Reviews

Hold the Dark by William Giraldi

rizzykaye's review against another edition

5.0

I checked this out because I wanted to watch the Netflix movie (which I will still do) but this was so dark and violent and weird. Not what I was expecting at all, but still better than I expected. I appreciated how the people of the story were described in wolffish ways, more so than the wolves themselves. Very savage and brutal. The language also felt cold and sharp like the physical setting. I listened to the audio version of this book and for once I think it enhanced the story. The voice for the reading was quite gruff and raspy.

nikku_callian's review against another edition

1.0

Pretentious.

verity_lilolia's review against another edition

That was a haunting read. There was something quietly violent, if that's possible, about the way the wolves haunt Core in the beginning that lingered in my mind after I put the book down at night. I wouldn't describe the book as scary, but there's a darkness, a carnality about it that leaves you cold. A good read.

samerulesapply's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

the_weirdling's review against another edition

4.0

This is an excellent books which is slightly misleading in the way it is packages, marketed, and presented. Based on the jacket, marketing, and first few chapters, most readers will expect to be settling in to a sort of murder mystery which we will be solved by the somewhat burnt out wolf expert, Russell Core. There is a murder. There is also a bit of a mystery as to how the murders came about. To be sure, the early chapters of the book have all the feel of being the opening salvo of some sort of not-your-usual-type-of-sleuth-mystery series, sure to contain 20-30 pulpy installments. The action, however, shifts away from Core early on. Instead, you are lead on a journey that takes you into the deepest darknesses that hide in the human mind. The book has far more in common with Heart of Darkness or Lord of the Flies than any formulaic, paint-by-numbers murder mystery. I won't go into the details on this one, except to say this: it is dark as hell, and you will be left with the conviction that when human beings break, we break badly.

There is very little I have to add that hasn't already been expressed by the other reviewers. I only which to add my own voice to the chorus of others who have said that this book is beautiful written. It is such a great juxtapositioning and adds to the overall feel. William Giraldi writes about utterly horrible things in a sublimely beautiful way, and it bugged me the whole way through the book, in all the right ways.

A great book, even if its not what I and many others expected.

jpc33's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

bramish's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

spookynerd13's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 stars... disturbing, haunting, super atmospheric!

anti_formalist12's review against another edition

4.0

A dark fable about men and women on the fringes of society.

kitvaria_sarene's review against another edition

2.0

This is a really disturbing book.
It was not at all what I expected - and not in a good way.
The blurb let me think it was about a pack of wolves taking children - and a wolf expert who looks into things. I did expect it to be grim and bloody, but not the way it was.

First of, the wolves had hardly a big part - they felt more like the backdrop in a theater.
Then the characters were just so unbelievable and unlikable. All of them. Instead of a "sciency" thriller about wolves I got to read about disturning, sick people. I get that humans are the bigger monsters than wolves. I get that there is "a wolf" in us all. But that was just over the top - and felt like gore for the sake of it - and it didn't look like a "Layman" book....

Synopsis and why I thought it just so bad:

Spoiler

The woman who murdered her child is the sister of her husband, who comes home from war and goes on a killing spree looking for her. He wants to find her first - and in order to do that he kills whomever gets in the way -including two police officers. (That would not bring way more police down onto their track surely...)

His friend kills more than 10 people with a machine gun, untill he himself is killed - without any understandable reason, besides describing the gore in detail.

When the husband finally finds his sister - he has sex with the woman who murdered his son, and flees with her into the tundra, where they live in an old hunting iglo their father had built years back, where they live "happily ever after" with her being pregnant again (sure, this time it will work out better - away from civilization...), and the whole village helps them, by not speaking with the police, letting the body of an old lady who fell victim to the husband dissappear and bringing them tools to build a new, bigger iglo.

BTW - the wolves are almost starved - that's why they took those two children who vanished first - but the husband of course finds enough food to feed them through the last month(s) of winter, with the supplies left in the iglo years before, and a pack or two left by their mother and what he can hunt....

I have no idea what the point of the book should be, or how I should feel now - really I just think "Okaaayyyyy...?" and that's that.

One star for Alaska and the descriptions of the cold, the snow and how to live there.
Otherwise the only good thing I could find was that is really short....