Horror Book of the Week: Darkness Stirring by J.R. Erickson

 

This week’s Horror Book Recommendation is DARKNESS STIRRING written by J.R. Erickson. 

The book was published in July 2021 and sits on the bestsellers list for Horror Fiction Classics and Ghost Thrillers. 

Darkness Stirring: A Troubled Spirits Novel has amassed positive ratings so far. Customers who bought this book thoroughly enjoyed the mystery and praised the author’s efforts to write a chilling story. 

They also found the plot to be intriguing and some enjoyed the techniques used by the author to deliver a slow burn thriller. 

However, some customers thought that the ending was written in a hurry and seemed anti-climatic. 

 

 DARKNESS STIRRING Quick Book Review based on Sample

In June 1998, Lorraine and Beverly were cycling into the woods to watch the sunset when an incident occurred. 

Lorraine is seen as envious of her best friend and notices Beverly wearing a silver charm around her neck that she calls the Harmony Ball. The jewelry makes a sound whenever Beverly moves. 

When Beverley decides to climb up a tree to view the sunset, Lorraine declines and waits for her down. And that is the last time Lorraine sees Beverly. 

Her friend goes missing although Lorraine is sure she heard the tinkling necklace again. She hurries to her mother and she too helps her search for her friend, except Beverley isn’t found. 

Fifteen years later, Lorraine is still rattled from the incident in her past and when her boyfriend Stu insists they go camping, she refuses initially only to be coaxed into going later. 

On the trip, she meets Kurt and while the group of friends exchange ghost stories, Kurt narrates one of his own. His friend Ben’s sister Carmen and her friend Summer had gone to the same woods as well, just like Lorraine had done all those years ago. Summer was wearing a bracelet that made a sound too. 

When Summer goes missing, Carmen swears she heard her bracelet. She calls her brother Ben for help and they search for Summer but she is never found again. 

Lorraine is at first certain that one of her friends had betrayed her and Kurt is mocking her trauma. But when she realizes there must be some truth to this similar incident, she decides to investigate. 

The story grips you from the very first page and takes you along for the ride. The first chapter lays down the premise and pulls you into the fear and trauma the character experiences. 

The following chapters are so far pacy and establishes the protagonist’s character well. You will want to find out what happened to Beverly and just why the two incidents are almost similar in nature. 

The writing flows well and entices you into the mystery and compels you to be patient as it gently unfolds. 

DARKNESS STIRRING Plot (Taken from Amazon.com)

Inspired by an eerie true story.

Lorraine Hicks is fourteen-years-old when she watches her best friend, Beverly climb into a tree in the forest and never come back down. It’s a mystery that haunts her small town and embeds itself in Lorraine's life.

Fifteen years later, Lori is a grown woman, doing her best to move on from her troubled childhood. She reluctantly agrees to a night of camping, despite her secret terror of the woods. As she sits by a roaring bonfire, a man stands and tells the story of two fourteen-year-old friends who walked into the Manistee National Forest-only one of them walked back out.

The story is hauntingly similar to Lori’s own, and she embarks on a quest to discover if the two disappearances are linked.

As she unravels the truth behind the vanishings, she unearths a malevolence that forces her to question if evil truly exists.

Don’t miss this chilling paranormal murder mystery.

GET THE BOOK