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In Darkness

3.69 of 5 stars 3.69 · rating details · 732 ratings · 267 reviews

Winner of the 2013 Michael L. Printz AwardThis is the story of "Shorty"-a 15-year-old boy trapped in a collapsed hospital during the earthquake in Haiti. Surrounded by the bodies of the dead, increasingly weak from lack of food and water, Shorty begins to hallucinate. As he waits in darkness for a rescue that may never come, a mystical bridge seems to emerge between him an...more

Hardcover, 337 pages

Published January 17th 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens (first published January 5th 2012)

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Apr 28, 2013 Emily May rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-na, historical-fiction, arc, 2013

“This is a work of fiction. That said, much in it is true. If you were hoping that some of the more unpleasant things you have just read were made up, then I apologise.” - Nick Lake, Author's Note

1791-1804
Toussaint L'ouverture turned his dreams of creating an independent, free black state into reality when he led the Haitian revolution. This revolution is, to this day, regarded as one of the most successful slave uprisings of all time and is the only one of its kind which led to the founding of...more

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Dec 21, 2011 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: for-review, good-grief, gorgeous-prose, hometown-glories-uk, ya, hometown-ya

Teetering between 4 and 4.5.

“Death will continue… There will be a steady and endless stream of the dead, filling the land under the sea that can never be filled.
But this is not sad
This is beautiful.
The beauty of this is that when you die there will always be someone waiting, there will always be those you have lost, standing there, the curve of their back and the stance of their feet so familiar. There will always be someone there, saying:
-We have waited so long. It is so good to see you. Come h...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Jan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: teenbooks, historical-fiction

This book is the 2013 Michael Printz winner and it absolutely deserves it.

The book is set in Haiti and toggles back and forth in time between the 2010 devastating earthquake and the beginning of Haiti's struggle to free itelf from its oppressors. Shorty, a 15 year old gang member who lives in the slums of Port au Prince, is taken to the hospital shortly before the earthquake and is now trapped beneath the collapsed building. As he waits for rescue, Shorty revisits his past and also begins to ex...more

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Jun 04, 2013 Ela rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: carnegie-shortlist-2013, historical

"I knew even then that they bought drugs. I just didn't care.
Why would you care? I lived in a place where it was common to eat mud."

In 2010 when Haiti is hit by an a boy is trapped in the ruins of a hospital. As he lies in the darkness he recounts the story of his life; how he lost his family, he joined a gang and how he was shot. Alongside his story runs the story of Toussaint, a slave in Haiti 1791 who leads a rebellion to abolish slavery.

Bad Points
-It took me about 50 pages to stop being bor...more

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Dec 11, 2011 Krystal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc

The best quality of this book is the raw emotion. The author writes beautifully, capturing the tone and syntax the main characters would have utilized. The author incorporates Haiti's earthquake to the country's attempts at liberation. The plot line flows perfectly, the reader will not be confused at all with the switching view points. The reader will be introduced to both characters early on in the book and will get to know and like them both within the first few chapters.

The Goodreads summary...more

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Jun 17, 2013 Andy Stamp rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Author Nick Lake tells the story of a young man trapped in darkness not knowing where he is and uncertain of what is happening around him and he invites us into his tale, a story of gang life, of sibling separation and a dynamic overview of political war whilst the foundation of Haiti is being lain down by Toussaint L’Overture, a rebel forming a slavery rebellion.

What is most striking about this novel is the ideas and attitude behind it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a young person’s novel. Thi...more Author Nick Lake tells the story of a young man trapped in darkness not knowing where he is and uncertain of what is happening around him and he invites us into his tale, a story of gang life, of sibling separation and a dynamic overview of political war whilst the foundation of Haiti is being lain down by Toussaint L’Overture, a rebel forming a slavery rebellion.

What is most striking about this novel is the ideas and attitude behind it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a young person’s novel. This is grown up and more appropriate for an older audience as it delves into the world of Haiti and travelling back and forth in time to the formation and destructive revolution of key historical figures and the central teenage boy, trapped in darkness recapping to the reader how he arrived in a desolate hospital.

And the structure to this award winning novel is key to the development of the settings and lifestyle of central character Shorty, a young man who was separated from his sister, who had a difficult upbringing and becoming involved in gang life. Balancing his story alongside the slow build up of Haiti’s history and Toussaint L’Overture, a rebel who fought for slave freedom brings along a remarkable novel of deep political history with heavy family drama, death and national angst.

As a teenage/young adult novel I was struck by the violent broadness of Nick Lake’s story, it is staggeringly brutal and unafraid to skirt around drug intakes and deals, political death threats and bloody imagery. It is quite startling also to read a swear word practically on every page. So if you’re planning on using this to teach or read with your teenage son or daughter, be wary this is a heavy drama.
However the central character is well established as a teenager with his gangster attitude, his friends and often Nick Lake inserts references to modern rappers which some may find funny and others might find ridiculous. As if the use of slang, race and imagery generate would be classed as stereotypical.

The stand out feature to this 2012 novel is Shorty’s moving reflection towards his family. With regards to his lost sister Nick Lake writes in a beautiful way that only a sibling could really appreciate. He generates a feeling of a connection with writing from the point of view of Shorty and scripting some heart rendering statements about his sister’s outlook on life, how she was, how she cared, what she looked like and now, what little he can remember. It may generate a tear or two.

If your history knowledge is as small as mine then fear not as when this book gets into its groove there is some strong scene setting from Nick Lake and detailed history to entice and intrigue. The problem with this is that it can feel long winded and by being dragged into a deep meaningful history lesson, ‘In Darkness’ can lose some of the intensity that the characters can brilliantly generate. And perhaps that’s a key when this book gets going. It’s intense and violent and mentally strong and you feel, an important novel given the history of Haiti. The structure of the book works well, going from the present to the past and back allows the author to tell two stories at once and this works having a break in between the heavy and the light side of life. But as a result the flow of the story is corrupted and it is challenging to recapture that feeling of being right there in the heart of war to being in the hospital.

In Darkness therefore is quite a unique book to place on a shelf. It feels important, and it is, and at the same time despite the wonderful drama and detailed historical overview, it is quite a challenging read.
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May 12, 2013 Helen Stower rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: death-and-dying, family, historic-fiction, politics, realism, resilience, resistance, rights-and-freedoms, survival, violence, young-adult

Switching between Haiti in 2010 at the time of the earthquake and 18th century Haiti at the time Toussaint L'ouberture was leading Haitian slaves to freedom, this novel skillfully draws the reader into Haitian life, history and culture.

Nick Lake uses the practice of Vodou as a device to connect modern Haiti to historical Haiti. This is extremely effective because Vodou remains one of the constants in Haiti. This device also broadens the reader's knowledge of Vodou beyond a crude perception that...more

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May 11, 2013 Brianna Bizzaro rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Name: Brianna Bizzaro
APA citation: Lake, N. (2012). In darkness. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction
Award : Printz Award (2013), Carnegie Medal in Literature Nominee (2013)
Format: Print
Selection process: 2013 Printz Award List

In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake, Shorty is trapped. He never envisioned his hospital visit to fix a bullet wound to turn out like this. Encased in his own tomb made from rubble and corpses, In Darkness begins to spin a tale of two men....more

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May 11, 2013 Skylise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is about a Haitian boy, Shorty, who is trapped under a hospital, that has fallen down due to an earthquake. The book also tells a story of an African slave and his journey to free the slaves from the French. The author tells both stories by every other chapter is the continuation of the story. Throughout the book you are taken back and forth from past to present. As you learn the boy's life story and he explains how he ended up in the hospital, certain that he is close to death. While...more This book is about a Haitian boy, Shorty, who is trapped under a hospital, that has fallen down due to an earthquake. The book also tells a story of an African slave and his journey to free the slaves from the French. The author tells both stories by every other chapter is the continuation of the story. Throughout the book you are taken back and forth from past to present. As you learn the boy's life story and he explains how he ended up in the hospital, certain that he is close to death. While Toussaint l'Ouverture who is the slave, tells his story as it's happening. This book is really good for anyone who wants to read something that will leave you on your toes.

I would recommend this book because it is really interesting. As you read this book you learn about how the French made an impact on Haiti, by the language used in the book. The story is told in English but there are a lot of French and Kreyol phrases throughout the book. Especially when Shorty is telling his story, he uses a lot of Haitian terms. This book does a good job at giving you a taste of history without throwing it at your face. You learn how the slaves rebelled against the French as Toussaint leads them in the rebellion. You also get to understand the Voodoo as Shorty and his twin sister used to be the Marassa at ceremonies when they were younger.

Shorty's story begins with him in the fallen hospital aware that he is close to death and there is nothing he can do about it. He begins to tell his story in hope that when he finishes telling it he would be saved. "He was born in darkness, and that is how he'll die." This saying the book was told to Shorty's mother when he was born because he and his sister were born in a power outage. Now that he is trapped in darkness that is how he this he will die any minute now. Shorty tells us that he grew up on a street in between two gangs and his house was the only house on the street. Shorty's dad was killed in front of him and his sister taken away leaving just him and his mom. Shorty started to hang out with the gangsters. He tells the rest of his story while trying to dig his way out of the hospital.

Toussaint l'Ouverture was a respected slave who always did right and obeyed his master. He was also tired of being a slave so he informed his master about the rebellion and told him to leave. Instead of killing everyone Toussaint was more peaceful in a way. He went to the people's houses and tried to negotiate with them. Toussaint's journey is not as engaging as Shorty's but the two relate to each other. Afther the first two chapters of Toussaint's story you get more and more engaged.

This is a great book to see how our future is impacted on our past. To see how people in different countries live a life completely different from yours. A boy's struggle to live with the fact that someone dear to him was killed and how he dealt with it years to come. And a slave who set his people free but then ended in darkness.

"If that were true, thought Toussaint, then he truly had accomplished nothing, for his descendant was also trapped in darkness, was also dying, his flesh was also slowly enervated by deprivation. He had stalked his life to give his people freedom, but his people still were not free."(less)

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May 09, 2013 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Originally reviewed on the Carnegie CILIP Shadowing Site 2013

This dark and powerful book toggles back and forth between two different tales. One of them is from the terrible earthquake in Haiti, where a 15 year-old gang member called ‘Shorty’ has been taken to hospital having been shot in the arm. Shortly afterwards, he finds himself buried alive under the rubble, in complete and utter darkness, with no food or water and no means of communication. The other part of the novel is about beginning o...more

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Apr 25, 2013 Big Book Little Book rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Alison for www.bigbooklittlebook.com

Told in the voices of a black slave from Haiti’s past and a gangster teenager from Haiti’s near past, ‘In Darkness’ walks us through two of the most important parts of Haiti’s history, in a very personal way. We have the story of Toussaint, an illiterate slave who becomes literate during a Voudon ceremony and then leads the slaves to their freedom. We also follow Shorty, a teenager who has grown up in the slums. The story starts in Shorty’s voice, just after t...more Alison for www.bigbooklittlebook.com

Told in the voices of a black slave from Haiti’s past and a gangster teenager from Haiti’s near past, ‘In Darkness’ walks us through two of the most important parts of Haiti’s history, in a very personal way. We have the story of Toussaint, an illiterate slave who becomes literate during a Voudon ceremony and then leads the slaves to their freedom. We also follow Shorty, a teenager who has grown up in the slums. The story starts in Shorty’s voice, just after the Haitian earthquake that destroyed the country. Shorty was in hospital with a gunshot wound and is now trapped under the rubble. In alternating chapters they tell their story until we get to the point where their stories combine.

I will hold my hands up and say that I wasn’t sure about ‘In Darkness’. In spite of some absolutely fantastic reviews I just didn’t know what to expect from it. It’s one of those books that seem very ‘worthy’ (and yes it is) and on the hole that tends to put me off (bad librarian!). I’ve read in other books that it’s not a book that you enjoy and that is completely right. It is however a book that evokes a lot of emotion. Incredibly dark, sometimes disturbing the book does include a lot of violence. But the story is about very violent places and times and is therefore fitting and never feels gratuitous. Because of this some librarians have questioned its place on the shortlist as they have doubts about giving the book to Year 7’s to read. Whilst I understand their doubts I don’t think that this book could have been written any other way, yet the writing and the characterisation means that it deserves its place. I think that children of their age tend to self censor when it comes to their reading and will either skirt over the bits they can’t cope with or leave the book unread. Despite the darkness present in the book it does end with a glimmer of hope.

As said above I can’t say that I enjoyed ‘In Darkness’, it’s not that type of book, but I do feel that I gained something in reading it. I know very little about Haiti and its history and the historian in me was interested in learning about its past. A lack of knowledge also meant that I could enjoy the story instead of thinking about how accurate it was. This is a book that also concentrates on relationships between people, between Mother and Son, Father and Son, between gang member and between siblings. This gives the book a human element that is one of its greatest strengths. It makes the focus of the book become the human cost of the events concentrating on the injustices of the times.

Another interesting factor of the book is the way it deals with the Voodoo practices of the characters. There is a such a matter of factness about it the it is obvious that this is just the beliefs of the characters. Whether there is any truth to the power of voodoo is left to the reader.

Although this is an incredibly strong book I’m not sure that it is likely to win Carnegie. I think that it probably lacks the wider appeal that the winner should have.

Verdict: Dark, violent and sometimes unsettling but still a very interesting read.(less)

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Apr 23, 2013 Pamela rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book definitely deserved this year's award. An exploratory work about Haiti's historical background and it's future, the author does a great job of intertwining and connecting Haiti's past and present by use of the voodoo traditions by African slaves in colonial times. The characters of Toussaint L'Overture and Shorty are both so vivid and unique (as well as Dredd). They really jump out at you. The author tells them all fully-including the revealing their best traits as well as the all thei...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Jongleuse rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Darkness is a slow burner, a dual narrative told from the point of view of Shorty, a fifteen year old Haitian gangster from the slums trapped under the rubble of a collapsed hospital after the 2010 earthquake. Shorty lives, unlike the quarter of a million who died in he tragedy. As Shorty lies without food and water, the tale of his brutal life in the slums is interspersed with the story of the most famous Haitian of all, Toussaint Louverture. The conceit that Shorty and Louverture undergo so...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Dana rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: printz-winners-and-honors, youngadult

The newest Print award winner. The "world building" here was genius, and so complete, that its choice as Print winner makes sense to me. The story alternates between Haiti in the wake of the 2010 earthquake, and latter parts of the life of To us saint d'Ouverture, who led a rebellion to free people from French Haitian slavery. The link between the story lines is somewhat tenuous, but the reader is drawn into both worlds. The setting details--the gangster lifestyle in the slums of Haiti, the soun...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: printz

The 3 rating for this book is a complicated 3. I really didn't like it. I do like learning more about parts of the world I am really ignorant about. I knew absolutely nothing about Haiti. Of course I was upset when I heard about and saw the footage from the earthquake a few years ago (this book is partially about that).

This book is partly historical fiction. There is a present day story of a little boy (teenagerish I guess) trapped in the rubble after the earthquake. There is also the story of...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Barbara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: printz, poverty, community, cultural-identity, death, disasters, families, social-studies, social-justice, civil-rights, war

The opening pages of this novel grab readers' attention as the narrator prepares to count his blessings but can only come up with one thing for which to be grateful. Fifteen-year-old Shorty is trapped in the rubble of a Haitian hospital, and while he waits for rescue and tries to work his way out, he relates his story. Just as various events in his childhood led to Shorty's involvement with one of the gangs that dominate the area in which he lived, so did early life experiences and his own perso...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Suzanne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: peach-consideration, gave-up-on

If I haven't already done so, I like to read the Printz winner each year, so I gave this one a fairly substantial try, getting about 2/3 of the way through the twin tales of a current day Haitian boy trapped in the rubble of a hospital after the earthquake and that of Tousssaint L'Overture, leader of the slave revolt against the French some two centuries before. The two share a psychic link that allows each to see, hear, and understand some of what the other is experiencing in his time of terror...more

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Mar 18, 2013 J rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: high-school-fiction, historical-fiction, multicultural-fiction

This is the only YA book I can think of that is set in Haiti, so I was excited to read this Printz award-winning story. There are actually 2 stories: Toussaint l"Ouverture leading the slave rebellion of 1791; and the hard life of Shorty, a teenager trapped under the rubble of a hospital that has fallen in the massive earthquake of 2010.

Toussaint's story is one of a noble slave who is thrust into power when the slaves revolt, saves his master from a bloody mob, and goes on to defeat both the Bri...more

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Mar 07, 2013 Christina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, fantasy, michael_printz_winners, realistic, read-in-2013

I feel like I should have a Goodreads shelf for "magical realism" so I can stop labeling books as both "realistic" and "fantasy", I'm probably really confusing my Goodreads friends. This is one of those books, which is fairly straightforwardly realistic, until BAM! in comes the magical part. It's the heartbreaking story of "Shorty," a teen trapped underneath rubble in the Haitian earthquake of 2010, and a parallel story of Toussaint L'Overture, who led the slave revolt on Haiti in 1791. The two...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Wandering Librarians rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family, fiction, middle-grade, boy-appeal, realistic-fiction, serious-issues, war, ya

A boy lived in the Site in Haiti, a place of extreme poverty and violence. Injured in a gun fight, he is in a hospital when the earthquake happens, trapping him beneath the building. He remembers all that has happened to land him in this darkness, and his memories are interspersed with the memories of Toussaint l'Ouverture, the revolutionary leader who helped to free Haiti.

In Darkness just won the Printz award, so I had high expectations. And it was a good book. It was brutal and honest and tho...more A boy lived in the Site in Haiti, a place of extreme poverty and violence. Injured in a gun fight, he is in a hospital when the earthquake happens, trapping him beneath the building. He remembers all that has happened to land him in this darkness, and his memories are interspersed with the memories of Toussaint l'Ouverture, the revolutionary leader who helped to free Haiti.

In Darkness just won the Printz award, so I had high expectations. And it was a good book. It was brutal and honest and thought provoking. It told the story of modern Haiti, as well as telling the history of Haiti. Despite this, it was just a good book, not an awesome, amazing book, at least for me. It took me a while to get through it, because it just wasn't a book the grabbed me and held me riveted. It was easy to put down.

You know what was really interesting? I only realized that the main character's actual name is never given when I went to write this review and realized I didn't know what to call him. He's called a variety of things throughout the book, but none of them are his actual name. In the book blurb, he is referred to as "Shorty," which he is often called by the member of his gang, so I guess I will call him that too for lack of anything better.

This is another book that has taught me about a piece of history I knew little about - the rebellion of the black Haitian slaves and how they claimed their country from the French. They were lead in this rebellion by Toussaint l'Ouverture, who modern day young people in Haiti look to as a symbol of freedom. I am interested to read about l'Ouverture and see how much of his documented life matches up with what was in In Darkness. Vodou (the religion) was a major part of both Shorty and l'Ouverture's stories. l'Ouverture was supposedly filled with the spirit of Ogou Badagry, the lwa of war, and this is what allowed him to lead his people. In the story, l'Ouverture had visions of the future Haiti, just as Shorty began having visions of the past. The two were connected.

Shorty's life was hard and sad. It was interesting to see how influenced the gangs of Haiti were by the rappers of the United States. The two rival gangs in the Site were called Route 9 and Boston. I would like to know more about that, and why they took those particular names. The Site is filled with drugs, violence and poverty. And the people aren't allowed out. This is supposed to protect the rest of Haiti from the violence, but it does not help the people trapped inside. In Darkness did a good job of showing how trapped everyone was. For the most part, people didn't want to kill other people. They didn't want to sell drugs. But there wasn't a whole lot of choice. If you wanted money, you joined a gang. And it's not like not joining a gang made you safe. It was easy to get caught up in the constant cross-fire.

Shorty tells his story, starting from his and his twin sister's birth, to when he lost her, to being determined to find her, to joining Route 9, to killing people. It was clear that Shorty was very smart, and given other chances could have been an engineer or something. But trapped in the Site all he could aspire to be was a gangster at the top of the food chain, destine to die young.

I think I also enjoyed the Shorty sections more than the l'Ouverture sections because Shorty was such a fully developed character with a unique voice. Less so with l'Ouverture. He was less real for me, and so was his story, but perhaps that was just because it was in the past and I cared more about what was happening to Shorty.

Despite the fact that his won the Printz award, which is YA, I really think it's more on a middle school level, not that high school students couldn't read it and enjoy it.(less)

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Feb 12, 2013 Whitney rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Darkness is a raw, well-crafted story that tells what it's like to live in poverty and oppression, but also explores the nature of freedom, hope, and fate amid violence. Now, Shorty is a teenager trapped in the rubble of a hospital after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Then, (two hundred years ago) Touissant L'Ouverture is a Haitian slave who led the rebellion that overthrew French and English forces. Always, they are connected as they try to be free and survive.

The themes and undercurr...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-fiction, historical-fiction

I probably wouldn't have read this if it hadn't won this year's Printz award, but I'm certainly glad I did. I didn't know much about it and it probably would have just gotten lost in the shuffle, but the award gave it some recognition for me, and I hope it will do the same for others.

A beautiful story of Haiti, told from the point of view of a modern-day teenager stuck in the rubble of the 2010 earthquake and from the point of view of Toussaint l'Ouverture, the former Haitian slave who led the i...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Syndey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, signed

Oh. My. Goodness.

Nick Lake has written a phenomenal story. He did so with such emotion and horrific facts that I was teetering back and forth on the brink of shock and tears. There were so many facts interlaced through the entire story, it's almost as if IN DARKNESS was written as non-fiction.

Lake did an amazing job with explaining the devastation of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. Life details of slave and black revolutionary leader Toussaint L'Ouverture were intertwined with the present day charac...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Louise rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hesitate to say I enjoyed this, because its tragic and moving, and full of horror, so I think I'll go with glad I read it. Its about a teenage boy trapped in the ruins of a hospital after the Haitian earthquake, as he looks back on his life in the city and his search for his sister. He's a gang member, and yet the book managed to make him a sympathetic character - its tragic to see the inevitability of a lot of it. At the same time, the story of Haiti's war of independence from France is inter...more

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Jul 18, 2012 BAYA Librarian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shorty gains consciousness in the dark, trapped by the fallen walls of the hospital ward in which he was recovering from a gunshot wound. He wonders if he’s dead, a ghost cursed to live in shadows forever, but his needs of thirst and hunger convince him otherwise. Struggling to survive, Shorty laps blood pooled on the floor, wondering if it’s his own or another’s. But he senses no other life besides the scuttling of rats. His world before this wreckage was equally brutal – gangs, guns, deprivati...more Shorty gains consciousness in the dark, trapped by the fallen walls of the hospital ward in which he was recovering from a gunshot wound. He wonders if he’s dead, a ghost cursed to live in shadows forever, but his needs of thirst and hunger convince him otherwise. Struggling to survive, Shorty laps blood pooled on the floor, wondering if it’s his own or another’s. But he senses no other life besides the scuttling of rats. His world before this wreckage was equally brutal – gangs, guns, deprivation – so he is accustomed to pain and horror, but this absolute lack of light may drive him to madness. The day-to-day violence doesn’t bother him much and since he’s one of the perpetrators, he’s hardened himself to a life of guns, neglect, abandonment, and need. Mixing mud with fat to make pies and leaving sick babies in the trash is commonplace here in his gang-infested ghetto. Haiti is described as cracked and cursed, suspended on a fault line.

The reader learns Shorty’s sad and turbulent past; his father killed by gang members the abduction of his twin sister. They lived on the line between two gangs and each believed the family loyal to the rival. Militia violence, supported by the government who supplies only guns, is both tearing their lives apart yet keeping them alive, as gang leaders, some working with the UN, are the only ones delivery much-needed provisions. References to rap music and the desired extravagance of wealth bring the narrative to life.

Shorty says he was born in blood and darkness and is destined to die the same, and his circumstances, trapped under filth and rubble, suggest the prophecy is true. Yet an old adage reminds the reader that the darkness is never complete, there are stars, and so there is always hope. The story begins to segue into Haiti’s violent past, and the reader is introduced to Toussaint, the former slave who rebelled to free Haiti’s blacks, but was eventually crushed by Napoleon. Then and now, history and current events weave together, and Shorty and Toussaint both gain a mysterious knowledge of the other in their dreams and visions. Parallel lives emerge, as the reader learns of Toussaint’s twin sister, who was also lost, and how he considered himself a soul split in parts, only half a person. In Haitian culture, twins are magical. Shorty’s sister, Marguerite, completed him and after his death, he remained half a soul, wearing a necklace of a broken heart, forever searching to be made whole again.

The reader sees Haiti as a place of relentless violence, oppression and destruction, yet lined with a gleam of hope inspired by the seeking of justice and honoring the past. Justice overrides revenge, which is said to help no one, least of all the dead. This is a mournful story about the brutality of slavery, war, and poverty; brilliantly told, with memorable characters who will linger in the reader’s mind; a grave yet inspirational work of historical fiction.

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Mar 13, 2012 Book Angel Emma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Guest Review by Madison Year 9

A small time gangster, Shorty, lives in a place called Site. He is left trapped in a hospital when an earthquake occurs. He tries to fit the pieces of his life back together in the darkness that now surrounds him. However, while he is telling his story his thoughts keep getting interrupted by a 200 year old ghost.

One of my favorite parts of this book was when the ghost of Toussaint swims out to a boat in order to gain information by eaves dropping on the conversatio...more

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Feb 21, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: haiti, slavery, african-american, child-soldiers, colonization, dark, france, history, teen, war

Nick Lake has written a shockingly dark novel about Haiti, sharing two perspectives on the country's troubled history. Our first narrator is "Shorty," a fourteen-year-old gang member who is caught in the rubble of the Haiti earthquake. The hospital collapses on him while he is being treated for a gunshot wound. The next narrator is Toussiant l'Overture, the historical figure who led the Haitian Revolution against French colonization in the 18th century. Through some mystical voodoo vortex, the t...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, historical, mainstream

Occasionally I come across a book that’s not so much a story as it is an exploration of place and setting. Nick Lake’s In Darkness, a diachronic account of Haiti taking place over the tumultuous post-earthquake present and its revolutionary past. Lake draws a number of parallels between the two, and there’s an omnipresent sense of fervour and chaos throughout.

We see the Haiti of the past through the eyes of the revolutionary Touissaint L’Ouverture as he leads a slave uprising, but also through t...more

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Jan 11, 2012 Margo Tanenbaum rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: african-american, historical-fiction, young-adult

Fourteen-year-old Shorty is in trouble--bad trouble. One minute he's in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound, and the next thing he knows, he's in the dark, buried alive in the rubble of the Haiti earthquake. Shorty's grown up the slums of Haiti, in appalling conditions of incredible violence, gangs, drugs, poverty, and oppression. But now he faces something even worse.

"In darkness, I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One, I am alive. Two: There is no two."

To keep himself sane as...more Fourteen-year-old Shorty is in trouble--bad trouble. One minute he's in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound, and the next thing he knows, he's in the dark, buried alive in the rubble of the Haiti earthquake. Shorty's grown up the slums of Haiti, in appalling conditions of incredible violence, gangs, drugs, poverty, and oppression. But now he faces something even worse.

"In darkness, I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One, I am alive. Two: There is no two."

To keep himself sane as he lies dying, Shorty relives his brief and troubled life, as he lies in a coffin of rubble, dreaming of water, surrounded by dead and stinking bodies, hearing people shouting for survivors, but unable to make himself heard. He tells us about how he and his beautiful twin sister were delivered by Aristide himself, how his adored sister was taken from him by gangsters, how his father was brutally murdered in front of him. His story is mixed up with that of politicians and well-meaning white relief workers who come to Haiti hoping to do good. We see how a "good" kid who was bright and eager goes "bad," getting sucked into a cycle of violence by joining the gangsters who kill without mercy but also pass out food aid and pay school fees.

Lake merges into Shorty's story another tale of Haiti--one from long ago--the story of a slave named Toussaint l'Ouverture, who led the only successful slave rebellion in the 1790's--another tale of violence, brutality, carnage, revolutionary idealism, voodoo, and power. As Shorty lies dying in the rubble, somehow his spirit mixes with Toussaint's and the two of them are connected on some mysterious spiritual level. Are they connected by the ancient stone that contains the spirits of the ancestors? Will Toussaint's indomitable spirit help keep Shorty alive long enough to be rescued from the rubble?

This powerful and unforgettable story of both present-day and long-ago Haiti is a gripping story you will find hard to put down. Not easy to read and digest because of the many violent and disturbing scenes, Lake nonetheless manages to jump back and forth with great ease between Shorty's first person account and the third-person story of the historical Toussaint L'Ouverture, peppering his narrative with creole words and phrases. This is a stirring book that seems to capture the tragedy of Haiti. I would recommend it equally to adults and to teens, and apparently in the UK the book is being published for both audiences.

The challenging nature of the subject represents quite a change of pace for British author Nick Lake, a children's book editor at Harper UK whose prior books were the Blood Ninja vampire trilogy aimed squarely at tweens. Nick admits to a long-time fascination with Haiti that goes back to studying Creole at Oxford. To learn more about Nick, check out this interview on Simon & Schuster's website and also the outstanding website for In Darkness, in which you can learn more about Haiti, Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Haitian earthquake, get suggestions for further reading, see a book trailer with an interview with Nick, find out how you can help in the ongoing recovery, and even more! A reading group guide is also available here.
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Dec 27, 2011 Criminal Reads rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Character Development: I have been reviewing books for many years. – Yes this is my first post on this new blog – I have found it a very rare occassion where an author hasn’t written at least one throw-away character. This is one of those books. Each person presented to us is there for a reason. We follow each of their lives and how they relate to the others throughout the entire book. I found myself very invested in each person I read about early on and not once did my interest waver. Very well...more

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About Nick Lake

Nick Lake is a children's book editor at Harper UK. He received his degree in English from Oxford University. Blood Ninja was inspired by his interest in the Far East, and by the fact that he is secretly a vampire ninja himself. Nick lives with his wife and daughter in England.

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Books by Nick Lake

The Revenge of Lord Oda (Blood Ninja, #2)

The Betrayal of the Living (Blood Ninja, #3)

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“It's like she had a soul that was much too big for her; it filled her to the brim till there was no more space, so it flowed out through her eyes.” — 3 people liked it

“When you keep hurting someone, you do one of three things. Either you fill them up with hate, and they destroy everything around them. Or you fill them up with sadness, and they destroy themselves. Or you fill them up with justice, and they try to destroy everything that's bad and cruel in this world. Me, I was the first kind of person.” — 3 people liked it

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