Well...not quite sure what I can say about this, but the blurb wasn't lying when it mentioned homidical sex toys! *gulp*
There does seem to be such a small line between sex and horror, as most books written in this genre of horror have a lot of sex! It does remind me of the Richard Laymon era as I call it, where the line is always blurred!

I feel like there should be another book! I must admit, I didn't always get what was going on, we had a Gladiator-style scene at one point, and because I was listening to the audiobook I did feel I might have missed something. However, this was a wild ride!

Nicola was a character I adored by the end, but I wasn't happy by the end, despite her elation! LOL. It was interesting to see Jayce's journey of denial to acceptance as he rediscovers something he has ignored for so long!

I enjoyed Tim's writing, it was free-flowing and fast-paced and the story didn't relent. Every page something was happening! It was crazy, and so much fun! I will definitely check out more by Tim, apart from Paranormal, this type of crazy, otherworldly horror is my favourite kind!

I do, however, wonder what the heck I just read!!!!

Weird and twisted read, not at all what I was expecting. Great imagery and gnarly action. I'd definitle read more from Waggoner,

I enjoyed the story of this father in search of his missing daughter, when everyone else is brushing this off as ‘she’s an adult, she must’ve gone with a boyfriend, she’ll surface again later’. In itself, it’s a sad illustration of how people can sometimes be very callous and not pay attention to others, including Jayce himself, who acknowledged that he hadn’t been very close to Emory and wants to find her in part because he’s feeling guilty about neglecting her.

The world of Shadow was also fascinating, in a (gruesome) way: a catalogue of all that can go twisted in people, but given a sort of physical shape. This made for a weird read, with gory and sexual depictions at times, the latter diving at times into the very disturbing—for instance, when Jayce finds a sex toy in Emory’s bedroom, or that specific flashback when he goes home and finds her in the basement: the whole sexual angle intruding in a father/child relationship cranked up the creepy factor fairly high here, and I can’t say I’m comfortable with that. This ties well into the horror part, though, but let’s just say one has better steel themselves against it. For me, it was disturbing (= sex conflated with parent/child) rather than horrific (= it didn’t scare me).

From a storytelling point of view, I had trouble with the timeline: the whole plot unfolds over less than two days (if you except the flashbacks), and I felt that this was too short for Jayce to go from ‘don’t know jack to Shadow’ to ‘oh one more disturbing thing… m’kay, let’s go on’. I also guessed pretty early what the big twist would be, so I wasn’t surprised at all when that was confirmed.

All in all, what I enjoyed most here was the world of Shadow itself, in all its bizarre glory.

5 Stars!

I have been reading Tim Waggoner for years and am well familiar with his hard-edged horror that often borders on the extreme. The Mouth of the Dark has a wicked cover that promised this exact type of story and drew me in looking for a stroll into the wild side of horror with one of horror’s dark princes as my guide.

When Jayce’s daughter goes missing, he was told not to worry about it. He was told by everyone, even his ex-wife and the police, that she had probably just run off with a new boyfriend and would return once the flames of romance began to die down a little. He knew that this was a logical explanation but he also knew that Emory would never take off without letting him know. It was this knowledge, along with a darkness that dwelled in the back of his mind almost unnoticed, that led Jayce to launch a search for his daughter into the darkest and most sinister shadows.

The Shadow is a secret world of extreme emotion and horror that runs alongside what most view as the real world. Jayce’s daughter had been dabbling in the Shadow with its dangers and pleasures and Jayce begins to fear that the darkness had swallowed her. He finds a strange guide into the world, Nicola, who gives him a way into Shadow. As Jayce ventures deeper into the sinister realm, he finds that the key to saving his daughter may lie in the depths of his mind as well as the mysterious stranger called the Harvest Man who may either be a savior or destroy the Shadow as well as the real world.

This story sunk it teeth into me from the first page and instantly drew me into the darkness. The quick sequence with the dog-eaters was a great introduction to the violent and bizarre world of Shadow. As with most of his books, Waggoner transports the reader into a world of extremes as violence meets lust while being sublimely mixed with elements of the ordinary. There are elements that may shock some readers in this story, especially some of the darker sex sequences, but Waggoner walks the line between the extreme and the more mainstream without straying too far to alienate any but the most squeamish reader. Jayce’s search for Emory has a human element to it and this is brought home even further by his being forced to delve into his past in order to find the answers he seeks. This is more than just a horror novel but just a very well-crafted story no matter the genre.

Waggoner gives the reader a wicked and yet strangely lyrical novel. Even when approaching the extremes of horror and sex, the novel never crosses into the gratuitous and maintains its momentum with a kind of internal cadence that lulls the reader into a sense of security before a monster leaps from around the next corner. The novel is vicious at times yet strangely beautiful as well with the mythology that Waggoner develops on the page. The horror is balanced with an urban fantasy element that elevates the novel beyond a simple horror novel. The conclusion also feels fitting if not completely final and made me wonder if Waggoner has more of this world in store for us in the future. If so, I will be among the first to pick up the book and would urge any fans of horror and dark fiction to pick this one up and slide into the darkness within. This is a very good novel and one of the better works of dark fiction I have read lately.

I would like to thank Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for this review copy. The Mouth of the Dark is available now.

I was never able to get this book to download when I was approved for it, but I finally bought it myself and just finished reading it tonight.
I loved it. It was the weirdest, most bizarre thing I have read in a long time, but it was great. The characters were believable, and I identified with them immediately.
The plot started out a little hard to follow, but I quickly caught on.
It was just a super fun, super strange read, but I enjoyed every page.

3,5 stars. A great effort that needed more meat on its bones in the end.

Somehow, from reading the synopsis, I thought that the entire book would be set in a different dimension; even though it technically wasn't, it might as well have been, considering what goes on in Shadow.

It wasn't a scary book, but it was creepy, it was VERY imaginative, and also rather graphic (keep that in mind if you're uneasy with graphic violence or sex) Like other reviewers have mentioned, I was cool with all the insane shit that this book was throwing my way, but wasn't really OK with some of Jayce's weird musings about his daughter's sexual life. I'm cool with dog eaters and sentient sex toys, but I draw the line when a father keeps wondering where his daughter keeps hers (and more)

That's one of the reasons why there's 1,5 star missing, and the other was the rather rushed ending (even though I really liked the last paragraphs in particular), and the fact that the entire twist had its basis on memory loss, an extremely convenient and kinda boring plot device. Not to mention that Nicola was relegated to "love interest" (and we all know how useful those are) real fucking quick as soon as she brings Jayce to Shadow properly.

But hey, it was a very fun ride. I really, really liked that scene (SPOILER!!!) in the Pit, when Jayce blacks out and suddenly sees the Harvest Man looming over him for some reason. (END SPOILER)

This is a story about a man named Jayce who realizes his grown daughter has gone missing. He makes it his mission to find her or at least to find out what happened to her.

I enjoyed this book for its unpredictable over the top strangeness.The pacing was fairly steady. This is a book that starts off with a bang and just keeps going.

The Mouth of the Dark was an imaginative, enjoyable

You'll see one word used over and over in describing this book: weird. But that's the best thing about it. It's a down-the-rabbit-hole, fish-out-of-water mystery.

I liked the book, despite some things I thought could have been done better.

Tim Waggoner's "Mouth of the Dark" is the third book I've read from Flame Tree Press. Man, they have quite the team going on here. I've yet to be disappointed.
Tim must have had a ball writing this book. It's funny, horrific, thought provoking, and a proper page turner from start to finish
You don't know where it's going or how it's going to end, but you do know you're in safe hands.
My kind of story.

Read this during the hurricane ravaging the landscape around us, and it was almost the perfect setting. This was different from the other books by Waggoner that I've read (the DreamWeaver series - which I'd love a third book!), and I'd say that this one certainly falls squarely in the horror category. Just like with the DreamWeaver books, Waggoner has a great imagination for creature design. If anyone has done any fan art and sketched some of the characters that he's described, I'd love to see it because I could get a rough idea in my mind, but couldn't quite hold onto it - it was like smoke in my mind.

I loved the idea of there being some kind of Shadow world, a world alongside ours, and those who can *see* it and who choose to interact with it are inevitably changed by it. And changed in different ways. Usually physical deformities.

The only thing I didn't like was the sexual component because it felt incestuous. I was fine with the daughter being very sexual - it was nice to see that - and okay with the main character (her father) being accepting of whatever she chose. What bugged me was that he chose to think about it, to dwell on what she liked, what got her off, what she was doing with certain things, thinking about her body. I don't know if it was intentional as to foreshadowing but he seemed creepily fixated on her sexuality and her body.

Some stuff felt a little dragged out as well, like it was maybe about twenty pages longer than it needed to be. But then again, that could have just been because there's also a lot of vagueness set up in the beginning and as answers are given it isn't necessary anymore, but is still there. Plus flashbacks. Fewer flashbacks, even just a couple, would have served the pacing well.

I was so immersed in this story. Brilliant story telling. I wish there were more books like this to get lost in

Shadow, a land full of strange and WTF moments. Jayce is on the search for his missing twenty-year-old daughter Emory. She hasn't been in contact for a couple weeks with her mom or dad. Her mom doesn't seem to think anything is wrong. Jayce, on the other hand, is sure there is.

Jayce does what any parent would do and starts looking in the most obvious places. Starting with where she was last known to work. There is where things start to get weird. And from there it just gets crazier. He, with help, tries to track Emory down and ends up in a place called Shadow. He meets several...unique, individuals. Quickly realizing his daughter is in some deep shit.

I really enjoyed this book. I will say, however, be warned there are very...strange sex scenes and gore.

I received this eBook from Netgalley for an honest review.

The Mouth of the Dark is a blistering horror adventure filled with gore and ghastly creatures. The novel moves very quickly and descends into the realm of fantasy and nightmare almost instantly. It's a cinematic experience, which should be no surprise coming from an author who made a name for himself as a writer of film tie-in novels.

The Mouth of the Dark recalls elements of Barker's complex magical underworlds and King's unflinching but affectionate Americana themes, but the novel relies on neither. Instead it relies on what I often consider to be Waggoner's best strength: leaving the reader in a state of confused panic, deeply uncomfortable yet unable to stop reading until the slippery nightmare resolves (which it doesn't always do).

Is this a great work of literature? No. Is it among the Great American Horror Novels? No. But it is a very engaging, terrifying, and enjoyable experience filled with memorable images and ideas, and definitely worth reading for fans of horror.

I am excited to see what else Flame Tree Press will bring to the table.

WOW! This was... Bizarre, to say the least. The Mouth of the Dark follows a father, Jayce, on his journey to find his daughter - or find out what's happening to her. He travels through an alternate dimension filled with wacky, deformed characters, twisted situations, and lots and lots of sex. I wasn't particularly put off by the sex stuff, but some people may be - so beware if you're sensitive to that sort of thing! This was unlike anything I've read before and I'll definitely be reading more from this author.

Interesting book..... Found it a bit hard to follow early on but ended up really enjoying it. Did good win over evil..... That's one for the reader to determine I think....

Wow.
This book was extraordinarily disturbing. I had to keep putting it down to give myself mental breaks from all of the odd, awful things that were happening. I really had a hard time getting through some of it, especially the body horror. If you like gross, freakishly disturbing horror then this a a book for you. I'm generally not a big fan of the genre but this book was different enough from anything else I've read that I'd recommend it for any patrons I might have asking for a good horror novel.
3 stars for story, 1 for originality.

Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere meets Clive Barker's Hellraiser in this dark urban horror/fantasy by Tim Waggoner. Not a book for the faint of heart, it's a twisted tale of one man's search to find his missing daughter, who in following her trail discovers a dark and dangerous "second world" living in the shadows of our own.
Waggoner isn't afraid to push the boundaries, filling the pages full of gratuitous sex and violence. At times it feels too much of violence for violence sake, but it's underpinned by a solid story about class and family that never let's it fall completely off the rails.
It's another solid launch title for the new Flame Tree Press label, which is already building a nice little catalogue of genre titles that aren't afraid to push the envelope.

The below review will go live at the below link on the 16th of September.

QUOTES IN "--"

This was my first book by Waggoner, Bram Stoker award winner, and he has long been praised as someone who pushes boundaries and does the unexpected. That is certainly true of this book on the small scale. The story as a whole was a little predictable, a couple of things didn’t make sense, and the “twist” was easy to work out from quite early on in the book, though the character seemed intentionally obtuse about the clues at times.

There were certain scenes that definitely pushed boundaries and stepped over lines into discomfort, and a few sexual scenes with dubious consent at best.

-- He tried pulling both hands free by jerking his arms violently outward, but whatever the hell this thing was, it was too strong. A thin tendril emerged from the middle section of tubing and stretched toward his neck, while another emerged and moved toward his crotch. Both tendrils thickened as they extended until they were the same size as the main mass. One of the tendrils wrapped around his neck, while the other forced its way into his pants, slithered through his pubic hair and wrapped around his penis. Panic set in and he began thrashing back and forth, attempting to free his hands so he could grab hold of the other tendrils and pull them off him. But his exertions proved no more effective than before, and all he managed to do was lose his balance. --

Some really interesting building of this shadow-world that sits aside our own.

-- “You know how a snake grows a new layer of skin and then sheds the old one? Well, reality is the same way. Each nanosecond is sloughed off as a new one takes its place, and all of these dead bits of reality eventually start to pile up, creating a.…” She paused, searching for the right words. “Not a parallel reality, exactly. More like a dark reflection. It’s usually called Shadow, which is as good a name as any, I suppose. It lies alongside ordinary reality, but most people aren’t aware of it. Sometimes they sense it, though. They have a feeling that someone’s watching them, but when they turn around, no one’s there. They experience a chill on the back of their neck for some unknown reason.” --

-- “You smell funny.”
Jayce stared at the man in disbelief.
“Are you kidding me? How can you smell anything other than that cigarette of yours? It stinks like it’s packed with shit instead of tobacco.”
“That’s because it is,” the man said matter-of-factly. “Feces collected from the bowels of dying accident victims, to be specific. I’ll admit it’s an acquired taste, but the buzz is amazing.” --

And some deliciously disturbing and creepy explorations of how the shadow world might cause changes in our own while the majority of the “human” population remains clueless.

-- The torso swells more as the legs and neck are pulled into it. The tail is the first to disappear into the mass, and the legs go next. The neck is longer, so it’s absorbed last. By this point the giraffe’s bleating has dwindled to quiet whimpers which are silenced as the head is pulled into the bulging central mass. It’s like it’s drowning inside itself, Jayce thinks. --

-- She feels the warmth inside her now, feeding on her, growing stronger, becoming…something. Her abdomen swells rapidly, as if she’s experiencing a hyper-fast pregnancy. Her flesh grows tighter, harder, until finally it splits down the middle and something slides out of her with a wet sucking sound. It hits the floor with a heavy smack and just lies there. --



While I was a little disappointed by this book on the whole, it did have a lot going for it, and I have to admit that Waggoner has a keen eye for unsettling description. So often, “horror” shies away from the really squicky stuff, and either hints at the darker stuff or delivers a less impactful answer than the reader could have imagined had the author not provided the answers. Waggoner provides the answers and he “goes there”, which is why this book will likely challenge quite a few readers and appeal to fans of bizarre horror.

Unfortunately the combination of a predictable twist and characters for which I felt nothing were enough to stop me getting caught up in this book and hanging on the edge of my seat to see where it would all lead. Though I was still able to appreciate Waggoner’s descriptive strengths and will likely keep an eye out for other books by him in the future.

I enjoy the absurd, and Waggoner does not disappoint. I don't really read much horror, but I love Lewis Carroll and this book reminded me of a demented Wonderland sort of situation. The main character, Jayce, goes on a hunt for his daughter, fully realizing that it will lead to dangerous places though he is determined to search anyway. This story went strange very quickly, and got weirder and weirder -- which I like -- and sometimes crossed some lines that I feel don't need to be crossed to get the point across. An enjoyable book, but it crossed the line a few too many times for my tastes.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Flame Tree Press and the author, Tim Waggoner, for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of The Mouth Of The Dark in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
I thought the book was a good read, though I thought there were parts of the storyline that didn't need to be included as they had no bearing to the overall plot. It did manage to send a chill up my spine.
Worth a read for fans of the genre. 3.5 stars from me.