Nightfall

Be it fate, destiny, or just chance that brought Joe Chase and Ned Bowden together as neighbors quickly turning to friendship. Each bear scars, physical and emotional, that keep them from admitting to each other that what they feel is deeper than friendship. Having finally taken that first step towards more they find the world has another hurdle to overcome: first the redness came then the darkness and with the dark comes a new evil. Will Joe and Ned find happiness or has fate and the world have other plans?

HOLY HANNAH BATMAN!!! Frankly, the world John Inman creates in Nightfall could use Batman, the entire Justice League, and Marvel's Avengers combined, not that there would be anything they could do to change the predicament this story faces but they could go a long way in fighting the evilness that the dark brings out. I'll admit, this story may or may not really fit the "paranormal-ity" that embodies Halloween-time but the publisher has labeled it science fiction and I love a good sci-fi tale every October so I can't think of a better time to delve into Nightfall.

I won't really reveal too much of the plot but I will say this, it reminded me very pleasantly of the classic television show, The Twilight Zone. The amazingly scary John Inman has created a situation that may never happen(fingers crossed because otherwise I would be hunkering down in my basement if I ever woke to this) but at the same time, it is not completely outside the realm of thinkable possibility. Frankly, I don't know what had me on the edge-of-my-seat, nail-biting, creeped-out, and a hundred other cliches more: the idea of complete darkness or how quickly the evil within man comes out?

As for Joe and Ned, how can you not love them? They both have their scars but they also have each other and its probably the only thing keeping them sane. Some might question the realism of how they can find moments of romance in such horrible conditions but not me. If we can't find solace with our loved ones in times of darkness than what is the point of life? What is the point of fighting to survive? John Inman has created characters that, okay may not be your garden-variety-everyday-next-door-neighbor but they are very real and very human and put them in a situation that is definitely not everyday but watching them fight to survive is certainly scary but I also found to be uplifting. Nightfall is a case of someone opening Pandora's Box, letting all the evils of the universe out and Joe and Ned represent the one thing left at the bottom of the Box: Hope.

This was the first Inman book my husband and I did not care for. Glum, depressing and I found the conversation between Joe and Ned to not be sweet, but saccharin and adolescent, bordering on something that goes beyond “simple minded”. How many sentences can one use the other’s name in? Apparently on every page. That became old after awhile.

Sorry for my first negative review of a John Inman novel, but I do not recommend this read.

Not every story needs to be rainbows and marshmallows, I get that, but this just seemed out there.

This story was utterly sweet, sensual, emotional, intense and intimate.

The story is about Ned and Joe are neighbors and have unspoken deep feelings for each other. At the same time they get, very carefully, closer and closer… the world is acting strange.
When the sky turns dark and the temperature’s dropping ugly, most of the people turn dark and ugly too. It becomes the ‘Survival of the fittest’
Joe will protect Ned at all costs.

Ned so fragile, precious and sweet funny… Joe lonely and very protectively hovering over Ned.
I was holding my breath.. it was so fragile. Ned has a history of abuse and is very vulnerable.

“There had been a vacant spot inside him all along, it seemed—a spot that needed caulking; a spot that Joe had never known was there. Had never imagined was there. Until Ned came along.”

The parts where Ned and Joe are together and exploring each other were excellent. The journey they went through was good and original and sometimes angsty.
It was not really my kind of thing. Some parts I scrolled through… I know others will love those parts. I was more fixated on the moments they explored each other. The way of writing was really wonderful.
The love they feel for each other and their lovemaking is sweet and delicate.
Those parts did something with my heart.

Read and Reviewed for Open Skye Book Reviews