Review: "Fade to Black", by LT Vargus and Tim McBain

Book 1 - Awake in the Dark series

If you enjoy stories with strange, yet interesting, themes that twist a bit here and there, then you should read this one. There is also a lot of characterization in the story, something I truly enjoy! At first I found it a bit hard to figure out where the story might be heading, but I got right into it once I settled down and just let the story unfold. And I enjoyed it right to the last page.

The story centers around a young fellow (Jeff Grobnagger) who began to have epileptic seizures a couple of months before the book begins. Jeff doesn't have friends and he avoids people as much as possible. These seizures have been increasing in occurrence but Jeff won't see a doctor about them. During these seizures he goes into a recurring dream where someone in a hooded cloak is murdering him. The dream changes when he makes an effort to force it to, but he always ends up being killed, which frustrates him to no end. Once he's dead in the dream, he wakes in real life again, usually in a confused state.

Early on in the book Jeff has a seizure in a grocery store and when he wakes up he meets an older man (Glenn Floyd). They become friends and Jeff learns that Glenn is looking for his daughter (Amity), who has disappeared. She was heavily into the occult and has left behind clues, but they don't really make a lot of sense to either man. Glenn wants Jeff to help him, but Jeff is hesitant. He doesn't like being with people all that much and isn't sure about Glenn. Then Jeff has his life threatened in the real world and it becomes rather important that he find out who's out to kill him. He turns to Glenn because he's the only person he feels he can trust. Over the coarse of the story, both men learn that several occult-ish groups could be involved in different aspects of Amity's disappearance as well as Jeff's dreams and real life threats and they work together to try to solve them. Glenn is convinced that Jeff's dream world is somehow connected to his daughter, although Jeff isn't sure of that, but Jeff figures it can't hurt to work with Glenn at any rate. Jeff also has a mysterious woman (Ms. Babinaux) arrive on the scene who warns him of impending danger and tries to protect him somewhat. In the end, however, it's Jeff who must face his own fears and conquer them in both of his worlds in order to move forward in his life.

"Fade to Black" is the first novel in a 5-part series called "Awake in the Dark". There are currently three novels available. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series. And the ones that follow. :) I'd suggest you get this one and get reading!