REVIEW: Nightfall by Daniel Barnett
Daniel Barnett gives Stephen King a run for his money in Nightfall, a post-apocalyptic horror novella that creeps under your skin and feels like a mad fever dream in the best way possible. It’s dark, it’s violent, it’s disturbing, it’s emotional, and most of all, it packs a criminally big punch for a story with such a short pagecount.
Imagine if one day, for some inexplicable reason, the sun just goes out and people start losing any semblance of their sanity in the darkness. That supernatural scenario might sound like a hellish nightmare in itself, and yet the true horror is soon exposed to be much more realistic and terrifyingly human in nature. Set against the backdrop of a bleak nightmareland of a world, Nightfall gives an unflinchingly brutal and terrifyingly realistic deepdive into the darkest depths of the human mind, grappling with vulnerably raw themes of grief, madness, regret, fear, loss, and love in all its messed up beauty.
From the very first page, Barnett’s razor-sharp and intoxicatingly lyrical prose (especially combined with Adam Gold’s exceptionally mesmerising audiobook performance) immediately grabbed me by the throat and then just continued to keep me in a chokehold the entire way through. There’s no denying that I sometimes felt quite disoriented by all the hauntingly disturbing events that unfolded throughout this hectic narrative, but the irresistibly addictive air of mystery and intrigue along with the intimate and emotional storytelling just kept me flipping the pages like crazy.
While Nightfall provides a plethora of different perspectives from the townsfolk of Wrightwood, California, it is first and foremost the story of John Hawthorne and Mariah. I can’t say that I felt emotionally invested in any of these enigmatic characters (yet), but their mysterious allure made them very compelling and they simply popped off the page with personality, for better or worse. Moreover, I loved how their lives intertwined in the most unexpected ways, creating an ominous sense of foreboding that just builds and builds until it all crashes together in a beautifully tragic trainwreck that you just can’t look away from.
Nightfall is the type of story that you just can’t do justice to in a review, because you simply have to experience it on your own to fully understand its brilliance. It’s truly astonishing how much Barnett is able to pack into so few pages, both on a wider world/story level and a more intimate character/emotional level. His storytelling is beautifully efficient, delicately walking the fine balance between making you feel scarily immersed and unsettlingly disoriented.
With this being the first novella in an ongoing serialised adventure horror epic, it very much feels like a set-up book that leaves you with more questions than answers, almost demanding that you come back for more. And you better bet I will dive back into The Nightmareland Chronicles as soon as possible, you know, once I have slightly recovered my bruised emotional state. If you are looking for a short yet unforgettable horror novella that will haunt your mind for days to come, then I can’t recommend Nightfall highly enough, especially as an immersion read with the audiobook!
Thank you to the author for providing me with an audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
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