Thursday, August 2, 2012

Review: DarkBeat by James Solo



DarkBeat by James Solo is a horror novel. Ricardo Sosa witnesses a Santeria ritual as a young teen. A policeman, Chuck Bolan,  mistakes drummer Adrian Lee for a cop killer and nearly beats him to death. Adrian Lee goes to Cuba and meets up with Sosa and begins to learn about Santeria and a kind of circle is beginning to be forged that will eventually be completed.

Honestly, I didn't like this novel that much. Parts of it were excellent, parts not so hot. James Solo handled the suspense in the novel very well for the most part. The tempo in the novel picked up as the novel goes on just the way you'd want it.

The horror parts however struck me as very heavy handed. The descriptions of the 2 sacrifices were very similar and I had a lot of trouble with the sacrifice that Adrian performed. If you are at all squeamish, this book is not for you. I expected the first sacrifice, but not the subject of the second. I lost all sympathy for the character at that point which may have been the author's goal. If I wasn't trying to finish to give my unbiased opinion of the book, I think I would have stopped reading right there.

Plot wise, I had a problem hanging in there in the beginning while the characters were introduced and their relationships to each other made clear. I wasn't sure who was important and who was not until chapters in. And later in the book, things seemed rushed towards the end. Some things were happening suddenly with no explanation or little transition.

Overall, the novel was ok, but not the greatest. I gave it 2 out of 5 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for reviewing purposes.

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