They came to the mountain to hunt ghosts. They ended up as prey.The Iron Mountain Asylum once housed the criminally insane. The worst of the worst. Four men escaped the asylum and were never caught. The legends grew. Some said they lived on the mountain, killing anyone who crossed their path.The contestants on a reality show called Enter the Night are about to find out if the legends are real. … if the legends are real. Six people. Non-stop filming. A week exploring the abandoned asylum and a military base near the mountain. The contestants will find out that there are things far more frightening on the mountain than ghosts.
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2.5 stars.
ENTER THE NIGHT is the second novel I have read by author Anthony Izzo, although the first one I read was approximately twenty years ago, so I had no real “idea” of how his writing style was at this point.
The premise for the novel is that a Reality TV crew is going to film several pairs of people, with each team of two trying to find whatever their challenges happen to be, in the least amount of time. The winning group receives a cash award.
“They’re in for quite a surprise.”
The location was a part I really did enjoy–an old lodge, difficult to get to on a good day, now immersed in a snow storm. An old asylum for the criminally insane, or “the worst of the worst” of deranged humans, was somewhere on the grounds. Additionally, a large decommissioned military base, and a small cottage of some sort, surrounded by vast amounts of woods and uninhabited terrain.
“But they were still alive. The will to survive is strong . . . ”
Unfortunately for them, a tale is told that just before the asylum was closed down, four of “the most dangerous inmates” managed to escape, and were never found. Could they be living secretly among this area for nearly two decades–evading search parties, police, campers, and other infrequent visitors?
I did find this part of the story to be a little too implausible for my taste. Additionally, there were several twists thrown into the book that just furthered my feeling that everything was simply too well orchestrated to be coincidental, and so my belief in the story itself was lost.
In the start, a couple of the characters stood out well enough to me, but by the half-way point, I felt that even those were acting “out of character” from how they were in the beginning–regardless of the events that occurred in between.
At one point, we were given some background on a couple of the former inmates that once resided at the asylum, and I thought that was a GREAT touch. I had hoped to learn more about the others, but sadly the story quickly shifted back to the present without touching on the other backstories.
“. . . Did you play with plastic bags a lot when you were a kid?”
Overall, I felt the basic idea was good–if a bit overdone–but the characters’ actions and conversations were just not as realistic as I felt they should be. The location was likewise good, but there seemed to be a lot of wasted potential that could have been exploited. Originally, I had given this a two-star rating, because of the many formatting issues, sudden point-of-view changes in which the scene would literally change mid-page without warning, and frequent editorial errors. However, I addressed these in a message to the author, and he said that he has since fixed those issues. Due to that, I’ve amended my rating to a 2.5. While the characters and their situation were just too much for me to believe during this read, another reader may see it in a different light, and enjoy it more so.
Each book has the power to appeal to readers in different ways, and each person will have a unique perspective on the story.