Darker Places

by Parke Godwin

DARKER PLACES is a tale that delves into the darkest recesses of the human mind and spirit. Neil O'Fallon is an actor who comes home from an out-of-town engagement to find out his ex-girlfriend was brutally murdered. The police have put him at the top of the list of suspects, but even Neil is unsure how this could have happened... or who could have wanted such a bright and beautiful young woman dead. Until Neil begins to pick up clues as he gathers Kit's things to send to her family. Pieces of poetry and excerpts of conversations that might lead to the White Rosary... the path of destruction Kit had wandered. A path of sex and cruelty, a seductive path that Neil is determined to follow.

Genres: Horror

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1980

About the author

Parke Godwin was an American writer known for his lyrical yet precise prose style and sardonic humor. He was also known for his novels of legendary figures placed in realistic historical settings; his retelling of the Arthur legend (Firelord in 1980, Beloved Exile in 1984, and The Last Rainbow in 1985) is set in the 5th century during the collapse of the Roman empire, and his reinterpretation of Robin Hood (Sherwood, 1991, and Robin and the King, 1993) takes place during the Norman conquest and features kings William the Conqueror and William Rufus as major characters. His other well-known works include Waiting For The Galactic Bus (1988) and its sequel The Snake Oil Wars (1989), humorous critiques of American pop culture and religion.

Parke Godwin also worked as a radio operator, a research technician, a professional actor, an advertising man, a dishwasher and a maitre d' hotel.

Godwin's short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. His short story "Influencing the Hell out of Time and Teresa Golowitz," was the basis of an episode of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Reviews

[Jack Tripper · Rating 3 out of 5]

1980 Playboy mass-market (256 pages, not 356 as listed), first published in 1973 by Curtis Books. Very non-PC cover, but I still kind of like it. And who knows, maybe he's helping her? Like he busted her trying to kill herself and just took the knife away, or something. Or she's trying to prevent him from from carving into a steak since she's a vegetarian and doesn't agree with his stance on meat-eating. No? Okay.

Update: 4/21/2016

More of a mystery/thriller than horror, which it was marketed as, Darker Places was a decent page turner concerning a NYC stage actor whose recently estranged girlfriend, also an actor, turns up murdered in a ritualistic and gruesome way. He soon learns that she was involved in some sort of secret, demented sex cult, and he believes they are responsible for her death. Rather than go to the police with this information, he decides he wants personal revenge since, though recently separated, he was still very much in love with her and knew they'd end up back together soon. So he puts his detective hat on and hits the streets. And he finds that no one, not even his closest friends, can be trusted.

Overall this was a rather standard thriller, imo, though Godwin does have an engaging writing style, and the protagonist/narrator was well-drawn. The first half or so was pretty absorbing and the pages flew by, but once the picture became clear at about the midpoint, my interest waned a bit. Still, anyone who's in the mood for a quick thriller that rarely lets up, and with plenty of twists and turns, may find Darker Places hits the sweet spot. But for someone like me, who's read their fair share of these types of mysteries, you may find that there's not much new here. Even for 1973.

3.0 Stars