Deep in the Darkness by Michael Laimo

"Michael Laimo paints a surrealistic landscape . . ."

"When dreams are achieved too easily, freedom, sanity, trust and the heart?s blood are sacrificed."

"Deep in the Darkness uncovers the rot at the center of a bucolic existence."

Dr. Michael Cayle lives in Manhattan and practices internal medicine, but his daughter, Jessica, starts school in the fall and his wife, Christine, wants another child. New York is no place to raise a family. Moving to the suburbs is the best plan, but Michael would have to start a practice in competition with an established doctor who has already built a reputation. Michael needs a miracle.

A wild dog kills Dr. Neil Farris, an elderly physician in Ashborough, New Hampshire, and Michael’s boss in Manhattan, Dr. Lou Scully, has the inside track. Michael has his miracle. The Cayles move to the country and into what they believe is an uncomplicated and simple life. And to the edge of the abyss.

During their first moments in front of their new home, Jimmy Page, the Cayles’ purebred cocker spaniel, runs off into the woods, Jessica begins vomiting, Christine cries, and Michael drives a rusty nail into his foot. Philip Deighton, who lives a half mile down the road, brings back Jimmy Page and rescues the bewildered family, only to plunge them into the midst of an ancient blood pact that will destroy everything the Cayles hold dear.

Deep in the Darkness uncovers the rot at the center of a bucolic existence. Natural curiosity, and a desire to find their place in rural New Hampshire, herds the main characters into the green shadows of an untamed wilderness reeking of bloody sacrifice and terror.

Michael Laimo paints a surrealistic landscape where bloody trails, lit by glowing golden eyes like summer fireflies and thick with writhing maggots and gore-drunk flies, weave in and out of a pastoral scene, sending snail tracks of icy fear along your spine.
Reviewer: J. M. Cornwell