Review: Fade to Black

Fade to Black by Jeffrey Wilson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Book Info: Genre: Supernatural suspense/horror
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: People who like books dealing with war and fighting
Trigger Warnings: war (Iraq), death, killing

My Thoughts: This is a really hard book to read at times, and anyone who has family or loved ones in the military might especially have difficulty with it. Nonetheless, it's a very well-written book, the characters are engaging and well defined, and I was held by the story throughout. In many ways it is very sobering, as the descriptions of combat are visceral and real. It is sometimes hard to keep track of what is happening, since Jack/Casey himself doesn't know which world is real and which is the dream, but it slowly comes clear in time through the course of the book.

It's obvious that the author has either had experience in the Marines or has done a great deal of research to have all the jargon and lingo down so well, although I have to wonder why Marines have shortened “sergeant” to “sar'n”. It seems illogical.

Anyway, if this book sounds like something you'd like, definitely check it out.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this e-book from JournalStone via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Jack is a young man caught between two terrifying worlds. In one, he is Marine Sergeant Casey Stillmam, locked in combat in the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. He is lying next to his dead and dying friends, bleeding in the street—until he wakes up at home, in bed with his wife.

In this other world, Jack is a high school science teacher, husband, and devoted father to his little girl. But the nightmares of war continue to haunt him, and to Jack/Casey they feel in many ways more real than his life at home with his family.

When news of killed Marines in Fallujah surface, Jack realizes he knows far more about these men then he should. But, when the dead Marines begin visiting him while he is awake—he realizes he is in serious trouble.

Faced with the possibility of losing his mind, or far worse, the nightmares being real, Jack knows he must somehow find a way to bridge the two realities and fight his way back from the nightmares to save his wife and little girl.



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