The Dark Hour
by K. J. Young
K.J. Young is the pen name Karen uses when she writes horror/speculative fiction. Unlike her other novels, this book contains profanity and sexual references.
Mark Norman can’t catch a break—until he’s hired as a live-in home health aide for two elderly siblings who live at Alden Manor, a run-down mansion mired in the past. His charges, former stage magicians Roy and Alma Walgrave, give off an eerie vibe, but they are also wealthy and careless with their money.
Seizing the opportunity, Mark soon makes himself indispensable to the old folks, losing himself in fantasies of inheriting the Walgrave fortune upon their deaths. When another employee, a young woman named Lisa, shares her dark premonitions and insists that evil lurks in the house, Mark thinks she’s paranoid and unstable.
Until he begins to notice odd, unsettling things himself.
When nightmares begin to plague him and the house gradually reveals a web of lies and twisted secrets, he can no longer deny the possibility that Alden Manor is pervaded by some sinister force. He’s terrified of losing his mind—or worse, his life. But he’s so close to landing a big financial windfall that walking away is not an option.
In the past, Mark has always known when to cut loose and get out. But if he can just stick this out a bit longer . . .
"...fast-paced, eerie and unnerving!" - NetGalley Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"...a delightfully disturbing and creepy read." - Goodreads Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"Young's gripping narrative moves at a brisk pace that will hold readers' attention until the very end." -- Kirkus Reviews
"The Dark Hour really left me reeling. Four days after finishing it and I'm still replaying scenes in my head." - Goodreads Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"This is the creepiest book I've ever read. It was a ton of fun! If you're in for a creepy, spooky time and love something different, this is your book! You won't be disappointed. I promise you." - Phyllis Jones Pisanelli Reviews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"With creepy cultish imagery and the built-in macabre of the ailing and aging characters, this is good old-fashioned horror at its finest." - Literary Gadd