THE DARK GAME BY JONATHAN JANZ - BOOK REVIEW

We all know writers and when you invite ten of them to a writers retreat for a competition where one will reign supreme, you just know that trouble is going to come knocking. Jonathan Janz's The Dark Game has this as the basic premise of his latest release from Flame Tree Press.

Hosted by the almost mystical Roderick Wells these ten writers are promised to be taken on an enlightening creative journey that will unlock their full potential as a writer.  They will be taught magic, pushed to the limits of their emotional envelope and forced to look long and hard at the dark heart that beats inside each and every one of them. Little do they know that Mr Wells has an ulterior motive for all this and soon it will be all too late for them as they literary finish their own epilogue. 

At the core of The Dark Game is a very interesting concept coming off like the bastard child of Christie's Ten Little Indians and Flatliners with via a close cousin to King's Dark Half.  Janz is inventive throughout the book and manages to capture the unique voices of all ten of the writers very well. To the point that it feels like this is a ten author anthology.   There is plenty of gruesome deaths which have an almost Saw-like level of ingenuity, and the finale is exceptional with a great "what's behind the curtain"  reveal with regards to the true motivations of Roderick Wells.

Janz is a great writer and some of his other novels are fantastic reads, however, I feel that Janz is quite there yet to write a novel such as this.  The one thing that prevents this book from reaching the potential of the concept is the cast of characters.  Ten guest authors plus Mr Wells is far too big for a book like this, while it's not so much the repetition of the story, that is at fault here, as each character has their own story to tell, it's more the fact the journey is basically the same for each of them.  The narrative structure of the novel would work far better as a TV show, where the experience of consuming the story is a lot less passive.  The nature of reading and the nature of the narrative structure of the story work against each other to allow the story to breathe and move along at a better pace. 

There are some great touches to this book such as the way Janz leaves and alludes to other books that he has written, and the concept of a sort of fictional and meat version of King's On Writing is to be praised highly. 

The Dark Game is ambitious, and the skill of Janz's writing is clear to see throughout the novel, it's just a pity Janz's ambition wasn't reigned in ever so slightly.  

the dark game by jonathan janz 

"In his latest pulp horror gem, Janz channels early Stephen King to twist the story of a secluded writers’ retreat into something unique and thought-provoking." - Booklist

Ten writers are selected for a summer-long writing retreat with the most celebrated and reclusive author in the world. Their host is the legendary Roderick Wells. Handsome, enigmatic, and fiendishly talented, Wells promises to teach his pupils about writing, about magic, about the untapped potential that each of them possesses. Most of all, he plans to teach them about the darkness in their hearts. 

The writers think they are signing up for a chance at riches and literary prestige. But they are really entering the twisted imagination of a deranged genius, a lethal contest pitting them against one another in a struggle for their sanity and their lives. They have entered into Roderick Wells’s most brilliant and horrible creation. 

The Dark Game.  
 
FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

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