without looking back, leaving her kid brother to deal with the alcoholic lunatic posing as her father, the same man who’d allegedly driven their mother to suicide and tried getting busy with his own daughter. She also has to quickly accept the indelible sense of abandonment which Martin was imparted with when she ditched out on him. Having escaped all this childhood torment, she now has to go back home for the funeral, back to Rockville, Tennessee, where she is sure to be overwhelmed and haunted by the years of crappy memories the place bestowed unto her. Now a successful restaurateur in Indianapolis, she has her brother (who has migrated as far as Chicago) meet at her place where a friend flies them into Rockville.
Despite whatever tragedies may have befallen Sandra previously in this small mining town, it was nothing compared to what is going on now, which is the sudden, apparently terrifying Death-By-Worm that has taken the life of the entire population of five thousand. To complicate matters, a vicious winter storm has been a-brewing, and it seems that somehow every vehicle, phone, and radio in the city has also been rendered non-functional by god knows what. In checking the homes of former friends, family, and mere acquaintances it becomes obvious that no one has escaped; everyone is dead, covered in disgusting worms which gleefully burrow throughout the inanimate flesh of the villagers. Overwhelmed by their findings, despite having grown up tough through their rocky childhood experiences, the pair immediately realizes that getting the hell out of town in their Hush Puppies is the only viable plan. That is, until the police arrive to save the day; local hero and Sheriff Rick O’Brien and his trusty crew, which includes fresh-faced right-hand man Lt. Walter Bishop, Nam Vet badass Dep. Tom Barclay, foul-mouthed, abrasive womanizer Dep. Sonny Crance, reliable long-time deputy Loyal Bennett, coroner Vernon Hess, and a few other meat puppets who serve as fodder for the forthcoming slaughter. Upon arriving into town, they encounter the devastated siblings and do a quick investigation of the place, but things seem a bit screwy when they advise Sandra and Martin they received a distress call from a local resident about an hour previously, and the Bryants already discovered this woman was dead many hours prior. Something is seriously f*cked up in Rockville, and the wise decision to make a hasty departure is made, except the police cars and their radio equipment has also become disabled. Wonderful.
Some of the cops start getting iced, then rising from the dead to attack the living, one of the stiffs places a call for reinforcements, and soon enough, over twenty police and medical assistants have been dispatched to the area, each time their vehicles and communication equipment is rendered useless, and more people are exposed to infectious bites of the worms, which inspire uncontrollable rage in their victims. Even those that aren’t immediately overwhelmed and killed slowly succumb to the thoughts of throttling everyone they can lay their hands on. Soon enough the governor is alerted and a team from the CDF arrives and places the survivors under quarantine. Tensions mount, as the few remaining police just want to get the hell out, but Colonel Ritter and his men aren’t about to disregard their orders. Up until this point, I was totally sold, happy to confirm my taste had been so good even prior to high school.
**********SPOILER ALERT***********
Suddenly, it all falls to $hit. Not the situation with the haggard survivors and their varied myriad struggles with the reanimated and vengeful dead, or the CDF, the worms, or even with each other in the paranoid and claustrophobic they are ensnared within. For some reason, an old woman who happens to be a clairvoyant tool of God is drawn to the scene, a serial killer whom O’Brien busted breaks free and resumes his craft under Satan’s direction, a priest is discovered as Rockville’s sole survivor in the church, and the whole thing turns into a showdown between the powers of good and evil. All I could do was sadly hang my head, wishing that the collaborative team of Dawn and Susan Dunn (who use the pseudonym Pauline Dunn on their output) had just stuck to what was working. These additional characters are all completely pointless, and only serve to detract from the story with this paranormal bull$hit concerning a battle about free will from some higher plane of existence. The cops are unfortunately drawn into this garbage as well, and soon they are scouring the church for a religious relic supposedly containing a lock of Christ’s hair, and demonic possession becomes the norm. WEAK!!
To pay my respects for the fulfilling years Zebra Horror gave me, one brief positive before going off to hang myself. There are few women of historic importance I’d ever want to meet, Sydney Steele, Caligula’s favored trollop Caesonia, and the Dunn sisters. In each of their books I have read, they always have some shady bureaucrat living it large, pulling the strings behind the scenes, usually complete with a cocaine habit (or some other solid narcotic with a strong potential for addiction) and a secretary that does nothing but fellate the dude. That’s right, a character who exists for no other reason than to pay her oblations to power with her oral cavity. Aside from the unavoidable love interest that always spawns between two pivotal characters due to the shared life-changing and desperate circumstances which highlight ever promising attribute they possess, this is always the only other romance within; which I can genuinely respect as a practicing misogynist.
Read
December 20, 2022I first read this book in the early 90s and realized that it had a lot of similarities to the book Phantoms by Dean Koontz. I contacted Mr. Koontz through his Publisher with a list of these similarities and ultimately forwarded him a copy of the book. He successfully sued the author (a pseudonym for two sisters) for plagiarism, and they were required to publicly acknowledge this plagiarism, with the book pulled from the marketplace. Rereading this was just a trip down memory lane.
June 28, 2023
While it’s probably known by this point, the simple history of this book bares repeating as it is actually more interesting than the story itself.
The basics are this: The Crawling Dark is a very clearly plagiarized version of Dean Koontz’s Phantoms. In fact the similarities are so glaringly obvious that the book was eventually pulled from shelves and Pauline Dunn (a pair of sister “authors”) were never penned another novel and were basically never heard from again.
And now, with that being said, The Crawling Dark actually isn’t all that terrible. While it is what is essentially AI trying to write a Dean Koontz novel, it does have its merits. The story is actually quite dark, bleak, and brutal. While Phantoms did have its moments of bloodshed and gore, The Crawling Dark takes that to the extreme and the whole mean spirited feeling throughout the story does separate it a bit from its duplicated source material. I might even go as far as to say the first 60% of this book is maybe slightly better than Phantoms.
The last hundred pages of this book however, take a very bizarre right turn. As if the sisters realized just how similar their story was becoming so they had to come up with a completely different ending. While I didn’t hate where they went with it, it is definitely strange, and it feels like an abrupt departure from where The Crawling Dark was going.
Regardless, this book ended up being better than I had anticipated and deserves a read just for the sake of publishing history if nothing else.
March 18, 2020
the beginning was so good! so good!
and then it all went downhill from there. Spoilers:
If you're not a fan of the "devil did it" twist, don't bother with this one.
and then it all went downhill from there. Spoilers:
If you're not a fan of the "devil did it" twist, don't bother with this one.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews