The Deep Dark Descending by Allen Eskens

The Deep Dark Descending by Allen Eskens

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

We read The Deep Dark Descending along with five of our Traveling Sisters. The Deep Dark Descending is the fourth book by the talented author Allen Eskens. The books are connected with recurring characters but can be read as standalones. One sister in our group has read and enjoyed all four previous books and suggests if you really want to get more background info into the characters to read The Heavens May Fall before reading this one. All of us read the first book The Life We Bury where the main character makes his first appearance. We all thought this one worked really well as a standalone though.

The Deep Dark Descending is an engrossing, extremely tense, fast-paced, and a well-written read here that explores the deep dark desire for vengeance as we see how our very well loved main character Max is battling with his descent into the deep dark desire for vengeance and retribution. We all were completely engrossed in his battle as he was wrestling with his decisions and we could really feel his anguish, grief, anger, and desperation. This had us all wrestling with his decisions as well. The tension and suspense increased for us and had us nervously questioning his actions throughout this whole story. Eskens’ does a fantastic job here working our emotions, examining our own moral thoughts and had us questioning if his actions were for justice or vengeance. That created a very interesting, thought-provoking discussion with the sisters.

The story is chilling in more ways than one as we follow Max on his mission for vengeance to the frigid US – Canadian border. Eskens’ brilliantly constructs this well-done story with an extremely enthralling plot by adding danger to the story with the frigid atmosphere and chilling scenes. We all were sitting at the edge of our seats in dread yet hoping that Max would leave with his soul. We are not sure that any of us stopped to breathe until reaching the end.

The Deep Dark Descending is an extremely fast-paced and thrilling novel with an ending that holds quite the punch that left us all frozen in place sending chills right through us all.

We all are very curious and will be waiting patiently to see what Allen Eskens has to offer next with Max’s character. The ending brought out quite the discussion as well and had us all wondering what is next for Max. We all loved his character that much! Would highly recommend!!

Thank you to Edelweiss, Seventh Street Books and Allen Eskens for a copy to read and review.

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Kaceey’s Review

A deeply emotional read….and it left me breathless.

Max is trying to move on 4 years after the death of his wife Jenni.  In his heart, he’s convinced there is far more to her death than just a simple accident.  Now he’s beginning to gather the evidence he needs to prove it. The question is, where will that lead him? What dark road will that journey take him down?

This book is labeled a standalone but some of the characters, including Max, are recurring from previous books. I’d read only one previous book from this author so when I realized this (about 25% into the book) I was worried I would miss out on the character development.  Nope….this book stands firmly on its own! 

There are dual timelines that at the beginning I had trouble following. Felt a little scattered to me.  But once I got caught up in the storyline, it started flowing smoothly and was difficult to put down. The suspense builds in a big way during the final third of the book, with a shocking ending. I just had to sit quietly once I finished processing what I just read. Wow!

Thank you to Edelweiss for an ARC to review.