The Dark On The Other Side (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
My second re-read of Barbara Michaels this year.It had the potential to rock a lot more than it did - it would have made a brilliant little novella. Instead, the middle sagged and slowed so much it became dull. The beginning was interesting, if not misleading into making the main seem completely unlikeable. The end was great, though, as is Michael's trademark. I do wish a page or two was more fleshed out for finale though. Looks like there are more things in heaven and earth after all...Characterization isn't much to write home on. Michael is likeable enough, but his cat is the more amusing of the pair. Gordon was charismatic, as he was supposed to be, and perhaps the best written. The 'witch' friend Andrea was more annoying and draining than anything else. Maybe she was supposed to be comical, maybe she was supposed to be intriguing, but that mark was missed by an inch or so.The lead woman, Linda, is never likeable, even when she shrugs off the bitchy persona. She switches from a weakling I wanted to shake to a woman who is trying too hard to be convincing in her strength. I really thought there'd be more on the servant side, some sort of revealed treachery or something, to explain how horribly she treated the maid. I guess living in that household would make one grouchy.I wonder, after her salvation, did she miraculously sober up and kick the bottle habit too?I'd think that would crimp their relationship. Sadly the relationship connection at the end isn't that realistic, anyway.It's a shame the pacing was so unsteady, as the plot and potential were full-fledged GOTH. Michaels went heavier on that than normal. The end used a creation she rarely did in her other books. She used her usual religious pondering and intellectual hammering at existence of the supernatural. I can definitely see the trademark Michaels with this one...but almost like another writer was influencing her as well. Good, but certainly not great. She did a lot better with other books.
This, hands down, is perhaps the strangest read of the entire Michaels set for me purely on the grounds that it spends almost more time in the hero's POV than it does in the heroine's. This is unusual for Michaels books--and for the Peters ones as well, with the notable exceptions of the large stretches from Ramses' POV in the Amelia Peabodies. And as of the time this book was written, I'm not entirely convinced that Michaels had the knack of writing from a male POV down. The scenes from Michael's POV in this book feel way more awkward to me than the Ramses ones do in the much later Amelia Peabodies.And really, that's my overall perception of a lot of the elements of this book: all the right pieces gathered together, but not quite managing to fit smoothly yet. The book can't decide what exactly's up with its bad guy: is he a Satanist? A werewolf? An emotional vampire? All three? Elements that are much more deftly handled in later Michaels works feel stilted to me here, as if she hadn't really found her voice yet. Overall, I give this one two and a half stars--minus two for the overall stilted feel of the plot, but plus a half again for trying to spend some time in the hero's POV as well as the heroine's and therefore expanding the story's range a little.
What do You think about The Dark On The Other Side (2005)?
This is not your usual Michaels' book and that's a good thing. We don't have the happy heroine slowly drawn into the toils of evil. We start out with a demon-haunted woman and a loving husband who cannot imagine why his beloved wife has so turned against him that she's drinking herself to death *and* occasionally attempting his life. Slowly the story's suspense builds as we are drawn, page by page, into a web of darkness...Yes, it's dated, having been written in 1970. Sometimes there are too many coincidences and hair'sbreadth escapes for modern tastes. But if you want a *genuinely* scary book, with real dangers and a non-sexy supernatural side, this is the book for you. I only wish Michaels had written a series revolving around the character of Dr. Galen Rosenberg. I've re-read it numerous times since my youth. It always gets me. One to be read with the lights on.
—C.B. Pratt
One of the things that's always fun about Barbara Michaels books is that dated quality they have--earlier ones especially tend to have some discussion about women wearing slacks, for instance, and this one is no question. A writer interviews the would-be subject of his next biography and becomes enthralled by his very very beautiful but troubled young wife. Is she crazy, or is the husband? It wasn't scary, but it did have a nicely weird ending that was pretty fun. Is the whole thing psychological or is it supernatural? There's times where it seems to tip both ways. I especially liked the evil, doughy secretary who turns out to be an unsavory ex-priest. And the husband's particular brand of evil was pretty gripping, preying on talented, vulnerable people and sucking the talent right out of them.
—Sistermagpie
