DARKER DAYS
Thomas Olde Heuvelt (oldeheuvelt.com)
Translated by Lia Belt (smarttranslations.nl)
Bantam Books (penguin.co.uk)
£20
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In the small town of Lock Haven, Washington you’ll find a secluded cul-de-sac called Bird Street. There are half a dozen houses on Bird Street, a handful of families who harbour a dark secret between them: for eleven months of every year they live a happy, carefree and charmed life; this lifestyle comes at a price, and on the first of November the “Darker Days” arrive, a time of darkness, bad luck and conflict. In order to break the hold of the Darker Days, the residents of Bird Street must sacrifice a human life every year; the longer they take to complete their side of the bargain, the more difficult the month of November becomes. This has been the way on Bird Street for generations, and no-one can see any reason to force any changes, especially when they consider the consequences. The Lewis da Silvas, a young incarnation of an old Bird Street family – Ralph Lewis was born on Bird Street, as was his father, and so on – have as much to lose as anyone else on the street, which is why Ralph plays the role of the community’s conscience, ensuring that the sacrifice they select each year will bring no trouble to their doorsteps. But when the Darker Days arrive in 2022, a series of misfortunes leave the residents of the street wondering if they will ever find their sacrifice, or if this is the year that they will destroy each other and themselves. Little do they know, but 2023 is going to be much worse…
When I think of the list of writers who will carry the horror genre for the next 20 or 30 years, Thomas Olde Heuvelt’s name is always high on that list. Since his breakout novel, Hex, he has consistently produced brilliant dark, unsettling fiction every couple of years. His latest effort, Darker Days, is no exception: it’s a novel that examines horror on a number of different levels – the supernatural, parenthood, illness (both mental and physical), and many more – and presents a grounded, but chilling, examination of the faults of humanity viewed through the lens of a small community who have lucked into a deal that seems too good to be true…until it isn’t any more.
Olde Heuvelt presents the events of Darker Days through the eyes of the Lewis da Silvas, one of five families with properties on the secluded Bird Street. Surrounded on all sides by thick forest, the street is a secluded enclave of the small Washington town of Lock Haven, a dead end that means no-one is ever “passing through”. Man of the house Ralph is a long-time resident of the street, having been born and raised in the house he now calls his own, a house where he lost his brother when they were both teens. His wife Luana has accepted the way of life on this quiet street and lives for her children: 15-year-old Kaila is a champion diver, who expects to be selected for the Olympic team for 2024, and who suffers from mental health issues – which are much more pronounced in November; and 10-year-old Django, a piano virtuoso whose hero is Jerry Lee Lewis. For 11 months of the year, they are a normal family who do normal things, though they may have a bit more luck, and a bit more natural talent than most other families. In November, though, they – along with everyone else on Bird Street – go into lockdown: they don’t go to work or school, they avoid going outdoors as much as possible, and the golden rule is simple: don’t look out the back of the house, and stay away from the woods that surround the street.
It’s a simple concept, and Olde Heuvelt sets the ground rules early in the story. The reasons for their extraordinary luck, and for the one bad month they must suffer each year, come at a much slower rate, but it isn’t long before we discover that the residents of Bird Street must pay a very high price every year to maintain the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. Sticking with a single family allows us to get into the middle of the story, to see the neighbours from a single point of view, but also to focus in on the story’s central characters, the people who could conceivably bring the whole house of cards tumbling down. Ralph is a borderline alcoholic, who drinks more during the Darker Days, lashing out at his family when things don’t go his way. Luana should have died in a horrible car crash twenty years earlier, but was saved by a “man” the residents call “The Accountant”; now she lives a happy life, but knows that were she ever to leave Bird Street, her miraculous recovery would quickly reverse itself, leading to a quick but extremely painful death. At 15, Kaila is on the verge of being inducted into the street’s secrets. She has attempted suicide on several occasions and, when she discovers what her parents are up to – a year before they’re ready to tell her – she is unsure how she feels about it, and sets out to test the limits of the rules under which she lives. 10-year-old Django is a typical boy who can’t quite understand what is happening to the rest of his family, and why his friend from across the street is so determined to break the rules.
Olde Heuvelt has given each of the main characters a distinctive voice, and a distinct set of worries and fears, so as we jump between them it’s easy to remember who we’re spending time with. The story starts off dark – it starts with a group of the residents taking a woman dying of cancer into the woods to sacrifice to the devil that gives them their charmed lives – and takes a darker turn as the story picks up just as the Darker Days of 2023 are looming on the horizon. Ralph and the rest of the residents discover that the rules under which they’ve been living are not set in stone, when disaster strikes before the clock strikes midnight on Halloween night. Thrust into a situation that is any parent’s worst nightmare, we discover that there are no heroes in this story, just people who will do anything to save their own skin – or, in Ralph’s case, to save the skin of his family – regardless of the moral or ethical cost. Olde Heuvelt shines when he’s working in shades of grey, and Darker Days gives him ample opportunity to do so. By the time the novel reaches its final pages, we’ll wonder why we rooted for the Lewis da Silvas from the start. By the end, our very association with them leaves us feeling unclean, showing that, despite his relative youth, Thomas Olde Heuvelt knows exactly what makes us tick, and exactly which buttons to press to get the reaction he wants. If these were real people – and for the duration of the novel, they feel like real people – they’re the type of people we’ll be happy not to see ever again.
Darker Days is the latest exhibit presented as proof that the horror genre is safe in the hands of the next generation of writers, of which Thomas Olde Heuvelt is a leading light. It plays on our basest fears and the author manipulates us with ease, as he builds towards the shattering conclusion. The perfect read for the dark nights of November, it’s a book that captures our attention from the opening paragraph:
The woman looked like she wanted to die. She looked like she was going to die anyway, even if they didn’t help her this afternoon. But here she was, in the hands of the Bird Street neighbours, as they took her into the woods.
From there, we’re never quite sure where the author is leading us, but here’s what we can be sure of: we’re in safe hands; and we’re going to end up in the forbidden woods before the tale is told. The only thing for it is to lock all your windows and doors and settle in for a genuinely scary tale that will make you fall in love with horror all over again.
Reader Dad - Book Reviews 