Publish Date: November 1st, 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages: 330
Series:
ISBN: 9781442423510
Source: From publisher for review
Goodreads Synopsis:
Since mankind began, civilizations have always fallen: the Romans, the Greeks, the Aztecs…Now it’s our turn. Huge earthquakes rock the world. Cities are destroyed. But something even more awful is happening. An ancient evil has been unleashed, turning everyday people into hunters, killers, crazies.
Mason's mother is dying after a terrible car accident. As he endures a last vigil at her hospital bed, his school is bombed and razed to the ground, and everyone he knows is killed. Aries survives an earthquake aftershock on a bus, and thinks the worst is over when a mysterious stranger pulls her out of the wreckage, but she’s about to discover a world changed forever. Clementine, the only survivor of an emergency town hall meeting that descends into murderous chaos, is on the run from savage strangers who used to be her friends and neighbors. And Michael witnesses a brutal road rage incident that is made much worse by the arrival of the police--who gun down the guilty party and then turn on the bystanding crowd.
Where do you go for justice when even the lawmakers have turned bad? These four teens are on the same road in a world gone mad. Struggling to survive, clinging on to love and meaning wherever it can be found, this is a journey into the heart of darkness – but also a journey to find each other and a place of safety.
My Review:
Why oh why did I wait so long to read this one? Simon & Schuster were nice enough to send me a review copy back some time and I never got around to it until now and I'm kicking myself wondering why I didn't read it sooner!
There are a few keys words that stuck out to me on the back cover of the ARC - "Society has fallen apart. No one can be trusted." Sounds great, huh? But those words are nothing compared to what actually transpires in the novel. Dark Inside is a creepy book, even scary at times. I'd even go as far as saying that Jeyn Roberts has a twisted mind! The detail she puts into her writing (the death's of the people, the killing scenes, etc) is absolutely wild (and twisted and crazy and it will have your stomach in knots and your nose wrinkled). Yes, the detail is that vivid. But more than that, the story has a great plot. An earthquake that rattles and shakes more than just the ground. People are turning on one another, killing each other and few that are left to survive are being hunted down. You'll be on the edge of your seat the whole time it takes you to read Dark Inside, and trust me it wont take that long because you'll be so engrossed and have that need to find out what happens next.
The novel goes between narrators and Jeyn makes it easy to follow. We're taken on adventures of basically the survival of the fittest and each character has their own way of dealing with the almost apocalypse type thing that some say is happening. Each character has the common goal of surviving and outrunning what is out there but yet each character couldn't be more different. We get so many emotions running through the characters and pages of Dark Inside but it never feels overwhelming. The cowardice, the bravery, the sadness, the adrenaline, everything the characters (and the reader) feel ties in so well and makes for a great book. And the ending!? Wow!
Jeyn Roberts debut novel is awesome, truly truly awesome, and definitely worth the read! Just be prepared, at times Dark Inside is gruesome and paints a clear, sometimes unwanted picture in your head that may keep you up at night!
Enjoy!
