Tethered to Darkness

by Justin Holley

To escape her fanatically religious upbringing, Mia moves away to attend State University instead of the bible-college her family wanted. After orientation, Mia’s new friends invite her to the Para-Psychology Club, where she meets a charismatic professor, who introduces her to Astral Projection. Mia finds that her social anxiety makes her a natural at the maneuver. So, when her possessive boyfriend tracks her down, hellbent on returning her home, she escapes their possessive grip by slipping into the nether. However, while out of her body, something ancient and dark—and from her past—takes over. Forced to deal with not only the entity now using her body but also the religious extremists who have arrived to remove it, her only hope lies in the hands of her new friend Bruce and the enigmatic Professor Colista as they try to save her from a fate beyond hell.

Genres: Horror

272 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2021

About the author

Justin is the author of the novels HELLWEG'S KEEP, TETHERED TO DARKNESS, the 3-book Blood From the Stars serial novel (THE FALL, THE CAPTURE, & THE END GAME), SEVEN CLEOPATRA HILL, BRUISED, WEDNESDAY'S CHILD, and THE GULLIES, as well as, several short stories haunting magazines and anthologies around the world. BRUISED was mentioned in Brian Keene's "Top Ten Books of 2015". He also investigates the paranormal with a TAPS-family group and plays volleyball twice a week. Correspondence from his fans is encouraged, and the best way to contact him is through his website: www.justinholley.com

Reviews

[Kristin Sledge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yikes....this was hard to read. 1.75 stars rounded to 2. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Mia is so excited to start college! She will finally be away from the oppressive church she grew up in and is interested in getting to know who she is while keeping true to her beliefs, even if that doesn't match up to her parents. When strange occurrences begin haunting Mia when she's alone, will she face what is lurking in the shadows? Or will it continue until it consumes her?

Buckle up, Goodreads family; this one is going to be bumpy. I hate giving bad reviews, but I can't with this one. Mia herself, for someone so repressed, has such a bad attitude....perhaps she should be on medication? She goes from pias one minute to deciding to sleep in the same bed with some guy she just met the next; terrified of the paranormal due to a Ouija board experience to astral projecting(WILLINGLY!!) in the next chapter. Mia was playing with fire and got burned, but she wasn't even the worst part of the book. Once we finally meet the illusive Pastor Matt, Mia's dad, and her boyfriend the author almost throws everything they find vial at them in order to make Mia worth saving. The best characters by far are the occultist and his cat, but we don't get enough of them to save the story.

1.75 stars, I'm sure the author did their best, but some more refinement and rewrites are necessary in my opinion. If you're willing to give this one a try think Insidious meets religion. Age recommended for 17+ due to graphic material.

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars for me, and I'll round up, because that's how approximation is supposed to work. Plus, this was a Horror Aficionados group read, so mad props to them.

And of course, Minecraft! I have a sneaky suspicion that our author is a Minecraft fan, also.

At 3%, the college professor Colista tells the students, "Prepare to experience the nether." Now, I don't know about you, but the nether is a very specific, definable place in the Minecraft realm.



Our pudgy wunderkind Bruce, aspiring horror author and geek extraordinaire, settles in to play a game of Minecraft when he has writer's block. He even sports a Minecraft shirt when he goes out of a 'date' with Mia, our wilting flower love interest. (The scene is spoiled later on, however, when "Mia fussed with Bruce’s t-shirt, adjusting a collar that was already straight." I'm not sure I've ever seen a t-shirt to sport a collar, let along a gaming t-shirt.)

So these are points in the plus column. I also enjoyed the insane religious cult that Mia belonged to, Colista and his kitty Crowley, and the 'throw-everything-in-the-kitchen-sink-and-mix-it with-the-crazy-spoon' ending that included occult circles, possession, human sacrifice. And, of course, astral possession.

Ultimately, though, I had issues connected with the main characters, Mia, Bruce, and Colista. They seemed too one-sided and cliched - Mia didn't have a mean thought in her body. The shining hero Bruce, with his pudge, his pimples, and his personality disorder as he kept this recurring negative self-talk in his head, using his father's voice. I swear I had visions of Norman Bates (the movie, not the book) and his internal Mommy voice over.



Overall, I liked the book, and the positives outweighed the negatives. Definitely Colista and Crowley should take their show on the road and have more adventures together.

[Irene Well Worth A Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mia has grown up with religious fanatics for parents although she does remember when they were more party animal than religious zealot. Her church is of the opinion that everything is a sin, even something as simple as yoga or meditation. Mia's parents expect her to attend bible college but she decides to stand up for herself and attend the state university.
With the way she has been raised, coupled with her random bouts of tears caused by her anxiety disorder it seems like living on campus would be a huge culture shock for her. Somehow she manages to fit right in. Even her sex crazed, wannabe rock star, room mate doesn't seem to phase her.
After she attends one talk on astral projection and has a quick peek at a book on the subject she succeeds in leaving her body on her very first try. Her second attempt does not end as well for her and she gets trapped outside her body when an entity moves in.
I enjoyed parts of this story but did not care for several of the characters or the way they interacted with each other. I wanted to like Mia's new friend Bruce, but the running commentary in his head put me off. I couldn't stand the roommate and it seemed weird that Mia would be hanging out with her. Pastor Matt was nauseating, though I assume he was intended to be, as was the boyfriend. The father was weak. Professor Colista grew on me but I think his cat was the only character I really cared about. The plot was clever in theory but the execution didn't quite make it.
I have enjoyed previous works by this author, and you may enjoy this one more than I did.
2.75 stars rounded up to 3
My thanks to Silver Shamrock Publishing for the review copy.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. I can't give it 3, but it isn't irredeemable enough for 2.

A college student seeking independence from her stifling religious life ends up with a wild spirit from her past inhabiting her body after astrally projecting herself as a means of escaping her controlling boyfriend.


It's a cute story. The plot and concept are given adequate space to shine, and the resolution is solid, satisfying, cathartic. It's a fun little ride through a dark story about dark things.

Unfortunately, it's all tangled up amongst immature and unrealistic dialogue, to the point where I was cringing throughout entire character exchanges and frequently rolling my eyes during Mia's and Bruce's points of view. I really had trouble buying their love story, no matter how hard I was hit over the head with it. Colista is by far the most interesting character, and gives a tantalising peek into what the others could and should have been - intriguing, with personalities and pasts worth caring about. Instead, we get Mia and Bruce, and the whole thing falls just short. Darn.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. I read this as a group read with one of my favorite groups Horror Aficionados. All I knew going in was that it was about Astral Projection. But it also had occultism, cultish religious zealots, abuse, familiars and a cat named Crowley. It started out a bit slowly, getting to know the characters, setting the scene, etc. And I felt like the instant love connection between characters was a bit far-fetched. However, I don't read books for their romantic believability, I read them for the weird shit. That I received in large quantities. Once the action kicked in it was hard to put down. The climax was pretty intense and the ending was satisfying. Overall I was very impressed with my first reading of a Justin Holley book. Would recommend.

[Brennan LaFaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Tethered to Darkness, Justin Holley finds an underexplored niche in the horror genre; astral projection and chaos magic. The most effective horror asks readers to consider what scares them most. Imagine losing control over your body, your autonomy, and having to witness it all from the perspective of an outsider. Holley takes the most intriguing parts of exorcism tropes, an unknown entity taking up residence in your body, and presents it from the unfettered perspective of the person most affected.
Holley writes in an engaging style that makes fifty pages go by before you know it. A lot of that can be attributed to the characters. Our two leads, Mia and Bruce, exude charm if the reader may have trouble buying how quickly their feelings for each other develop. Holley writes them in a relatable manner that doesn’t sacrifice complexity and makes the reader want to keep turning pages to see what happens to them. The antagonists can be a little mustache-twirly, but even if their dastardly ways make the reader roll their eyes on occasion, they’ll worm their way into your psyche as you find the darkness inside you anxiously awaiting their comeuppance. One character that Holley made quite intriguing, and it genuinely seems like he had a good time writing, is Professor Colista, who acts as a veritable guide for both main characters and reader.
Holley uses the story to explore such complex themes as religion, cult behavior (especially when it’s not immediately obvious to those involved), gender roles within a relationship, abuse, and toxic masculinity. Tethered to Darkness takes the reader to new places while maintaining a familiar enough tone to draw in horror fans.

[Janie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What to say about this book? I had initially been very excited - it seemed like a book involving the occult, unraveling fundamentalist, toxic Christianity, and about a young woman who finds herself amongst this trauma and wildness. However, when I read the book, I didn’t get any of that complexity - instead, the author seemed to go for cheap one liners or simple oversimplifications. For example - if you have a culture that’s okay with assaulting people, those smart enough to hold people under their thumb aren’t going to say “it’s okay to assault”, but are going to make comments that IMPLY that to encourage people who follow them - but much like with everything in this book, the book follows the former rather than the latter, and it makes for flat lines that don’t really give the story or concept the true level of depth that I thought it should.

Another aspect was the romance. I think far too much time was written on this romance - and it all felt very Nice Guy TM like, I found myself cringing through a lot of the dialogue. There were moments where characters would talk about a supernatural moment and then switch immediately to romance, and I could have to reread the page to figure out how they realistically made that jump.

Some other things that just didn’t sit right with me - one character is stated to be dark and has cornrows, so I’m assuming he’s Black, but the actions of that character are………..really based on poor stereotypes. If he’s not Black, the author may want to rethink some choice descriptors used for him. There’s also a male (multiple) rape victim involved in this story, and I hate essentially everything involved in his story. I think you can write a character who goes through that repeated trauma and also acknowledge that they can fail other people (and May not get forgiven for that failure or allowance of harm, which is perfectly fine!) without demeaning their masculinity or acting like they’re a pathetic person.

This book gets a star because at some points the dialogue was so random and out of nowhere that it was kind of funny, though.

[Moe]

[Minor Spoiler]
Well, that was the fastest DNF ever. Three chapters and I‘m done. The synopsis sounded so great but the writing is very…male. In the first chapter we read about a parapsychology class and I can only describe the professors vibe as ‚pretentious‘. In the second chapter we witness car crash-like „flirting“, a prime example for the disastrous ‚men write women‘ subreddit and chapter three confirmes that Bruce is a fuckboy, already scheming how he might make it out of the friendzone. (I peeked at the prologue, of course they end up together.)
I work full time, I read for fun, so I‘m not gonna waste any more time on this book.
Tho, to end on a positive note: I love the little illustration at the beginning of a chapter, I wish more books had them.

[D.K. Hundt · Rating 1 out of 5]

‘The most beautiful of surroundings can harbor the vilest of occurrences…Mia should have seen it coming, but it happened too slowly, gradually, its momentum building like a rock rolling downhill through mud.’

TETHERED TO DARKNESS by Justin Holley started out really well; I love the supernatural premise; however, the storyline and characterization felt off in parts to the point of pulling me out of the book, leaving me with more questions than answers.

Though this book didn’t work for me, I look forward to reading what Holley comes up with next.

Own/eBook
Crossroad Press - April 17, 2022

[Gail Sterr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mia's possession goes beyond the paranormal. To gain her independence in more ways than one, she must summon the courage to exercise both her demons and family dynamics. Holley weaves a layered sinister tale of transformation.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was an interesting adventure. The ending was a bit rushed.