Review: The essence of a good story...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 4, 2014
Wow, Christopher Bynum is a good writer. That may be too temperate a compliment since in the last 24 hours when I wasn't asleep, his latest book kept me glued to my Kindle or wishing I was glued to it. I freely admit I had some very high anticipation for this book by Mr. Bynum, a.k.a. The Black, because it is such a departure from the kind of book he usually writes AND also because I've recently come to realize that I take no small pleasure in things that scare me a little. Over the years my bookshelves have been lined with the best writers in Horror and Occult but it's rare that I can say I truly and personally identify with the characters in their books.In this, Book One of the Nightwalkers series, the reader is taken on an adventurous journey, fraught with danger, with Abigail and Henry: two characters that for wholly different reasons pulled at my heartstrings. The fact that most of the book takes place in the deep South after the emancipation of the slaves and that both main characters are African American lends automatic gravitas to their story. The book weaves history, fiction, and the supernatural so deftly it succeeds in keeping the material fresh and authentic while simultaneously making us hungry for the expansion of what promises to be an epic tale.One of many memorable lines from the book, this one about Henry: "He felt a new sense of wellness and awareness, as if during all his life before his body had suffered a dry thirst, and now the thirst was quenched.  Now he could recognize other things besides the need to drink."Well, my thirst has been well satisfied by the essence of this book...temporarily.  My only complaint? The wait until June and Book 2.