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The Photographer II: The Dark Room
His drive to preserve their beauty for eternity cannot be controlled
Derrick, now David, tried to suppress the bad place within himself—the part that wanted to punish the girls who had shunned him. He knew he was good at his work—his actual photography—and he tried to make that more important than the darkness inside. But it was no use. His mission was to immortalize the beauty of young women—and nothing would stop him.
Senior Vicki Valentine is devastated by the loss of her best friend, SueAnne, unable to believe that someone would actually murder her. Spending time with the new guy in town, Scott, helps, but she can’t shake the feeling that something else is about to happen. Little does she know that David has been preparing his next photo shoot already . . . with her.
Derrick, now David, tried to suppress the bad place within himself—the part that wanted to punish the girls who had shunned him. He knew he was good at his work—his actual photography—and he tried to make that more important than the darkness inside. But it was no use. His mission was to immortalize the beauty of young women—and nothing would stop him.
Senior Vicki Valentine is devastated by the loss of her best friend, SueAnne, unable to believe that someone would actually murder her. Spending time with the new guy in town, Scott, helps, but she can’t shake the feeling that something else is about to happen. Little does she know that David has been preparing his next photo shoot already . . . with her.
159 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 27, 2015
I don't know what happened with this book, but Barbara Steiner seemed to have misplaced her writing skills between part 1 in 1989, and part 2 in 1993.
Part 1 wasn't all that great mind you, but it surely wasn't written as poorly as The dark room was. The dialogue was awkward and felt like a clumsy attempt at someone trying to portray teenagers.
Most of the characters were pointless, they were either there for the nut to kidnap or for Vicki and Scott to have someone besides each other to chat with on occasion.
Vicki was the queen of over doing it. If she wasn't grabbing Scott's arm in fear, she was standing around looking bug-eyed and making ridiculous comments. At one point she declared that as long as Scott kept loving her she would be okay.
There's a serial killer knocking off the pretty girls in town, so I didn't think that Scott loving her was going to make things okay. There was also the fact that Scott was new in town. Something tells me that after knowing her for around 14 days, Scott probably shouldn't have been loving her that much.
Vicki insists that David (formerly known as Derrick in part 1), is the whacko. Her reasoning was that David was new in town, she didn't like his smile, and he took too many photos of the pretty girls.
Vicki starts to wonder if David is using one of his cameras to photograph people's aura. That was a mighty strange conclusion for her to jump to.
The story was unrealistic to begin with, but having characters figure out things that no normal person would even be thinking about was just too much.
Inevitably, Vicki starts doing dumb things like stalking David. I kept hoping she would get killed so she would stop whining.
Scott and Vicki and their friends were apparently addicted to drinking Coke. They were going for Cokes every other page. "Want to go get a Coke?" "Let's go get a Coke." "They went to go get some Cokes." One girl fainted and was offered some water, but she asked to be brought a Coke instead.
I began to wonder if there was actually some other kind of coke in their cups, they were all so stupid.
Part 1 wasn't all that great mind you, but it surely wasn't written as poorly as The dark room was. The dialogue was awkward and felt like a clumsy attempt at someone trying to portray teenagers.
Most of the characters were pointless, they were either there for the nut to kidnap or for Vicki and Scott to have someone besides each other to chat with on occasion.
Vicki was the queen of over doing it. If she wasn't grabbing Scott's arm in fear, she was standing around looking bug-eyed and making ridiculous comments. At one point she declared that as long as Scott kept loving her she would be okay.
There's a serial killer knocking off the pretty girls in town, so I didn't think that Scott loving her was going to make things okay. There was also the fact that Scott was new in town. Something tells me that after knowing her for around 14 days, Scott probably shouldn't have been loving her that much.
Vicki insists that David (formerly known as Derrick in part 1), is the whacko. Her reasoning was that David was new in town, she didn't like his smile, and he took too many photos of the pretty girls.
Vicki starts to wonder if David is using one of his cameras to photograph people's aura. That was a mighty strange conclusion for her to jump to.
The story was unrealistic to begin with, but having characters figure out things that no normal person would even be thinking about was just too much.
Inevitably, Vicki starts doing dumb things like stalking David. I kept hoping she would get killed so she would stop whining.
Scott and Vicki and their friends were apparently addicted to drinking Coke. They were going for Cokes every other page. "Want to go get a Coke?" "Let's go get a Coke." "They went to go get some Cokes." One girl fainted and was offered some water, but she asked to be brought a Coke instead.
I began to wonder if there was actually some other kind of coke in their cups, they were all so stupid.
February 20, 2023
I would have really liked this book if...we had gotten answers to a few questions.
I wonder if maybe this was supposed to be a trilogy or something because the first book ended with very clear implications of a sequel.
The epilogue mentioned characters we would become acquainted with and even the setting.
The second book ends with implications that there could have been a rather supernatural reveal.
The first book suggests that only one girl died and the others were going to recover. This one from the antagonist's thoughts we get in certain sections implies three girls died but he ran off so...
We pick up a month or so after the epilogue of the first book so spoilers of course for those not familiar with either book.
Derrick Ames is now going by David Altman in a town called Sparksville, Arkansas. He has opened a portrait studio to make a living because despite his possession of a soul stealing camera, he is still a good photographer.
Males, children and pets seem to be safe...it's only the pretty girls who have to be careful.
He used the camera to punish the beautiful girls before, the ones who spurned him, but he has decided to change his mission. His own mother lost her beauty hitting the bottle hard and he had to make her suffer but this time...it's different.
He'll make sure the beautiful ones stay that way. He isn't in high school anymore and he's grown more psychotic and charming to make the beauties in this southern town comfortable.
How else will their true beauty shine through...
New to Sparksville High, Scott Lawrence is use to living in the big city of New York. This is a new experience especially when it involves falling in love at first sight. Honey blonde hair, green eyes, a fiery temper and a love for t-shirts with opinionated, liberated or quirky quotes.
Vicki Valentine has never been interested in dating any of the boys at school...she's known them all too long. She's been focusing more on her grades but one look at the new boy in school looking at her from a distance...she can't help but be interested in someone new.
If only it had been another day because learning that they finally found her best friend, Sue Anne Groober, dead is not a good way to start a high school romance.
Scott also meets Alan Berkman, known as Berk, a lovable and funny guy with a face filled with acne and they become fast friends. They go to Sue Anne's funeral and hope to cheer up Vicki but when Berk can see that Vicki is really hurting, he gives Scott the keys to his Jeep so they can go for a ride and talk.
I love Berk, best friend wingman.
Scott comforts Vicki but he can also see she isn't a damsel in distress who needs protection and it makes him love her more. After the sadness and grief of losing her best friend are gone, Vicki is angry.
She wants to find the person who murdered her friend. It had to be murder who else would have dressed her in her yellow junior prom dress and put matching roses in her hair, laying her out so lovingly in such a twisted manner?
Vicki's desire to find justice for her friend only grows when another girl goes missing and then another...
Scott picked a brave girl to fall in love with but he can't help but worry that Vicki might be next.
Derrick/David has upped his crazy game since the last book but he has also become so cocky that if he had just kept his mouth shut, things could have worked out for him.
Let's just say a photographer should keep his opinions of his models to himself and especially to a paying customer who just happens to be the object of affection to a guy.
I still find the book making my heart race wondering just how many girls are going to end up being the victims of this clearly deranged individual. Most of the characters are likeable and the climax wasn't disappointing.
The ending was of sweetness growing out of sorrow for one story but for the fate of our villain...it was hair-pulling frustration.
Where did he get the camera from? Did someone give it to him? Did he create it using magic? Did he sell his soul to get it? Some cultures believe having their picture taken will steal their soul but did he not have one to begin with?
Heck...was Derrick Ames even his real name in the first book? I don't think he's a demon or a warlock or a devil but a person can be born without a soul...having no empathy.
We get information from his own lips that he loved his mother until she started drinking and became less beautiful in his eyes and that his father left them high and dry. Still he isn't even that much older than Scott and Vicki so how did David become so good at photography and at what age?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!
Other than that, I thought it was a good book. You would for sure need the first book before you start on this one if you don't like leaving things unfinished.
You get enough information to read it on its own merit though...
I wonder if maybe this was supposed to be a trilogy or something because the first book ended with very clear implications of a sequel.
The epilogue mentioned characters we would become acquainted with and even the setting.
The second book ends with implications that there could have been a rather supernatural reveal.
The first book suggests that only one girl died and the others were going to recover. This one from the antagonist's thoughts we get in certain sections implies three girls died but he ran off so...
We pick up a month or so after the epilogue of the first book so spoilers of course for those not familiar with either book.
Derrick Ames is now going by David Altman in a town called Sparksville, Arkansas. He has opened a portrait studio to make a living because despite his possession of a soul stealing camera, he is still a good photographer.
Males, children and pets seem to be safe...it's only the pretty girls who have to be careful.
He used the camera to punish the beautiful girls before, the ones who spurned him, but he has decided to change his mission. His own mother lost her beauty hitting the bottle hard and he had to make her suffer but this time...it's different.
He'll make sure the beautiful ones stay that way. He isn't in high school anymore and he's grown more psychotic and charming to make the beauties in this southern town comfortable.
How else will their true beauty shine through...
New to Sparksville High, Scott Lawrence is use to living in the big city of New York. This is a new experience especially when it involves falling in love at first sight. Honey blonde hair, green eyes, a fiery temper and a love for t-shirts with opinionated, liberated or quirky quotes.
Vicki Valentine has never been interested in dating any of the boys at school...she's known them all too long. She's been focusing more on her grades but one look at the new boy in school looking at her from a distance...she can't help but be interested in someone new.
If only it had been another day because learning that they finally found her best friend, Sue Anne Groober, dead is not a good way to start a high school romance.
Scott also meets Alan Berkman, known as Berk, a lovable and funny guy with a face filled with acne and they become fast friends. They go to Sue Anne's funeral and hope to cheer up Vicki but when Berk can see that Vicki is really hurting, he gives Scott the keys to his Jeep so they can go for a ride and talk.
I love Berk, best friend wingman.
Scott comforts Vicki but he can also see she isn't a damsel in distress who needs protection and it makes him love her more. After the sadness and grief of losing her best friend are gone, Vicki is angry.
She wants to find the person who murdered her friend. It had to be murder who else would have dressed her in her yellow junior prom dress and put matching roses in her hair, laying her out so lovingly in such a twisted manner?
Vicki's desire to find justice for her friend only grows when another girl goes missing and then another...
Scott picked a brave girl to fall in love with but he can't help but worry that Vicki might be next.
Derrick/David has upped his crazy game since the last book but he has also become so cocky that if he had just kept his mouth shut, things could have worked out for him.
Let's just say a photographer should keep his opinions of his models to himself and especially to a paying customer who just happens to be the object of affection to a guy.
I still find the book making my heart race wondering just how many girls are going to end up being the victims of this clearly deranged individual. Most of the characters are likeable and the climax wasn't disappointing.
The ending was of sweetness growing out of sorrow for one story but for the fate of our villain...it was hair-pulling frustration.
Where did he get the camera from? Did someone give it to him? Did he create it using magic? Did he sell his soul to get it? Some cultures believe having their picture taken will steal their soul but did he not have one to begin with?
Heck...was Derrick Ames even his real name in the first book? I don't think he's a demon or a warlock or a devil but a person can be born without a soul...having no empathy.
We get information from his own lips that he loved his mother until she started drinking and became less beautiful in his eyes and that his father left them high and dry. Still he isn't even that much older than Scott and Vicki so how did David become so good at photography and at what age?
SO MANY QUESTIONS!!
Other than that, I thought it was a good book. You would for sure need the first book before you start on this one if you don't like leaving things unfinished.
You get enough information to read it on its own merit though...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 5, 2025
Once again… This book would have been a 3 if it weren’t for the ending… the ending is what kinda ruined it for me. I WAS excited when I found out that there was actually a second book. I was hoping the end would be different from the last… but I guess not.
September 12, 2018
Like the first, it's a quick, entertaining (but not too deep) read.
February 2, 2019
Good continuation to book 1 very similar story.
August 6, 2015
Actual page number- 165 pages
Really skeptical about this book before I read it because the villain is the same but the main character is different and after I read it, I can conclude this sequel to be bad.
The bulk of this book is basically the main character trying to solve the mystery the readers of first book already know and some romance fluff. Really this book wasn't suspenseful because there's no sense of danger or action scene to keep the suspense. There were in a last couple of pages which did salvage the book barely but overall it's bland as a horror book.
Vicky Valentine, the main character, is bland and it seems her trait is only her stubborn manner and that's all I can describe her.
Scott is the somewhat other main character who serves as the main character's love interest. A little more interesting than the main character for his earnest romance and the fact he's a city boy struggling in a small town so I find him likeable.
Also, I feel like the dialogue were really weird and I can't imagine that teenagers speak like this. The camera's origin is still unexplained in this book.
Discard this sequel as it isn't interesting and not even scary as well.
Really skeptical about this book before I read it because the villain is the same but the main character is different and after I read it, I can conclude this sequel to be bad.
The bulk of this book is basically the main character trying to solve the mystery the readers of first book already know and some romance fluff. Really this book wasn't suspenseful because there's no sense of danger or action scene to keep the suspense. There were in a last couple of pages which did salvage the book barely but overall it's bland as a horror book.
Vicky Valentine, the main character, is bland and it seems her trait is only her stubborn manner and that's all I can describe her.
Scott is the somewhat other main character who serves as the main character's love interest. A little more interesting than the main character for his earnest romance and the fact he's a city boy struggling in a small town so I find him likeable.
Also, I feel like the dialogue were really weird and I can't imagine that teenagers speak like this. The camera's origin is still unexplained in this book.
Discard this sequel as it isn't interesting and not even scary as well.
October 24, 2014
Just spooky enough.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews