Darker Than You Think does live up to the title in a slow burn fashion. It follows the dawning realization of the protagonist — Will Barbee, hardbitten, alcoholic journalist — that dark forces, witchcraft, and horrific legends of the past are all based on a semi-human race of beings. And that he might in fact be one of them. This is, fundamentally, a horror novel. While some of the horror does come from witchcraft, lycanthropy, and monster attacks, most of it is psychological as Barbee fights against revelations of his own nature. He clings desperately to his humanity even as he commits horrific acts against his oldest friends. It is sharply written stuff. The characters are well-drawn, fitting neatly into that 1940s vein: hard-drinking, chain-smoking, and fast-talking. Jack Williamson wraps it all in the language of then cutting edge science: quantum probability, molecular mutability, ESP, etc., though it probably would have worked just as well as straight horror without the sci-fi trappings.
The darkness hinted at in the title comes from the readers viewpoint: it isn’t merely Will Barbee’s humanity at stake during his struggle, it is ultimately mankind’s existence. So, yes, as the end nears, it is indeed darker than you think.
Originally a novelette published in 1940 by Unknown, Jack Williamson extended Darker to novel length for post-war publication. I’d like to read the original sometime because one of my few criticisms is that the reader grasps the premise rather quickly. Much of the rest could have felt like filler in the hands of a lesser writer. The entire story covers only a few days. There is a hint of rinse-and-repeat about Barbee’s shape-changing “dreams”, his waking to discount the events of the night as mere dreams in spite of all evidence, then reiterating the whole thing again with a slight variation that at least does move the story along. One could imagine a reader thinking “get on with it already.” But the little details Williamson provides, filling in the back story, keep the reader interested even after having comprehended the larger picture a couple of chapters in and knowing more or less how the story is going to end, including the identity of the Child of Night. It shouldn’t work for 200+ pages, but it does. That is a testimony to Williamson’s chops. Kudos to him. Worth the read.
I hope those who backed Cesar the Bravo will consider that worth the read. Thanks to all those who backed it. And for those who missed it, don’t worry; it will be on sale sometime in December, or so I am led to believe.
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