Review: Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 2, 2013
Jessie has been plagued by night terrors for as long as he can remember, and they have always involved the Nightmare Man, a creature of pure shadow.  Jessie's wife has accepted that, as much as she can, until the night terrors start getting worse, and begin threatening their children.That's the premise for Alan Ryker's latest novella.  To be honest, there were no real surprises to be found in this story.  It follows a predictable path to a predictable ending.  That said, the strength of this novella is in the superb manner in which Ryker tells the story.  It is tightly paced, there are no extraneous scenes simply meant to pad out the word-count, and each scene flows logically into the next.  Ryker shows a real gift for moving between internal monologue and dialogue within the same scene.  This helps tremendously in giving Jessie his own unique voice, one separate from similar characters in similar stories.I also love how realistic Jessie's reactions are.  He doesn't believe doctors can help him, but still goes when his wife insists.  When one of those doctors offers an experimental treatment, Jessie has his doubts but, because he honestly wants to at least be able to say he tried everything, signs up for the trial.  And so on.  Again, this gives Jessie a unique voice.I don't have any real complaints about this novella as it is, though I do wish Ryker would have experimented a bit more.  However, we ended up with a great story, so perhaps I should hush up and count my blessings.