Another review for: THE BEST DARK RAIN

 

I am very pleased and grateful to share another independent review of my novel The Best Dark Rain.

This review comes from James J. Cudney, who probably has the best author name ever. Here is a link to his website, This Is My Truth Now:

This Is My Truth Now

Here is the Jay's full review:

Posted on May 9, 2018

Last month, I posted an author alert about a new writer I was planning to read… just finished his book and wanted to share my review. See the author alert post here.




As a voracious reader, I sometimes find myself in a bit of a slump and need to test out a new genre, author, or writing style. When I came across The Best Dark Rain: A Post-Apocalyptic Struggle for Life and Love by Marco Etheridge, I thought to myself… you don’t read much science-fiction, you haven’t seen many zombie films, and you haven’t sampled much from a writer living in Austria. Let’s give it a chance! I liked the ‘Resident Evil’ and “The Day After Tomorrow” movies, and this kinda felt like a combination of those two flicks, except I think I’m not allowed to say the word ‘zombie’ as they are clearly named ‘Re-Ams’ by Mr. Etheridge — which I think is a fantastic idea! Let’s chat about my new experience…

Seattle. Some sorta apocalypse has occurred. There are corpses coming back to life. There are hunters and prey. Lots of guns. A couple of characters wandering the streets in search of food and supplies. How will they survive? What caused everything to happen? What’s still yet to come? Lots of questions start forming in my head in the first few chapters. Etheridge is smart. He doesn’t answer them for a long time. Instead, this newbie reader is investing in the characters as people rather than trying to attribute ‘former lives’ to them, as it’s all gone, so what does that matter, right? By mid-book, you begin to understand what likely happened and how the world succumbed to something unexpected. By then, you want to know what happens to the 5 or 6 main characters… of course there is lots of bashing and blood, a death or two, some light romance, and lots of comedy / witty commentary on life.

I am really glad I read the book. It pushed me out of my normal comfort zone (in a good way) in some parts, but in others, it was like a very typical fiction read for me. It was just a different world or setting, which made me wonder am I missing out by reading more science fiction and fantasy books. Time will tell… just like time will tell in Seattle if Liz and Pat, the main focus of the book, will get their answers and push forward in life despite the walking dead / not-so-dead coming after them. As they began meeting a few other survivors, knowing all along it’s hard to tell the difference anymore between who is dead and who is alive, you feel that suspense of who should they trust. I was kinda excited to see a variety of character types in the story (no spoilers, read it on your own please!) and Etheridge ingests lots of humor into them and their relationships. One of my faves is Formerly Rachel. Seriously… you have to wonder what that means, but it’s a fantastic play on words.

That said… what kept me reading was the extreme detail that is offered whether describing a setting, life choices, options, or emotions. There’s a lot going on in terms of plot and story, but the world-building is what made me turn the pages. I wanted to see descriptions of how life played out, where the food came from, who beat up who, what kind of turmoil they lived in. So… if you read in this genre, you’ll be pleased. If it’s new to you, take a chance like me. There’s a lot of reality coming forward and well, if the world ever does go this way, maybe we’ll know how to survive now, right? Thanks for pushing my reading boundaries, Mr. Etheridge. I look forward to reading more from you.