The Dead and the Dark is worth an hour of your time because of the fluidity of the plot as it breezes through common genre tropes. Ghost hauntings? Check. Family pain? Check. Murder? Check. Discovery? Check. Romance? Check. A journey? Check. This novel, it really has it all.

I think this is a novel worth reading because it is easy to read, it is fluid, and it has a plot written to please. The incorporation of each common trope creates something unique in this novel and is why it is worth your time.

There are things that lurk in the dark in Snakebite. After the disappearance of her boyfriend, Ashley and newcomer Logan become an unlikely team to uncover the truth. And the truth, it leads them down a path filled with ghostly sightings, hidden pasts, terrible secrets, and discoveries neither of them expected.

To reiterate, what makes this plot valuable is the incorporation of mystery, romance, horror, and a crime to make the plot interesting for a wide variety of readers. If you pick this up, there will be enough of what you love to continue reading and enough of what you normally don't gravitate towards to make the plot interesting.

For me, the novel contained the right amount of romance and the right amount of ghosts and truly, this was fun to read and has a plot worth devouring as it allows you to enjoy your comfort genre's whilst exploring something new.

Apart from Brandon, the characters are nothing flash. There is Ashley whose spent her whole life in Snakebite never thinking she would want to leave or that anything crazy would happen until her boyfriend disappeared. There is Logan who just moved with her parents from LA and is not too happy about it. There are her parents, Alejo and Brandon, whose purpose of revisiting their hometown is to film an episode and then there are all the town people who support the story.

The story focuses on Logan and Ashley, two individuals with slightly stereotypical personalities based on their upbringings that luckily are unique enough that you want to read about them and root for their success. The characters in this novel are likeable and worth reading.

The ending is a touch cliché buuuttt, it's okay. The whole novel is one to adore and with horror, romance, mystery, young adult, and more - this novel is worth an hour of your time!

The Dead and the Dark is a strong debut novel and I anticipate great things from the writer. The plot was simple in concept - ghost haunting, romantic love interest, and an isolated parent. A typical small town story blown out of proportion because of the three teen murders. Hmm... now the story is different and intriguing.

Honestly, despite going in believing this was going to be a horror-centric novel, this was more of a self-discovery piece for the characters. This was not a typical ghost story and what I adored about how the ghosts were portrayed and the Darkness itself was that they were portrayed casually. I find when authors present a slightly different world at face value that I enjoy the story more. I really like how the paranormal was incorporated, it was kind of like The Sun Down Motel where the ghosts were taken at face value and is why I really vibed with this piece of literature.

It would have been nice to have seen a bit more apprehension on Ashely's part about seeing ghosts. I didn't mind her emotions but I felt her deep emotions were brushed off. We knew she was creeped out but the fact that Alejo could also see ghosts no doubt provided some comfort to her that she was not going crazy.

Did I expect Parker? No. Was his son a horrible person? Yes. He tried to drown someone and was an outright bad apple that did not fall far from the tree as apparently, even though Parker was influenced by the Dark, Brandon never killed but Parker did because deep down, he wanted too. He craved to let the Darkness in and the Dark was his 'excuse' for killing without feeling like it was his decision.

Even though I said Logan and Ashley were slightly plain characters, I still liked them. I liked their romance story because it was also one of self-discovery, not one of back-and-forth indecisiveness. That ending though, cliché like crazy!

It's the combination of all these characteristics that made The Dead and the Dark such a unique and truly fun read. As long as Gould's next novel isn't solely romance, I am going to be devouring it fast. This was a great debut and one worthy of a read.