Wanna Question Your Own Sanity? (The Mouth of the Dark Review)

TITLE: The Mouth of the Dark
AUTHOR: Time Waggoner
PUBLISHER: Flame Tree Press
PUBLISHING DATE: September 6, 2018

FROM GOODREADS: Jayce’s twenty-year-old daughter Emory is missing, lost in a dark, dangerous realm called Shadow that exists alongside our own reality. An enigmatic woman named Nicola guides Jayce through this bizarre world, and together they search for Emory, facing deadly dog-eaters, crazed killers, homicidal sex toys, and – worst of all – a monstrous being known as the Harvest Man. But no matter what Shadow throws at him, Jayce won’t stop. He’ll do whatever it takes to find his daughter, even if it means becoming a worse monster than the things that are trying to stop him. FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launching in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

MY THOUGHTS:  I know that I've heard of Tim Waggoner before and I'm pretty sure I've read SOMETHING he wrote years ago but I've searched my mind and my records and can't come up with anything.  However, I knew just by looking at this cover that this is a book I wanted to read.

Jayce is looking for his daughter Emory.  She has disappeared and it is believed that she has become lost in the "Shadow" - a very unique yet very dangerous realm.  Jayce will do whatever is necessary to find Emory, even if it means unlocking memories of his childhood he has suppressed for years.  

I have to admit that "The Mouth of the Dark" is a very different horror story.  In fact, the word I can think of which might best describe it is weird.  I mean, come on, we have homicidal sex toys (The Pink Devil), naked gladiator type fights to the death and a character known only as The Harvest Man.  The book alternates between present day and flashbacks of Jayce's childhood as he learns of his true connection to the Shadow.  

If you decide to pick this book up, all I can say is prepare for a hell of a ride.  While I didn't find it very scary per se, it was gross and disgusting yet I couldn't put it down.  Even though Jayce kind of creeped me out some - the man was WAY too obsessed with is daughter's sex life, I desperately wanted him to find his daughter and have a happily ever after.  Silly me, expecting that from a horror story!

I really can't say much more about this book. I think it's kind of best to go in blindly, but know that you are going to meet some VERY odd characters and read about some EXTREMELY disturbing practices.  I want to thank Netgalley and Flame Tree Press for my copy of this book which I received in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 4 PAWS