Into the Dark

by Jordan L. Hawk

Genres: Horror, Romance
Pages: 227
Series: OutFoxing the Paranormal #3
Rating:

Synopsis:

OutFoxing the Paranormal’s benefactor, Ms. Montague, has a new assignment for the team: to investigate the haunted asylum Oscar’s grandmother died in. But upon arriving at the site, they find a rival duo of ghost hunters already there.

Between unexpected competitors and the murderous ghost of a former nurse, the pressure is on for Oscar to live up to his family’s heritage and lay the asylum’s ghosts to rest. Can he prove himself by putting an end to the nurse’s reign of terror, or will the asylum claim yet another victim?

Oof, Jordan L. Hawk’s Into the Dark genuinely creeped me out in a way the previous two books didn’t really. It was some of the details, I think, and the fact that the haunting partly manifested via illness. Also, “insane asylums” are genuinely terrifying places, and I can well imagine the horror of them even still, even without a haunting.

I’d have loved to see a bit more of Oscar’s grandmother — we get a glimpse of her in the prologue, but her ghost doesn’t appear. Still, we learn a bit more about Patricia’s deal, see a bit more of Chris’ life in the form of their ex, and even maybe a bit of a romance for Tina. I wonder if the group will see more of Zeek, which could be very fun, though I did feel like Oscar’s worries about his presentation of the show etc kind of petered out as a plot thread, and could rear up again if we do. I wasn’t really a fan of his self-doubt. Too real, ahaha.

I did think a bit ahead of the characters in a few details (e.g. if something stops happening if you get away from the creepy haunted asylum, maybe it has something to do with the haunting?) but the twist was still handled nicely, even if I saw it coming.

I read it almost in one go, ’cause there was no putting it down and going to bed until I knew everything worked out okay, yeeesh. I do wonder if Oscar and Nigel are going to end up paying a serious price given what they keep throwing themselves into…

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)