The Dark Hour really left me reeling. Four days after finishing it and I'm still replaying scenes in my head. The Dark Hour centers upon a young man named Mark who has had a bit of trouble finding his way up to this point. He's in his mid twenties and waiting for his break. Whether that means the perfect job, the perfect girl, or a windfall of money, we're not sure. Mark happens upon a job as a home health aide for a sweet, but odd elderly brother and sister. Nobody else understands his excitement for such a ho-hum job, but Mark knows it's his ticket out of being under the microscope of his family and their judgmental ways. His coworker is sweet, but begins to act a bit off-kilter. What's her story? The story plays out in a page-turning way that had me dying to know how it ended. Again, four days later, I'm still chewing on different points of the book and not 100% sure how I feel about some of them. That's a pretty great book to me! Definitely worth the read!

Sincere thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy to review.
This novel has a pretty intriguing premise and is written fairly well.
It has a third person POV and is written in the present tense, which at first was a little jarring as a reader. Especially as in the first few chapters there was a slip or two in tense and abrupt POV shifts making the story a little hard to read. However throughout the book Young makes the writing style work my only other nitpick is although the main plot seems thriller like there are some gothic vibes in the setting and overall narrative and imo the mash up between genres/story elements could have been smoother, or eliminate the gothic style altogether. Anyhow a story of a magician brother and sister team and their caretaker (not most likeable MC) is entertaining and worthwhile read.

This was a fun entertaining read. Light with just enough mystery to keep me turning the pages. Somewhat predictable but nonetheless charming and full of intrigue. A classic spooky story. 3.5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

Set in the 1970s, The Dark Hour tries to draw us into the perspective of the most unlikeable protagonist of all time – Mark Norman. Mark is a caricature of arrogant, obnoxious men everywhere – he thinks of everything in terms of money and aesthetic beauty, and his superficiality is remarked on by other characters throughout the book.

Mark is made unlikeable on purpose – the reader isn’t meant to root for him any more than they are meant to root for the antagonists. But the way he’s written does not smack of an authentic jackass as much as what someone else imagines a jackass’ mind to look like.

The book stretches on with weird sub plots that seem rather unnecessary, and the frustrating plot device of Mark repeatedly refusing to believe warnings because the warnings are (a) vague and devoid of any actual information; and (b) coming from a human being that Mark refuses to respect (‘prudish’ female colleague prone to ‘hysterics’; ‘ageing hippy’ neighbour ‘who’s probably a druggie.’) In addition to all this, the book also suffers from Proto-Damon Syndrome (my name for random things that are inserted to enhance the aura of mystery/ intrigue/ horror and which remain unexplained by the rules of the book’s universe.)

The central mystery of the book is also obvious right off the bat, and waiting until the end just to find out whether they villainous plan will go through got boring. It wasn’t as though the reader could be invested in the hero’s survival. We couldn’t care less what happens to Mark – indeed, I found myself hoping something terrible would happen to him. Any other characters we could have rooted for are mercilessly taken off the board as the book trundles inexorably towards its inevitable conclusion.

Unless relentless ageism and sexism count as horror, The Dark Hour doesn’t really deliver.

This book is quite a fun read, it predictable. It’s a untrustworthy narrator, especially as Mark begins to lose his sanity. Overall, it is fun but it’s not anything new or interesting.

Mark is insufferable, even though it’s not typical - doesn’t mean it was a good idea to convey a story when I have to read strictly from their point of view.

Once this book is finished, you aren’t likely to think about it much afterwards. It’s fun, and I like the characters of Roy and Alma. I was rooting more for them, but I didn’t care for any of the characters.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me access to an ARC!

Plot:
The Dark Hour is about a young man named Mark Norman who is looking for a job and an opportunity to prove himself to his estranged family. He acquires a job as a home health aid caring for a wealthy, elderly pair of siblings. Another employee confides in Mark about eerie happenings in the house and around the siblings. Mark brushes her off until he begins to experience similar unsettling incidents as time goes on.
Thoughts:
My thoughts on this book are mixed, I liked the creeping sense throughout the book of things being too good to be true. I like that K.J. Young wrote the protagonist as someone who isn't a very likeable person in the slightest. He's money-hungry, opportunistic, and quite frankly, a total asshole. It's nice how I was genuinely irritated with Mark and his thoughts and ambitions. It's not common for authors to write their main characters as unlikeable people. So I thought that was a nice touch.

I think the ending of the book was very predictable and cliché, I had guessed what was going to happen very early on. The middle of the book dragged a bit and there were times while reading it, that I considered putting it down. As I got closer to the end, it picked up a bit and I enjoyed seeing Mark slowly begin to lose grip on his sanity and reality.

Overall, this book was a short fun read but not something that I would recommend as a great book to read. It's nice as a quick, kind of creepy read that is not meant for super deep thought. It's an interesting concept but still very predictable throughout the story. 2/5.