Dark Inside [Unabridged] [Paperback]

Dark times lie ahead for these few survivours of one of the world's most devastating turn of events probably ever witnessed. After a series of earthquakes, bomb explosions and destruction North America (the setting for the several story strands though it is global) has been left in limbo with no communication means and the few survivours at a loss as what happens now. Then things get really scary. People start to change. Seemingly normal people that survived the initial events are becoming dark and attacking and murdering people in the most terrible ways. It's almost like the darkest corners of their human existence that would normally be hidden away is unleashed and allowed to take hold. The best way I described it to others is to imagine that you are in a situation where a little voice says to do something awful and then your logical brain says no and makes sense; well that logical part is gone completely and the little voice is a shouting one with time to play.

This book was disturbing. I cannot stress how fear-provoking and chilling elements of this book was and I was somewhat comforted to find out that some of my fellow blogger buddies were finding the same thing while reading it! It's so realistic and almost believable in some elements that you can imagine it happening and the writing is so detailed and gripping that you are sucked into this horror story no matter how much you want to run away. Like our central characters, you have no escape and find yourself on tender hooks as each character chapter ends and clinging on until it picks up again. Honestly I kept wondering if this was really a YA books because I was scared reading this and could read it when it got too dark out of fear. I'm 26 and I was physically terrified to turn each page for fear of what was to come but couldn't stop myself because it was just too good to put down.

The stories are all equally engaging and thought provoking as a reader and you really get into their heads individually but some characters I liked more than others. I think my favourite was definitely Aries because she seemed like the most relatable of the characters to me and I think I'd be most like her if I was stuck in the same situation. She kept her humour and tried to be strong but didn't pretend that she wasn't always in control because in extremes like that I'd be shocked if you could be. You assume that all these stories will come together but it quite a long road because they are all so spread out and from different places mentally as well as physically but this gave you time to learn about them as people as well as the horrors going on around them in this new world.

This book is very much a dystopian future fiction on the darker side as we see the darkness in humanity and a much more sinister look at the way fiction can be done when done well. Though at times I found the book hard to read because of how unsettling it was, in a way this made for a better read because it made me have such a strong reaction to it. It's a book that's meant to hit you in the gut with a sucker punch rather than just give you a bit of a shove.

Not for the faint hearted and for fans of I am Legend type dystopias and The Walking Dead/28 Days later type horrors. As a debut novel; this book truly will haunt your nightmares.

Dark Inside was a fantastic yet disturbing read. Although I shouldn't judge books by their cover, it looked a bit boy orientated which I found a little peturbing after finding Gone disappointing. The story was interesting and easy to follow. Right from the beginning, I was thrown into a world that had been completely shaken up by an earthquake and the consequent turning of a group of humans into zombies. This is my first zombie novel and it surprised me how much I liked it. The zombies weren't described as being overly gruesome but were infact quite hard to distinguish from humans, which made them even more frightening and dangerous. There seemed to always be some tension between the main characters and whoever they met, for this reason, which really built up the suspense. The story is told in four points of view, by Mason, Michael, Clementine and Aries, all of whom I found to be very interesting and well developed. It was interesting to see how their different situations in different places affected them. The 'Nothing' point of view was effective, but I did think it could've been developed some more. I found the whole situation to be really captivating and the writing was good. The descriptions really did make me feel unnerved at points, the atmosphere was terrifying and on-edge. There was action throughout but it wasn't too much, the book did feel well balanced. I wasn't wholly satisfied with the ending and though it was nice to see the protagonists unite, I think it could've been even more exciting and expanded upon. This was much better than expected and I'd love to see more from Roberts.

A totally thrilling page-turner, Dark Inside is an intense, exciting slice of apocalyptic awesomeness from debut author Jeyn Roberts. Undoubtedly one of the best books I've read this year, Dark Inside is a white-knuckle roller-coaster of a ride that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. A survival story with chaos, anarchy murder and mayhem at its core, Dark Inside is not for the faint of heart, but since horror is my first love, I couldn't get enough of this book!

Dark Inside opens as a series of earthquakes occur across the world, rocking the earth to its core and unleashing an ancient evil inside the minds of humans everywhere. Those who can resist the dark inside must now fight to survive in a world gone mad where danger lurks around every corner in the form of the `Baggers' who exist only to hunt the survivors down and tear them from limb to limb. We see this scary new world through the eyes of four teens, Mason, Aries, Clementine and Michael all of who witness terrible atrocities, such as Clementine who sees a town hall meeting turn into a bloody massacre and Michael who witnesses and act of extreme road rage and is lucky to escape with his life. Mason escapes the bombing of his school only because he is visiting his dying mother in hospital, while Aries, caught in the earthquake, is helped to safety by a mysterious stranger only to find that the world has changed forever, and now she will never be safe again. Throughout time civilizations have fallen and now it's our turn as mankind turns evil and begins to destroy the world as we know it.

What makes this book so entirely gripping and so, so scary is that it is very believable. The enemy in this book is all of us - family members, teachers, law enforcement, boyfriends and girlfriends - because we all have a dark inside, and nobody can be trusted. Think of the world we're living in now. It's not a very nice place. Not a day goes by when countless atrocities occur the world over, and I only have to think back a few weeks to the London Riots to cite an example of when people lost all sense of reason and started causing absolute mayhem on the streets. Throughout time, mankind has been his own worst enemy, and that is the scary notion explored throughout this book. It's clever, compelling and will leave you with lots of food for thought.

While Dark Inside contains plenty of carnage within its pages, this book also stands apart in its sublime writing and fantastic characters. The narrative structure of this one might take a little getting used to as it's told in alternating chapters from the point of view of the four teens mentioned above along with chapters from the mysterious `Nothing', but once you get to grips with the different narrative voices and their stories, this is a truly addictive read. The characters in this book are not perfect, they are flawed and sometimes they have to do nasty things to survive in this crazy new world they find themselves in, but you will root for them, and you will admire their will to survive. Dark Inside also contains a great cast of supporting characters including the adorable Chickadee who provides some wonderfully touching and tender moments in an otherwise bleak existence and a hot guy with a lot of secrets who I am harbouring a crush on even though I know it is so very, very wrong of me. I think I might be taking my love of bad boys just a step too far here. We'll see...!

For me Dark Inside had it all, and it is still playing on my mind even now. I have lots of questions and theories on this one. With great movie potential and huge crossover appeal I was blown away by this dark, edgy tale of anarchy and mayhem. Its real End of Days edge-of-your-seat stuff and I couldn't get enough of it. Jeyn Roberts is a writer to watch and I can't wait to find out more about this ancient evil and the new world it has created when the sequel (working title Sanctuary) releases. This one comes highly recommended from me. Go read it!