Ramsey Campbell – Born To The Dark

‘Born To The Dark’ by Ramsey Campbell is Book 2 in the Three Births of Daoloth Trilogy. It is perfectly fine to read as a standalone but after reading this book you will definitely want to read book 1. First, we shall have a look at what it is about.

“Thirty years after The Searching Dead’s events. We see Dominic Sheldrake, the main character from that book, a University lecturer who is married and has a young son called Toby who has nighttime seizures quite frequently. Dominic and his wife get wind of an organisation specialising in treating issues like Toby’s. It is called Safe to Sleep and they decide to sign Toby up for it.
Dominic is not one hundred per cent convinced about the staff who are responsible for Toby while he is at the organisation or the procedures they use on him. He just knows something is wrong and he decides to try to untangle the mysteries. As the story develops and he gets closer to the mystery he finds memories start flooding back, from so long ago and so deep within him. These are memories he didn’t want to remember but everything seems to be happening all over again. Toby is at risk this time, both his life and soul.”

Ramsey Campbell’s skill as an author has done nothing but got even better as time has gone on. I do enjoy how he writes and how much he makes us feel on edge and uneasy. He plays on small incidents that just don’t sit right. That makes our brain begin to work overtime with the nagging little oddities that pop up within the story. He is capable of making me have goosebumps just through his narrative.

This is what I love about Ramsey Campbell’s books. He can build a scene that will make you so jumpy, even if there seems to be nothing going on. Am eagerly awaiting the third book now after reading the conclusion to this.

Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours and Flame Tree Press for the copy of the book.