The Night Diver

This book right here is an absolute blast. After finishing this novel, I had to rush to my computer because I could not stop evangelizing this book to anyone who appreciates horror, action, and intrigue. Furthermore, it brought to life a sort of fear that lurks in most people’s minds, which is the fear of a Military Industrial Complex. If there is one thing I’ve learned from this book, it’s that maybe it isn’t a good idea to have a government and its intelligence services involved with aliens or the supernatural. There is this sort of assumption in pop culture that the best people to deal with such matter is the government, like in Men in Black, or the X-Files. But this book takes the concept and brings into stark reality, seeing just what kinds of horrors can be unleashed when we have these agencies make decisions without any real accountability. At this point, I only hope that the alien conspiracy theories are nowhere near real in real life.

The story starts off as as sort of crime novel, following two characters loan sharking for a mob boss. It is during this operation, that they come into contact with a severed hand, that makes anyone within its vicinity hunger for blood, violence, and murder. It is from this street-level incident that the story takes on a life of its own, involving a government operation called Heavy Light, which is involved with tracking and containing paranormal items, as well as a former punk rock star who is left picking up the pieces after her husband committed suicide prior to the story. The story is sprawling with a rather wide cast of characters, but it is very deftly stitched together in a heart-pounding, tightly paced narrative that will keep you glued until the end.

The atmosphere of this book was very interesting, especially with the government entity operating to retrieve the hand. The amusing part is that the agency itself works as a kind of horror itself, since it uses brash, violent tactics in the pursuit of this severed hand. Any time you see these agency characters, it brings a sense of terror that I haven’t seen in any other novels I’ve read. The characters in this story all have complex roles and backstories that weave together in unusual ways, even sometimes eliciting emotions I did not expect to have. It is a rich story that suffuses a fantastical flavor through realities of the world we live in, and I wholly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a heart-stopping thriller with engaging twists that don’t feel contrived. So, please check this out.

My final rating for this book is: 5/5 stars