Darkside by Tom Becker

This book is the first in a new series. For a beginning book it's not bad, but I don't know how it will do as a series. It's a pretty decent stand alone novel and I don't know how much more a can be done to make it a series.

Darkside is a secret world outside of London run by creatures of the night. Jonathan Starling stumbles upon it after his dad goes into a coma (succumbed by the darkness) and a group of people try to kidnap him. He's told he'll be safer in Darkside under the watch of Carnegie. With that said and his kidnappers closing in on him, he slips into this new world. It looks like London in the 1800s where everyone on the street is a evil. In fact, Jack the Ripper's family runs the town. Carnegie, a private detective, is an old friend of Jonathan's father, as well as a wereman (as opposed to a werewolf). As the story progresses, Jonathan discovers that he and another boy, Ricky Thomas are half Darksider. More than one person wants Jonathan found and it's takes all of his strength and courage to survive this strange world.

This novel turned out to be pretty exciting. The chapters aren't too long which makes reading quick and there is also a steady flow of highs and lows. I might even venture to say that there were one or two moments of nail biting suspense. That said, though, I don't feel the urge to tell everyone to read the book and I'm not on the edge of my seat waiting for the next book. It might have to do with the fact that I'm not a vampire/werewolf junkie or the fact that while this was a good book, I don't feel it was great. I can't put my finger on it, but I wasn't sent over the moon with this book. Maybe I'm a bit turned off by the fact that this is a series. I personally don't feel that there's enough expand upon, but like I said, this isn't my normal type of book. I can see where it might lead into a series with people finding out about Darkside and just all the sick and twisted people there, but, as I said before, that's not my thing.

This book was good, don't get me wrong. If you're into supernatural and vampires and creatures of the night, give the book a shot. Maybe you'll be excited about this becoming a series. As for me, I think I'll pass on book two, unless it has an interesting plot.
MMK