Review - Dark Heart: The Purgatory of Leo Stamp by Darren J. Guest

On Leo's sixteenth birthday, something bad happened. Something so traumatic his mind fractured, and darkness filled the crack. Twenty years on and the crack is a canyon. The schizophrenic hallucination that once offered sympathy has taken to mocking him, and the memory of that long-ago birthday claws at his darkest fears, overshadowing even the murder of his younger brother Davey. But just when life can't get any worse... Leo dies.

A demon returns after twenty years...

An angel follows close behind...

Leo is caught in an age-old conflict, his past lying at the dark heart of it all.

This novel is classified as horror, which is not a genre I usually find myself reading but I gave it a shot. In Dark Heart, I couldn’t find the hook. Nothing really grabbed my attention enough to want to keep reading. I only continued because I like to give every book a fair chance in the hopes that they get better. It could be that I just didn’t pick up on the finite details that may make the story more suspenseful and interesting. Instead, I found myself not wanting to read on because I was bored. I kept putting it down and found sections of it dry.

The idea of the book, at least the part I got through, was interesting but I didn’t always understand everything that was going on. It makes sense as the main character, Leo Stamp, isn’t all there at times but it got to the point that I couldn’t wait to read a different point of view-Reuben’s. I think this book just wasn’t my cup of tea and maybe it’s because I don’t read this genre often. I couldn’t finish Dark Heart but if you’re a fan of horror and an original idea, give it a shot.