Four Darks - Paperback

by Alex Vogel (Author)

What does it feel like when the numbness that helped you survive for years suddenly begins to crack?

A missing mother. An abusive father. A brutally cold winter.

Sixteen-year-old Jack has spent years enduring. Since the disappearance of his mother and brother, numbness has become his refuge. Then he meets James, a charismatic stranger who seems to understand him in ways no one else ever has. And along with longing and desire, long-buried grief, and pain break through the protective shell that has kept him afloat for years.

Can Jack learn to feel again without being destroyed by it?

Four Darks-by turns brutal, funny, unsettling and tender-places the reader directly inside Jack's experience, close enough not simply to observe, but to feel his fascination, confusion and inner struggle first-hand. Four Darks doesn't explain-it takes you for a ride. Sharp dialogue, art, humour and recurring imagery reveal what the characters can't or won't say otherwise. And beneath the story runs a deeper hunger: to be seen, to belong, and to find a way from mere survival to being truly alive.

Praise for FOUR DARKS

The prose throughout is always excellent and at times sublime and literary. Heartachingly beautiful and affective. There were a number to times I thought I might be reading Empress Yanagihara (no finer compliment from me). These sections were so earthshatteringly beautiful and sad that I could not contain hot tears from flowing fiercely and sharply.
-Jaidee

An impressive debut novel.
-Neil P.

Absolutely great book. It will stay with me a long time.
-paperman

A well-written and stark look at what can happen to a person who has no one to turn to, and the ways that one move can put you on a quick spiral into the dangerous and unknown.
-Brews.and.Books

... heartbreaking and challenging, but Jack's sardonic and sharp wit keeps it from being depressing. The dialogue is sharp and clever, the characters are vivid and credible and the writing is skilled, effortless and beautiful.
-Jay Colson/Goodreads

The writing pulled me in so quickly. I stayed up way past my bedtime to read, and considering that I have a small baby and a job, the fact that I've sacrificed hours of precious sleep to read this story I think tells quite a lot about how GOOD the prose is, and how enthralling the narrative.
-Chiara D'Agosto

Four Darks is bound to be a divisive debut, but I do hope Vogel finds an audience, as he's clearly a skilled writer able to tackle tough subjects.
-Nick/Goodreads

Loved it [...] ... very straightforward on the one hand, on the other hand it has a metaphorical subtext to it, that I found quite intriguing.
-David Indoff

... the writing is very good and it's for sure an intriguing read that pulls you along. I found it hard to put this down because I just wanted to read on and on, you're left at end of chapter cliff hangers at times with no other choice but to turn the page.
-James Cooper

"The story is gripping, disturbing, and heartbreaking and at the same time it leaves the reader inspired by Jack's perseverance. The book evokes a tremendous amount of emotion and deals with some weighty topics but left me with a sense of utter hopefulness. The characters are diverse, compelling, flawed and utterly human. The author leads us on an experience that delves into abuse, longing, desperation, cruelty, identity, and fate. And he does so with humor, a touch of sexiness, and compassion."
-DES

"The writing of Four Darks is so captivating that I found myself occasionally pausing to wonder just how Mr. Vogel captured so much meaning in a single sentence."
-D. Sutton