Eat the Dark
Joe Schreiber
Del Rey, Oct 2007, $12.95
ISBN: 9780345487506

Mike Hughes works at Tanglewood Memorial Hospital at least through tonight as the place is to shut. However, the thirty four year old married man with a child finds one last patient is to receive an MRI. When the cops and EMTs arrive, he asks who is this person, but receives no answer. Apparently Dr. Walker ordered the scan of notorious serial killer Frank Snow although Mike was not informed of this decision; his lover Jolie Braun obviously knew as she took pictures of Snow to sell on EBay. Coming to confront Mike at his place of work are his hurt wife Sarah, who knows he is cheating on her and their son Eli.

Mike begins the process when Snow asks him to hold something and tells him he has special plans for Eli. As he begins the procedure, Sarah challenges his faithfulness forcing Mike to abort the operation; he tells her to wait upstairs for him when all hell breaks loose as Snow convulses. Soon afterward Snow escapes, but does not leave the hospital; instead he turns off the power and locks the doors as the predator has waited ten years to begin a new killing spree. Mike panics as he fears for the safety of his loved ones.

EAT THE DARK is a throwback serial killer thriller that grips the audience the moment the lights go out and never let’s go until the final confrontation as Mike risks his life to save those he cherishes forever while feeling like he is CHASING THE DEAD as the body count rises. Filled with a late twist, fans of old fashion Jason-like horror movies will appreciate Joe Schreiber’s dark thriller.

Harriet Klausner