Daisy Pearce rose to prominence with her previous book, SOMETHING IN THE WALLS, which was a fine cross-section of horror and suspense. Now, she returns with DARK IS WHEN THE DEVIL COMES, which begins as a straightforward thriller but then slowly injects some very dark horrific elements.

Hazel Maddon is having a really bad day when she wakes up hung over in her childhood bedroom. Her first instinct is to believe she’s in hell. As she comes around, she remembers that she is there to housesit for her vacationing parents. She also will have the opportunity to reconnect with her sister, Cathy, from whom she has been estranged.

"DARK IS WHEN THE DEVIL COMES is full of depraved moments and just enough supernatural horror to induce nightmares in those who dive into this highly addictive novel."

Hazel and Cathy make plans to get together. The latter decides it would be smart to bring her two young sons along as a buffer just in case their meeting gets prickly. However, when Hazel does not show up at the predetermined time and place, Cathy realizes that something else is afoot.

While Hazel is out at a park foraging for various mushrooms, she strikes up a conversation with a man who introduces himself as Andrew Garrison. He tells her that he purchased the property deep in the woods, which she once knew as the Bray Farm. He invites her to come by any time and forage from his land, which is replete with produce.

Andrew seems friendly on the surface, but when he lures Hazel into the basement of his isolated farmhouse and locks her in, she realizes that she has been duped and may soon become the victim of a deranged killer. Things suddenly take a supernatural turn when Hazel recognizes that she is not alone. She feels not only the presence of the young women who were previously trapped there, but also a separate entity that lives in the dark all around her and is quite vocal. The voice makes uncomfortable, frightening statements, and she soon begins to feel that this entity knows her.

Hazel is asked at one point if she would “like to see death up close,” and she does not know if this is an intention to help or exacerbate her current situation of entrapment and possible murder. The only chance she may have of escaping her fate is when a 16-year-old claiming to be Andrew’s sister lets her out of the basement. But Andrew insists that she cannot get anywhere on foot, and no one can find their location as they have no form of communication with the outside world.

Meanwhile, Cathy goes with her own intuition that something really bad has happened to Hazel. This is confirmed when she finds her mother’s pets dead, stuffed in a suitcase. Cathy calls on the assistance of a friend and employee at the local pharmacy, who has seen Hazel since her return and believes she also may have spotted a suspicious man who could be responsible for her disappearance.

The eventual confrontation at the Bray Farm will bring with it several dark revelations that had been hidden between Hazel and Cathy, as well as the identification of the dark voice from the basement, which must be reckoned with. 

DARK IS WHEN THE DEVIL COMES is full of depraved moments and just enough supernatural horror to induce nightmares in those who dive into this highly addictive novel.