Darkroom Paperback – October 1, 2010

Whew! This is one seriously f*@ked up story! I read a fair amount of dark stories, but make no mistake, this story is darker than most. This book contains scenes involving extreme brutality, physical abuse, rape and emotional abuse. These topics are not skimmed over or hinted at, they are described with graphic detail. Be forewarned, if these are triggers for you, choose another book.That being said, I am one of the disturbed souls that generally enjoys stories that delve into darker subjects. In most cases, the darker the better. While I applaud the author's willingness to tackle these touchy subjects without shying away from the brutality of such acts, other elements of this story just didn't work for me.For me, it is key that the characters have redeeming qualities. This is even more important when the hero, or rather antihero, is portrayed as an abusive, "bad guy". Even though you hate him, you also kind of need to love him, or at least pity him, on some level. Similarly, you need to be able to relate to and like the heroine.Unfortunately, the main characters in this story were not particularly appealing. Victor, aka Vengeance, the male lead, was a sadistic, twisted, psychopath. He believed himself to be the son of God and thought it was his divine responsibility to cleanse the sinful women of the world. Yep, he was totally nuts!The heroine, while eliciting some feelings of sympathy, failed to relate to me on any meaningful level. For someone that was allegedly living in fear of the psychotic man that had kidnapped her, she spent a lot of time engaging in behaviors that she had to have known would have provoked him. It was almost like she was taunting him. The promiscuous behavior also didn't ring true, given the details of the story.At other times, I just rolled my eyes at the heroine's stupidity. Repeatedly, she missed warning signs and placed herself in dangerous situations. After spending the night with her "kind neighbor" Victor for the first time, she gets a message from her former kidnapper that voices his approval of her choice in men.If that isn't a red flag, then I don't know what is! Instead, she is content to continue her new relationship, happy to have her tormentor's seal of approval. WTF? Truly, this heroine might have deserved the "too stupid to live" title.I also would have liked for the crazy religious motivations to have been fleshed out more. It was clear that Vengeance was raised to hate women in a seriously disturbing way. However, I never got a good feel for whether he was supposed to just be some nutso raised in some sort of religious cult, or if the author really intended for this to be a paranormal story where he truly was supposed to be a supernatural being. It was never really made clear and I was left with a lot of questions.The book also had a fair amount of grammatical mistakes early on. The frequency of these errors seemed to decline the closer I got to the end. Or, perhaps I just tuned them out at a certain point. Regardless, it was mildly distracting, especially when combined with a difficult and unfamiliar dialect.All in all, I give it 2 1/2 stars. While the dark elements may not appeal to many, it was the lack of personable characters that killed this story for me. I never felt a connection with either of the main characters and too much of this story just didn't add up for me.

The writing in Darkroom felt almost poetic to me right from the beginning and the first few chapters left me feeling very heady. I very much enjoy books that are able to get into my head in such ways, so I was eager to continue reading. Through Poppet's words and descriptions, I felt as if I sat in the darkness alongside Shauna. I was completely pulled under by this story. There was a mysterious air surrounding Vengeance and it gave me feelings of fear and apprehension as the story progressed.The shifts between characters messed with my head a bit, and I was constantly wondering if Vengeance and Victor are one in the same. The words were constantly making me unsure. At the end of Chapter 20, it became obvious that there were bigger things happening behind the scenes and the watcher was actually being watched. I didn't know what to trust in this book and felt as if I were always looking over my shoulder.It was incredible how Victor was able to manipulate her any which way he chose. As Shauna talked to Victor while struggling to piece together information, I was so afraid for her.Chapter 35 had my head spinning with all the possibilities as some interesting information came to light. Shauna's thoughts and emotions were often all over the place. At times she would have a fleeting glimpse of a thought that Victor was not all that he appeared, but then it would be gone just as quickly as it came. Her mental state throughout made me feel off-kilter as well. I loved how Poppet had created a story that had my mind all twisted up over and over again. The ending was crazy enough, but the chapter with the alternate ending really had me freaking out. I need more and I need it now.

Poppet takes you on a dark and twisted ride in the human pyche and the things a person will do to survive.Shauna is captured and tortured to the very ends of survival. No one believes her and no one supports her when she is freed and trying to put herself back together.In the midst of another emotional upheaval at the hands of Vengeance in comes her saviour or so she thinks Victor.Victor/Vengeance is a twisted and disturbed man who believes he is saving Shauna from the depths of her sins through torture and abuse. He becomes her rescurer from himself and continues to torture her through psychological manipulations.She falls in love with him feeling safe and protected from her Vengeance. She feels guilt for hurting his feelings and bows to his will to show her never ending need and love for him.Victor/Vengeance is easy to hate and easy to feel sorry for. His tormented mind and soul are brought about by the childhood you get glimpses of.There is a deep seeded need in him to protect Shauna from the Father but he must make her his risen angel and she must be completely under his control.This is a dark and wild ride through the human pyche of a derranged man who believes he is doing the work of God.You take an emotional rollarcoster ride with Shauna feeling her fear, her doubts,he love for Victor, and the self esteem that she doesn't seem to be able to get for herself.The alternate ending for some will be what you were hoping to happen but, in reading that you will see that it may have been the hardest thing for Shauna to cope with and it will leave you wondering what was really best for her in the end and wondering if she is really going to be strong enough to recovery from this blow.If you love dark and twisted stories that hit close to home and really could be a possibilty. If you love a book that makes you think twice about the charming guy next door and the secrets we all keep in a Darkroom. This book is a must read for you. It is a page turning read you will not be able to put down. Holding your breath and sitting on the edge of your seat. Just waiting to see what will happen next and wether Shauna and Victor have the strength of spirit to survive.

I...Erm...Give me a minute to collect my thoughts...I’m not entirely sure what to say about this book because it has seriously messed with my head.It’s dark. It’s twisted. It’s one hell of a mind #### and truthfully I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel right now.I’ve never and I do mean never had a book mess with my head like this one has.There’s so much manipulation in this book, manipulation that affects Shauna as well as the reader (me). It’s so flipping clever that I couldn’t figure anything out (so not me). Victor is... well honestly, manipulation aside he’s hot but he’s also seriously deranged, like all the screws loose deranged but damn if I don’t find myself loving him... see told you the story manipulated my mind as much as Shauna’s.Nope this isn’t going to be the book for everyone but it’s so worth a read just so you too can experience how much it messes with your head.

Darkroom is an incredible rollercoaster journey of such power and intensity that it leaves you breathless. Classically it could be described as a psychological thriller, but this does not do justice to the multi-layered, complex plot that Poppet has so expertly woven. At first it appears a simple tale of good versus evil, the good being the young, carefree and spirited young woman, Shauna, and the evil, depraved, sociopath, Victor or Vengeance.It opens with Shauna captive to the wicked Vengeance, who it appears is on a mission from God to cleanse this 'dirty angel'. The wearing of jeans is deemed a sin worthy of the most cruel and graphic violence and sexual manipulation. On her release, Shauna is shunned by all her nearest and dearest, and put down as delusional. She runs away to South Africa and soon continues her carefree lifestyle of before, only to once again suffer at the hands of Vengeance. A one-night stand is blown up outside her apartment; another supposedly commits suicide, leading to her best friend cutting her out of her life. Every aspect of her life is coloured by the hand of Vengeance, who justifies his actions as the duty from a higher authority.When it appears Shauna can suffer no more, we are introduced to her neighbour, Victor, and at times the narrative dips into romance, but it is always laced with a good does of horror. Of course Victor is really Vengeance and continues to manipulate every area of her life, using his Darkroom to monitor her every move. When she steps out of line, he again dons the attire of Vengeance and subjects her to such a violent abusive attack, that she comes close to death. What the author does so expertly is switch the POV and put you right in the mind of the protagonists. I found myself almost pantomime-like shouting out 'NO!' at times as we are privy to the most intimate thoughts of Shauna and Victor / Vengeance. Upon realising the severity of his attack on Shauna, I thought briefly Victor was going to change, see the error of his ways and realise he really loved her. I am sure that this was the intention of the author, before throwing you completely off with wicked twist after wicked twist.Towards the end of the novel, you do find out more about Victor / Vengeance and this is where the constant quotations from the bible resonate most. We find out very early on that he is an avenging angel, a Jesus-like chosen one, with an omniscient Father, but it is when his disciples appear (Peter and Seth being two) that a lot of the pieces suddenly slot into place. Not since the epic Moby Dick with Captain Ahab's biblical tussle, has a novel used references to the bible so powerfully. I actually found myself digging out a copy and researching the phrases used.As earlier reviews have warned, Darkroom is in places not an easy book to read - the violence is unwavering and the imagery is incredibly dark. But you must, you absolutely must, because it is an exhilarating ride and the pages turn effortlessly. I found myself thinking I had worked out the ending, only to be thrown off course by an ingenious twist or turn, which makes you read on. Thought provoking is not even close to what Darkroom is. It is as close to an 'unputdownable' book as I have read!When I did the reach the end, I found myself out of breath. The adrenaline was truly flowing, I had become so engaged and involved with the characters. At times I actually rooted for Victor, as the lines between good and evil became blurred, but deep down I knew what he had done and it repulses and shocks in equal measure. The culmination of the novel leaves one last, truly wicked twist with the publication of two alternative endings. I read and enjoyed both, although without giving it all away, I chose the first. Maybe it's the romantic in me, maybe it's the belief in redemption, maybe it was simply the fact that I had lived out a couple of intense days with these remarkable characters and come to love them. Lots of maybes, but the one thing that is far from a maybe is that Poppet has crafted an incredible book, one that should be read by all. I recommend this book most highly.

I've been meaning to write up a review of this one for a little while, but to be honest I've been toying with my emotions on it. This book is incredibly dark, not dark like usual dark erotica that disturbs you a bit but you crack on with it all the same, ACTUALLY dark. Really dark. So dark it creeps inside your soul and leaves you tainted. I felt dirty and creeped out by this book, but it has soul. It's hard to convey in actual words (hence the delay in the review).I can honestly say this is the only book I've ever read where I've genuinely hoped the heroine would commit suicide. Not just a bit either, I was there with my Kindle rooting for her. 'Please do it, end it, please!!! You have to get out of this!! Death is the best way!' but it got me like that. I'd think about it when I wasn't reading, and reading it was a compulsively twitchy, unpleasant but addictive kind of affair.This book is executed with great style. It's very well written, it's got atmosphere pouring from it and it's dark as dark gets. If that's your bag you should read it, and you will love it. I loved it, but I'm not sure I would want to read it again. Not yet anyway, I'm still scrubbing it off my skin from the last time. Still, despite the horror and the mixed emotional response to this very original piece, it's got so much soul pouring from it's spurting black heart that it's a 5* from me.If you like dark then definitely give this one a read, just don't blame me if you're sleeping with the light on after!

4.5 StarsThis is not only dark. It is mind f@ck and perverted sick. Twisted and disturbing.Vengeance has been trained by "Father" to "clean" all sinned whores.He thinks of himself as a Godsend, a kind of Messiah.He purifies the whores and then gets rid of them.By that, I mean all kinds of sick tortures and at the end killing them.That is until he meets Shauna.I don't get exactly why but Shauna fell into his graces.He thinks she is a dirty angel.A dirty angel that needs to be purified from her sins to become his???Yep! HIS Dirty Angel.

This book is well crafted, as the majority of poppets work is, but it left me feeling very uncomfortable. Perhaps it was meant to, but I found myself feeling really tainted. This is a dark read, and opens up a world that I suspect may exist in varying forms. It wasn't light reading, or uplifting in any way. Then again, art is there to reflect back to us and sometimes we need to look at what's deranged to understand and avoid it. Ladies could read this and examine how to avoid being a victim.