10 writers are invited to a retreat, only one will win, and their story book villians, once created, are stepping out of the pages of their stories to wreak havoc in the real world.

This book was unique and fun to read. I can't go into a lot of detail without giving away plot points that would spoil the story, but it's a fast paced, creepy tale with multiple narrators, life secrets that will prove to be ruinous, and just a romping good spin on vampiric people/houses.

How easy it is for all of us to hard the darkness that lurks in every heart, but seldom comes out to play in the bright sun. Just imagine a group of highly talented writers confined together in a "contest" they didn't know they were entering...and the winner really won't be a winner at all. A truly diabolical theme that'll have ghost fingers tickling your spine. Great book for a dark, rainy night!

** I thank the publisher and/or author for allowing me to read this novel as an ARC, without recompense, in exchange for my honest review. **

If you happened to be one of the lucky ones who read Kill Creek by Scott Thomas, you're in for a treat. A reclusive author invites 10 writers to his mansion in the woods for a competitive retreat. The winner receives three-million dollars, and a hell of a publishing contract. That's all that can be said without, without spoiling the whole thing! Janz skillfully weaves elements of cosmic horror, Agatha Christie's everyone-is-locked-in-a-room-but-someone's-the-killer trope, metafiction, lost-in-the-woods-but-I'm-being-chased-by-a-psycho a-la Jack Ketchum and Richard Laymon...and more. It seems like an impossible feat, but Janz nails it. Again. 2019 is the Year of the Janz!

Janz keeps getting better! What you think is a typical book featuring a contest and disparate characters along with an ominous host quickly twists and turns into a dramatic, horrific and spellbinding work!

Thank you to NetGalley, Jonathan Janz and Flame Tree Press for a free ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

And Then There Were None meets Nanny McPhee meets The Hunger Games meets GORE!

Check GoodReads for a plot summary!

This book for me was just an enjoyable gory read. There are a lot of characters, each having their own voice, not overly likeable but it doesn’t take away from the book. The book has plenty of suspense and tension. Throughout you get small snippets of each of the writers work, which is enjoyable to read… and adds a bit of depth to the book. The setting is really well described and I felt like I was there the whole time.

The thing that bugged me about the book, was that when referencing other horror writers work, it felt like Janz was citing an author like you would in a university report… but I might be the only one that feels that way… bit of a random thing but I couldn’t stop thinking about it!

I am really intrigued to read more from Janz!!

4 stars from me!

After hearing so much about Jonathan Janz from trusted horror fans, I've finally read my first book from him—and I'm glad to say it was not a disappointment. Between the fucked up characters and the Hunger Games-esque writing retreat, this will keep any horror fan entertained.

This starts rather abruptly and throws the characters at you all at once, which was my only issue with this novel. I found it to be quite confusing as there are more than 10 characters introduced in the first few chapters, and it took me roughly a third of the book to clearly distinguish each character from the others.

My enjoyment of the first third was dampened by the confusion, and it wasn't until after I got the hang of the characters that I was able to truly enjoy the story. But once I did, I really liked each character—good and bad—and especially enjoyed each of their backstories.

The setting was perfect for the spooky vibe, but it wasn't what I would consider scary. And I really enjoyed the bring-your-monsters-to-life aspect as well.

The novel, overall, was definitely interesting and entertaining, but nothing that'll keep you up at night. That may just be me though as I'm not someone who's often truly scared by books. I'm so happy to have read my first Jonathan Janz, and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.

Another winner from Jonathan Janz.
If you read the plot summary, I’m sure many readers will feel like they’ve read this book before (A group of writers meet up for a writer’s retreat but the goal is a competition to be the last man standing). Although the premise might be common, what happens next, is certainly not. Although this is not my favorite Janz novel, what fascinated most was the concept that a writer’s characters and worlds could come to life. Not only that, each writer was chosen for this contest because of their hidden secrets. (“Not everyone has a reason to fear the dark”). This was the compelling part of the novel; reliving each writers guilt and shame over past events. How those secrets become an integral part of their writing, and understanding that the monsters they create are really a part of themselves. This book is much deeper than your typical horror.

Other interesting tidbits:
Each character had a unusual name and I almost wondered if Janz based them on real horror writers. This occurred to me when Will Church was writing the book titled “The Siren and the Spectre” which is Jonathan Janz’s own novel.
Another character, Rick tells the story of meeting horror legend, Jack Ketchum. Ketchum ultimately tells him that if he wants to be a great writer he had to “F**k Fear”.
There is a scene near the end of the novel when Lucy says: “Stay safe” and Will replies: “Don’t die!” Very mémorable lines.

The only negative I have to offer about this novel is that I thought some of it could have been pieced together a bit better. I enjoyed the flashbacks immensely but felt that some of the action that took place in the present didn’t always seem logical or perhaps felt too contrived.

However, this is a pleasurable read. It will have you thinking about our inner demons; how the monsters we create and imagine ourselves, are somehow the scariest.

The Dark Game has got to be the best book that I've read by Jonathan Janz. It scared the s**t out of me! I can't wait to see what he has coming up next! Highly recommended. Read this book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Flametree Press for my ARC copy.

The latest novel from horror juggernaut Jonathan Janz, one of my favourite writers, kicks off with a writer, Lucy, who is on her way to a writers’ retreat and it doesn’t take long for the tension to kick right in. The novel quickly turns into Survivor the television series meets Battle Royale the film (2000) but for writers, and it’s intense to say the least.

The egos of many of the writers in this book were one of the most truly frightening things for me (seriously), and this is definitely one of those novels where the human element is far scarier than any monster. Writers and non-writers alike will definitely feel tense and uncomfortable throughout as the story advances and the stakes get increasingly higher. Just when you think things couldn’t possibly get worse, they keep going and the tension becomes unbearable at points.

Personally, I have always found the idea of some writers’ retreats to be disquieting and not something I would feel comfortable doing, and I’m not going to get into all of the reasons why, but let’s just say it was difficult for me to read through a manifestation of all those fears amplified to the nth degree.

The scares in this book are downright terrifying while the growing madness that enfolds these writers is palpable and all too real. Additionally, the creativity and inventiveness of the trials that the writers endure is notable.

All of the deepest, most sinister things these writers thought they had safely tucked away come screaming to the forefront and they will not be denied.

In addition, the diary entries were a cool narrative device and went into interesting directions. This enhanced the feeling of tension in this book, which is a constant, and it’s unrelenting. It pulls no punches.

There’s a danger of books like this revolving around petty feuds and overdramatic nonsense that belongs in a reality show, but Jonathan Janz has achieved a new level of mastery in horror with The Dark Game. Equal parts Lord of the Flies mixed with The Girl on the Train with a cast of unreliable and shifty personalities, this novel belongs with the best thrillers on the bookshelf and should be on yours, stat.

Janz’s writing has a way of pulling rabbits out of hats with his plots that fit well within the confines of his story whilst giving nods to genre fiction and films along the way. Anyone who can mix Agatha Christie, Robert Marasco with a splash of Richard Laymon and Richard Connell to keep it interesting and juggle it together to become coherent has my admiration in a nutshell.

The novel does have a tongue in cheek aspect with Easter eggs scattered about which fans of this genre will know but he also name checks lesser authors who are somewhat forgotten today like Flannery O’Connor. There is an art to Janz’s work and this is often a regular trope of his but one that makes things a bit more real to the reader and doesn’t feel falsely added.

The characters are a mix bag and although they are all very well written and interesting, they wouldn’t really be added to I wish they were my friends pile. Their interworking mechanics in the story are natural. Janz is able to take a large number of characters and give each of them their own voice and their own place. No two characters merge together and this is an incredible feat to be able to do this. I have read novels where most authors have difficulties differentiating between three characters and my hats off to Janz for carrying this off. For the most part, they are very unlikeable but they are very interesting and keep you engaged throughout.

The plot in the world that Janz built is very plausible and works. There is a gothic dark Disneyesque approach that takes place which gives credence to the strange goings on. The drama which unfolds is very organic but at the same time there is a sinister quality that chills the reader to the bones whilst urging the reader to try to look away. The grand finale of the work is fantastically written and a book that tends to stay in the subconscious long after the final pages are read.

The books themes of what it takes to be a writer and this is where the book adds that something different from the normal ilk of this genre. Stephen King often implements himself into his stories when he is using a character that writes and most authors do this, often to the point where they think they are being clever but in fact, they are divulging their own insecurities onto the page to somewhat a disconcerting manner. Janz outdoes this by giving us ten writers through various stages of success, genres, personalities and writing styles. He even has the balls to engage and show us their different writing styles which was hugely impressive and pays off to an even a higher extent. I applaud the author who is able to do this convincingly and he pulls this off.

Overall, this is an excellent book from one of up and coming authors of horror genre. He is the voice of the new generation which has been lacking for a number of years and good to see someone who is able to carry the torch forward and hold it proudly. This is about the fourth work of Janz that I have read and I have never been disappointed. The Dark Game is a richly woven story full of interesting characters, great plot points and a totally engrossing story that pushes the reader forward to its amazing climax. Thank god for new publisher New Flame Press for keeping the genre alive with the new blood as I have been reading their output for a while now and I have never been disappointed.

A number of books have explored the use of writers and their fictional characters coming to life to wreak havoc on their creators, but none have been so diverse and plentiful in number as those which appear in The Dark Game.

The premise of this horror is a genre staple; a bunch of people of varying socio-economical standing are invited to a house off the grid to participate in a contest which will reward the victor handsomely. If they can survive the secluded retreat that is.

The contest revolves around a writers retreat. 10 fortunate (or unfortunate) aspiring writers have been selected to showcase their talent to a renowned published author. He'll choose the writer whose work impresses him the most and award him/her a publishing deal and a cool 3 million dollars. It's a prize most of the contestants would kill for; however, this being horror and not murder mystery, it's their characters along with some nasty surprises which aim to kill them!

Full of wicked imagery and precision placed scare tactics, The Dark Game doesn't disappoint on the spooky scale.

My rating: 4/5 stars. This was my first book by Jonathan Janz and I have to say, I'm very impressed by what I read, so much so, that I rushed out and bought 3 of his other novels. If horror is your thing, I highly recommend reading The Dark Game.

I have to admit this is the first Jonathan Janz book I’ve read and not being acquainted with his previous work, I didn’t know what to expect.

The premise of this book sounds awesome, essentially is like the hunger games for writers, um yes please count me in.

The book starts off with a small intro to all of the characters, 13 total to be exact, I have to admit I had no idea who was who for the longest time and since we only get a brief description of each and every one of them, the challenge is up there.

The story overall was pretty pleasant, I really couldn’t put the book down, although because of the short amount of time we spend with some of the characters some of them did felt a bit flat. The setting was great and I really enjoyed the direction the story headed, I really wasn’t expecting the turns it took and for that I am pleased, yet something bugs me and that is the fact that the transition from the halfway point to the end was a bit bumpy and rough, it could’ve been smoother, it slightly felt like two different stories from time to time and that messed me up. Other than that The dark game, is a grim, twisted, fast paced read that’s definitely worth checking out.

This book was kindly provided by Flame Tree Press and Netgalley for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I did not think this was the greatest of efforts from Jonathan Janz, I recently read his 2018 SIREN AND THE SPECTRE which I though was a much stronger novel than this effort. It has an enticing premise, which is based on an idea which is nothing new in horror fiction. Ten writers are invited to a retreat of a famous, but very reclusive writer, the winner of this sort of writing competition, will be given a leg up from the famous author. Of course nothing is what it seems and the past comes back to haunt the participants. I struggled to finish this one and felt I had been here before with this rather jaded read. Bizarrely, there are several references to SIREN AND THE SPECTRE in this novel and I couldn't make my mind up whether that worked or not.

Usually, when a book has too many characters at the beginning, I find it a bit off-putting.
However, having read a few of Jonathan Janz's books already, I knew I was in safe hands.
Excellent characterisation as always.
Great story.
A solid four stars on this one.

2.5/2.75 stars rounded up

Ten Writers are invited to a summer long retreat at the home of one of the most celebrated and reclusive writers, Roderick Wells. He promises to teach them any things while they are there about writing and reaching their full potential. One of them will even win three million dollars, a publishing contract and Well's patronage! Who wouldn't want that?

Soon it becomes clear that things are not quite right at the retreat. Soon each one is confronted with their past and their deeds, actions and lack of actions. Not only are they confronted with their past secrets, the writers begin to die one by one.

The premise of the book is very enticing but that is where it ended with me. I believe I would have enjoyed this book more if there were less characters. There were just too many characters and I didn't get to really know they all enough to like them let alone care about what happens to them. Janz's previous book [book:The Siren and the Specter|38608066] is mentioned several times in this book, I have to say I found that book to be more enjoyable.

This book just wasn't for me. Other reviewers are enjoying this more than I did, so I encourage people to read all the reviews. We can't all enjoy the same books. This just didn't hit the mark for me.


Thank you to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Ten writers can hardly believe their luck when they are invited to a six-week retreat at the home of legendary reclusive author Roderick Wells. What initially appears to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to improve their craft and secure publishing deals slowly reveals itself to be a battle for survival as they are pitted against one another and dark forces.

Liked: THIS PREMISE HOOKED ME. (I love any story where a group of individuals are put into a situation that they must fight for their lives and escape.) Each character had a very interesting backstory. The setting was great, although it was not developed enough.

Disliked: The premise hooked me but ultimately disappointed me - I thought the whole story just could have been BETTER. I had a difficult time keeping the characters straight until closer to the end of the story. The horror elements weren't as prominent as I would have liked, and I think there wasn't much suspense built throughout the pages of the story. This should have been a total page-turner, and it wasn't.

This book could have easily been a solid five stars for me had it embraced the horror themes further and built more suspense into the narrative. I was satisfied with the ending, so overall, I liked it.

•BOOK REVIEW 📚
The Dark Game - By @jonathan.janz ✌🏻
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10 writers are invited to an exclusive retreat to take part in a writers competition. They are invited by the worlds greatest celebrated Writer Mr Wells.
Mr Wells hosts competitions where their is only one winner... the winner will receive a major amount of cash and their new work to be internationally successful!
I couldn’t help but picture Mr Wells as Stephen King when reading 😂 I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing 🤷🏻‍♂️
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Throughout the story we meet all the characters and get little snippets of their novels that they have been challenged to write.
The writing keeps you on your toes, the twists and turns are bound to give you whiplash! With the added pace on top this book is just a pleasure to get through!
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The horror aspect of the book is strong, I would have liked it stronger, but beggars can’t be choosers right 👀🤦🏻‍♂️
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All in all a extremely enjoyable read! You into supernatural? Haunted mansions? Characters that you just can’t suss out? Gore? And even more gore? Well I would defo check this out in April 2019!
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Special thank you to @netgalley & @flametreepress for the advanced copy ✌🏻🤟🏻
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4 bright burning stars from me ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

3.75/5 stars

I had trouble deciding whether to round up or not, but this book definitely did enough to give me reason to give it the 4 stars. This is clearly influenced/inspiried by Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Another book that is very similar, but definitely YA, is Ten by Gretchen McNeil. Where the former was the foundation and the most iconic, and also seemingly to have inspiried (or inspiried by) Clue (<-- tons of controversy around that). The latter is a YA take on the iconic book revolving around high schoolers on a trip. The Dark Game takes more from Christie's original novel, surrounding itself with grown up characters and the mysterious millionaire.

So, what's so different about The Dark Game compared to the others? Glad you asked! The examples of previous works were both deeply set in reality, where The Dark Game is not. The Dark Game revolves heavily on the trauma and fears each author (contestant) has, where the millionaire uses these fears against them. While I could go on about these fears, I would really spoil the book. Can't do that! I will say though, the payoff from these fears is helped greatly by the fact that each contestant is an author.

Now that brings me to the next part; my thoughts. I thought that this book could've been cut down. There were many dialogue scenes and filler that I felt had no purpose. These scenes slowed down the whole plot. Think of it like when you're watching a good horror movie, but then a random scene happens where the characters start to talk about how they regret going to a party over and over again throughout the film. The first few times it might have boosted character development and plot, but after a while it just gets redundant and boring. It becomes a way to lengthen the running time. The Dark Game did very similar things, which unfortunately seems to happen a lot in thrillers, mysteries and horror. I got extremely annoyed reading the same lines again, to the point where I could predict the next few pages, or even chapters, and just skim without missing vital information.

My next con; the batshit crazy twist. There's a twist quite early than usual in a novel like this, and it doesn't really work right away. It just feels wrong, as if the author meant to go one direction but it wasn't executed fully. As the novel goes on, the twist becomes clearer in a sense, making it seem a bit more believable in its context. However, in the end it still didn't get me all the way. There are too many unanswered questions, and ones that definitely should have been answered. I don't think the ending justified the work the author put into this twist. This twist is paramount for the entire book, so it just didn't sit right with me. With others it was probably enough, but definitely not for me.

Even though I had quite a few problems with this book, it was still enjoyable when it wasn't killing me with needless dialogue and scenes. Had those been removed or shortened, I probably would rate it higher. These issues may be more for my taste, whereas others may think it's perfect. I would possibly end up reading it again for the unique plot and devices it used, but it may be a while before I ever do.

This morning I wrote a blog post in which I termed several novels "perfect" in my view, among them three by author Jonathan Janz, including THE DARK GAME. This novel and THE SIREN AND THE SPECTER (released Fall 2018) I think are his two best novels to date. THE DARK GAME intertwines psychological thriller, high suspense, paranormal, metaphysical, and wonderful character evolution (and devolution, as some of the characters experience decompensation, to their peril). Mr. Janz has a fine eye for the layers of personality and character usually hidden from the world. He also has an excellent understanding of the meaning of being a writer, and here I am speaking of both the act of writing itself, and of the act of presenting one's work to the world--agents, publishers, critics, trolls.

Ten writers are invited to the retreat of one of the most admired authors of our time (think Hemingway, Norman Mailer, Henry Miller status; also think of their lifestyles). The competition is for an enormous amount of prize money plus (unspoken) an in with publishers and agents: guaranteed best-seller outcome. But only one of course can win. If this seems like an act of tremendous generosity on the part of the host, Roderick Wells (whose work is studied in universities everywhere), it's really not--for Wells is a Narcissist (and more) who sharpens only his own axe, at the expense of all others. However, not all of the ten writers turn out to be patsies to be swatted like flies. We have heroes here, too, of both genders. The characters herein really rock this novel, and I think it ought to be read by every adult.

Quite possibly Janz's best work yet. His skills continue to sharpen, and it really feels like he's comfortable as hell behind that keyboard now. There's a piece about fearlessness in this book, and I think it's safe to say Janz is feeling just that-fearless. This was by far my favorite cast of characters in any of his books, and the story read like something straight out of the Leisure Books Horror Club heyday!
THE DARK GAME is a horror gem.