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Darkness Wakes
In the small town of Ptolemy, darkness is a living thing. A powerful thing. Its home is in the shadows of a bizarre, hidden club named Penumbra, where it is worshipped by followers who need the pleasure it gives them. They are addicted to it. They live for it. And they kill for it. When Aaron was first introduced to Penumbra, he thought it was just a secret club where members could indulge their kinkier fantasies. Bit by bit, as he learned the club's true purpose, he began to change in subtle, horrible ways. Now it's time for Aaron to prepare his first human sacrifice to the waiting darkness. It's too late for him to back out now, but murder is the least of Penumbra's sins. The true terror is still to come when . . . Darkness Wakes.
321 pages, Paperback
First published November 28, 2006
4 people are currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Tim Waggoner
282 books760 followersTim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001, and since then, he's published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Grimm, and Transformers, among others, and he's written novelizations for films such as Ti West’s X-Trilogy, Halloween Kills, Terrifier 2 and 3, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. He’s also the author of the award-winning guide to horror Writing in the Dark. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a one-time winner of the Scribe Award, and he’s been a two-time finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 5, 2017
What a crazy ride!
Darkness Wakes begins with a somewhat happily married man noticing an unmarked door in a seedy strip mall. The door has FUCKL sort of scratched into it which would make anyone wonder what was going on there. Penumbra is the answer to that question and Penumbra is dark indeed.
Not too long after Aaron noticed the door, he begins to notice his sexy neighbor, Caroline. Caroline notices his interest and not long after she visits Aaron's veterinarian's clinic because her cat has a broken leg. (A leg which later, Aaron suspects of being broken by Caroline on purpose.) A sexual interlude occurs and soon after that Caroline invites Aaron to come to her private club, Penumbra.
Things go on there that defy description and I'm not talking about the sexy times. Orgies and sexual acts of all kinds go on in the front room, but it's the back room where things get out of hand. What an imagination Mr. Waggoner has to come up with a story like this! Because on top of Penumbra's front and back rooms, there's also a farmhouse with strange goings-on, a man with scabs all over his head and a woman with human bones in her braids.
I listened to the audio of this tale and I was not crazy about the narrator. Every time the character Gillian spoke it felt like a spike through my head. Luckily, she didn't speak all that much. Of course, your mileage may vary.
I ended up enjoying this book quite a bit, though there were some strange bits of writing that I didn't much care for. The song of the nipple mouths? Really? Overall, though-the creativeness behind this story especially appealed to me and the ending kicked ass!
If this sounds like your cup of tea, I recommend you check it out!
You can get a copy here: Darkness Wakes
(When I purchased the Kindle copy, I added the Audible for only $1.99. It's a great deal!)
Darkness Wakes begins with a somewhat happily married man noticing an unmarked door in a seedy strip mall. The door has FUCKL sort of scratched into it which would make anyone wonder what was going on there. Penumbra is the answer to that question and Penumbra is dark indeed.
Not too long after Aaron noticed the door, he begins to notice his sexy neighbor, Caroline. Caroline notices his interest and not long after she visits Aaron's veterinarian's clinic because her cat has a broken leg. (A leg which later, Aaron suspects of being broken by Caroline on purpose.) A sexual interlude occurs and soon after that Caroline invites Aaron to come to her private club, Penumbra.
Things go on there that defy description and I'm not talking about the sexy times. Orgies and sexual acts of all kinds go on in the front room, but it's the back room where things get out of hand. What an imagination Mr. Waggoner has to come up with a story like this! Because on top of Penumbra's front and back rooms, there's also a farmhouse with strange goings-on, a man with scabs all over his head and a woman with human bones in her braids.
I listened to the audio of this tale and I was not crazy about the narrator. Every time the character Gillian spoke it felt like a spike through my head. Luckily, she didn't speak all that much. Of course, your mileage may vary.
I ended up enjoying this book quite a bit, though there were some strange bits of writing that I didn't much care for. The song of the nipple mouths? Really? Overall, though-the creativeness behind this story especially appealed to me and the ending kicked ass!
If this sounds like your cup of tea, I recommend you check it out!
You can get a copy here: Darkness Wakes
(When I purchased the Kindle copy, I added the Audible for only $1.99. It's a great deal!)
November 12, 2010
My first book by Waggoner. Made me an instant fan.
February 5, 2018
I had a rough time getting into this book because I couldn't stand the protagonist. He's a scumbag from the start, but it is clearly the author's intention for us to sympathize with him. For example, when we first meet him, he is vainly in love with his brand new Lexus, and when he sees his hot neighbor going into an unmarked door at the mall, he considers whipping it out and spanking it in public. But I still managed to get into it. The monster is very unusual, which made me very happy in a slightly Clive Barker-ish kind of way. The story seems a bit rushed to me. As far as I can tell, all of these crazy events happen over the course of several days. But in the end, it's fun. Speaking of the ending, no spoilers, but I think it's pretty funny, all things considered.
August 6, 2016
Tim Waggoner is a talented writer; I have no doubts about that after reading Darkness Waits. His writing is smooth and engrossing, the scenery is well depicted and the action rolls in non stop motion down a jagged hill of unexpected revelations. The story gains velocity from the very first page when the reader is introduced to a small Ohio town of Ptolemy and a few of their quirkiest inhabitants. Waggoner is all out with risqué and explicit erotic encounters between the members of Penumbra, a kinky sexual place and their guests or should I say their victims. Something strange and very dark is going on behind the gray metal doors placed innocently in midst of a small shopping strip.
The hero of the story is Aaron Rittinger, husband and father and practicing veterinarian. I found Aaron to be likable but at the same time full of issues. He loves his family more than anything but can't help himself and lust for his next door neighbor Caroline. When his wife falls short on her promises and goes to bed too tired to share herself with him night after night, Aaron's mind and soul start to wander and that is when he encounters Caroline and her interesting involvement with a club behind an innocent gray door...
It doesn't take long for Aaron to start changing as sex and some mysterious addiction that bathes the city at night to take hold of his entire attention span. Bodies start to pile up as sacrifices of random victims are necessary to feed the mystery that slumbers in the club and Aaron finds himself deeply imbedded between lust and terror, both emotions virtually intertwined as this tale grabs the reader by the collar and doesn't let go until the last page is turned.
I loved the ending; it was creepy and totally surprising, no cookie cutter resolution there! The book is also a very quick read and it never drags, the few times I read it while on my way to work I almost missed my buss stop. I wish some of the characters that were truly bizarre, interesting and really evil at the same time had more of a resolution because there were so many directions in which the story was spreading and I felt that the book could have been longer in order to tie a few loose ends. Overall this was a great read, not the best book I have held in my hands but still full of twist and turns and lots of inappropriate lustful passion.
The hero of the story is Aaron Rittinger, husband and father and practicing veterinarian. I found Aaron to be likable but at the same time full of issues. He loves his family more than anything but can't help himself and lust for his next door neighbor Caroline. When his wife falls short on her promises and goes to bed too tired to share herself with him night after night, Aaron's mind and soul start to wander and that is when he encounters Caroline and her interesting involvement with a club behind an innocent gray door...
It doesn't take long for Aaron to start changing as sex and some mysterious addiction that bathes the city at night to take hold of his entire attention span. Bodies start to pile up as sacrifices of random victims are necessary to feed the mystery that slumbers in the club and Aaron finds himself deeply imbedded between lust and terror, both emotions virtually intertwined as this tale grabs the reader by the collar and doesn't let go until the last page is turned.
I loved the ending; it was creepy and totally surprising, no cookie cutter resolution there! The book is also a very quick read and it never drags, the few times I read it while on my way to work I almost missed my buss stop. I wish some of the characters that were truly bizarre, interesting and really evil at the same time had more of a resolution because there were so many directions in which the story was spreading and I felt that the book could have been longer in order to tie a few loose ends. Overall this was a great read, not the best book I have held in my hands but still full of twist and turns and lots of inappropriate lustful passion.
January 13, 2009
If there were a way to give negative stars, I would do it.
This was the most poorly constructed piece of garbage-fiction I've read in ages. My favorite (dreadful) lines:
"The owner of the eyes watched him." (pg. # eludes me, it was early in the book)
"The pain song of the nipple mouths continued, high and mournful." (295)
And yes, "nipple mouths." It's exactly what you think it is. There are absolutely no redemptive qualities of this book, nothing to point out as a bleak positive. The language, imagery, and characterization (when it happens at all) are cliched and the plot is predictable and boring.
The only slightly entertaining aspect were the sex scenes, which defied logic and gravity (in one scene I counted one woman as having three arms) and missed glancing on erotic or profane by a large margin. Simply put, they were unintentionally laughable.
Truly a dreadful book. I should have stuck with my standard pulpy horror writers who, at the very least, can arc a story.
This was the most poorly constructed piece of garbage-fiction I've read in ages. My favorite (dreadful) lines:
"The owner of the eyes watched him." (pg. # eludes me, it was early in the book)
"The pain song of the nipple mouths continued, high and mournful." (295)
And yes, "nipple mouths." It's exactly what you think it is. There are absolutely no redemptive qualities of this book, nothing to point out as a bleak positive. The language, imagery, and characterization (when it happens at all) are cliched and the plot is predictable and boring.
The only slightly entertaining aspect were the sex scenes, which defied logic and gravity (in one scene I counted one woman as having three arms) and missed glancing on erotic or profane by a large margin. Simply put, they were unintentionally laughable.
Truly a dreadful book. I should have stuck with my standard pulpy horror writers who, at the very least, can arc a story.
June 28, 2011
While I didn't enjoy this as much as LIKE DEATH or PANDORA DRIVE, the concept in DARKNESS WAKES might just be Waggoner's best idea to date. This is a very addictive novel and has some great moments of suspense and gore. However, it was hard to like the main character, Aaron, due to the way he treated his wife and the decisions he made throughout the book. That being said, my only other problem -- and this is not Mr. Waggoner's fault -- is the poor copyediting done by Leisure Books. I discovered over a dozen typos that should have easily been caught by the publisher. These are the things that really pull you right out of a story when you are as submerged as one is when reading a Waggoner book.
That said, Leisure should put Waggoner back in their roster because he truly is one of the best writers they have (along with Laymon, Braunbeck, Garton, Ketchum, Keene, and Clark). Waggoner is so exciting and daring with his writing, Leisure just needs to get his name out there and market him better. This guy is a serious talent.
That said, Leisure should put Waggoner back in their roster because he truly is one of the best writers they have (along with Laymon, Braunbeck, Garton, Ketchum, Keene, and Clark). Waggoner is so exciting and daring with his writing, Leisure just needs to get his name out there and market him better. This guy is a serious talent.
January 4, 2011
A very good modern horror story about a married man lured into a dark monsterous cult by an attractive neighbor. One of the better horror stories I've read in a while.
March 30, 2015
The FUCKL door. Loads of sex and violence in this nasty little tale. Reminded me of Richard Laymon. Fast paced, loathsome characters, sex and lots of violence leading up to the end.
March 10, 2015
This was probably my least favorite of the novels by Waggoner that Leisure published, though it does have some interesting ideas and sections. It's well constructed, though none of the characters are very sympathetic. Some of the more graphic scenes were a bit too over-the-top for me; I kept thinking that I was reading Fight Club porn.
February 7, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. It doesn't bother me that the protagonist is unlikable; I enjoy anti-heroes, and I don't have to like a character to find them interesting. I love how dark the book is; its darkness never feels forced or artificial.
The book, unfortunately, is marred by an almost fatal flaw. It's an example of careless plotting which would have required minimal rewriting, so it's unfortunate that nowhere along the editorial line did anyone point it out and have Waggoner fix it.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Early in the book, when Aaron is on the brink of being brought into the secret club Penumbra, Gerald, a former member, accosts him and tries to enlist him to spy on the club and its members on his behalf. Later, Aaron tells Caroline about this and makes it clear he did not accept this attempted recruitment and is in no way associated with Gerald. Caroline appears to accept this. But then, when Gerald proclaims that Aaron is working for him, not only does Caroline believe him, she actually seems surprised and betrayed. Now, if Waggoner had had Aaron tell himself repeatedly that he should let Caroline know about his strange encounter with Gerald but never actually do it, everything that follows would make sense. Instead, the storyline simply ceases to make any sense. To make matters worse, it quickly becomes clear that Gerald had no motive for asking for Aaron's help in the first place: there's no information Gerald and his cohorts need that Aaron can supply. There are other carelessness-related problems with the final act--such as the Penumbra members sudden willingness to allow dead bodies to accumulate outside the club, apparently happy to disregard years of careful secrecy--but this is by far the worst. It gives the impression the book was rushed in the writing, then rushed into production with minimal editorial care.
END SPOILER ALERT.
It's testament to how darkly entertaining the book otherwise is that I'm still able to give it three stars despite this near-fatal flaw. I wish Waggoner would correct it for any future reprints. As I said, it would only require some light revisions.
The book, unfortunately, is marred by an almost fatal flaw. It's an example of careless plotting which would have required minimal rewriting, so it's unfortunate that nowhere along the editorial line did anyone point it out and have Waggoner fix it.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Early in the book, when Aaron is on the brink of being brought into the secret club Penumbra, Gerald, a former member, accosts him and tries to enlist him to spy on the club and its members on his behalf. Later, Aaron tells Caroline about this and makes it clear he did not accept this attempted recruitment and is in no way associated with Gerald. Caroline appears to accept this. But then, when Gerald proclaims that Aaron is working for him, not only does Caroline believe him, she actually seems surprised and betrayed. Now, if Waggoner had had Aaron tell himself repeatedly that he should let Caroline know about his strange encounter with Gerald but never actually do it, everything that follows would make sense. Instead, the storyline simply ceases to make any sense. To make matters worse, it quickly becomes clear that Gerald had no motive for asking for Aaron's help in the first place: there's no information Gerald and his cohorts need that Aaron can supply. There are other carelessness-related problems with the final act--such as the Penumbra members sudden willingness to allow dead bodies to accumulate outside the club, apparently happy to disregard years of careful secrecy--but this is by far the worst. It gives the impression the book was rushed in the writing, then rushed into production with minimal editorial care.
END SPOILER ALERT.
It's testament to how darkly entertaining the book otherwise is that I'm still able to give it three stars despite this near-fatal flaw. I wish Waggoner would correct it for any future reprints. As I said, it would only require some light revisions.
November 8, 2020
Man, every single time I read a Tim Waggoner book I love his work more and more. He's got a cetain type of wierdness to his stories that just makes him stand out from all of the others.
This story is about Aaron Rittinger. A man going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. One evening, he spots a neighbor wife that he has a crush on entering into what he suspects is a sex club with a man that isn't her husband. He soon keeps bumping into her until she invites him along and introduces him to the mystery that is Penumbra.
Once inside, Aaron is introduced to the darkness inside Penumbra. Slowly, he begins to change. He wants to leave Penumbra, but needs to stay.
Ultimately, Aaron must choose between his desires and the love of his family, and the darkness inside Penumbra.
Great and twisted story.
This story is about Aaron Rittinger. A man going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. One evening, he spots a neighbor wife that he has a crush on entering into what he suspects is a sex club with a man that isn't her husband. He soon keeps bumping into her until she invites him along and introduces him to the mystery that is Penumbra.
Once inside, Aaron is introduced to the darkness inside Penumbra. Slowly, he begins to change. He wants to leave Penumbra, but needs to stay.
Ultimately, Aaron must choose between his desires and the love of his family, and the darkness inside Penumbra.
Great and twisted story.
June 14, 2023
I have no idea how I felt after. The ending was kind of hard to grasp and it left me kind of confused. It was entertaining and very lively. Gore was written well, which I like in a book. The main monster/God was kind of confusing, it’s origin seems not thought out and like it just exists to exist. But over all I enjoyed it, and would make a friend read it if I wanted them to cringe.
September 14, 2025
Original story that was creepy and smutty. Loved it!
April 16, 2014
It kept me interested from the beginning. There were several typos though. It was a more dirty,gory book than I had read before. I have watched several horror movies, but this was a new experience. I liked it a lot. It had an exciting and fresh premise.
January 14, 2008
Very good read.
January 16, 2008
One of the finest horror books I have read in years.
December 14, 2012
I couldn't get through it. One of only 2 books in my life that I haven't finished. Maybe I'll return to it one day but for now, I want to spend my reading time on something I want to read.
December 27, 2012
Flew through this book. Read like a great Richard Laymon novel. Fun and gross read.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews