Personal Effects: Dark Arts Review

Review - Personal Effects: Dark Art by J.C. Hutchins and Jordan Weisman

It was only a few days after seeing Paranormal Activity that I was wandering through my local bookstore and stumbled across this jewel in the sci-fi/fantasy section. Still riding the creepy wave of the movie, I picked up this book because it has a unique hook and after starting in on the story, I couldn't put it down. It goes as follows.

Zach Taylor is an art therapist who works at Brinkvale Psychiatic Hospital a.k.a. "The Brink", a place that is literally a deep hole where the most insane psychos that New York can produce are sent to never see the light of day again. Zach, however, is a man who believes in his work and genuinely tries to help his extremely disturbed patients find some peace despite the fact that none of them has a chance of leading a normal life again.

After using his talents to help solve a years old murder, Zach's supervisor assigns him to the new and high profile case of Martin Grace. Accused of a horrific murder and suspected in many more, Martin is sent to Zach to determine if he is fit to stand trial or if his lawyers can get him off with an insanity plea.

This simple assignment quickly becomes a full blown obsession, one which will turn Zach's life inside out and threaten to destroy him. Martin Grace is a master manipulator and is able to tear Zach apart piece by piece within moments of their first meeting. Zach's father, William, is the New York district attorney prosecuting Martin's case and he is demanding that Zach give the assignment to someone else. His grandmother has also just passed away and her passing has awakened dark family secrets that he never suspected.

At the center of it all is the Dark Man, the Inkstain, the creature Martin Grace claims is the real killer who has used him to choose its victims for years. In spite of Zach's skepticism, he will discover that there are things in this world that cannot be explained by science, logic and reason. As the secrets unfold and a black history stained with blood is revealed, Zach must face his deepest terrors in order to save his patient, the people he loves most, and even himself.

The thing that really got my attention at first was the "personal effects" part. The book is made like a case file and has a pouch on the front cover that contains items which relate to the character of Martin Grace: a driver's license with the man's creepy picture, various personal documents, letters, photographs and other items that are revealed in the story itself but add depth because it allows the reader to see these things as if they were taking part in the investigation. There are also phone numbers you can call and websites you can visit that help expand the world in which the story is told.

None of it is truly compelling or necessary to understand what's going on, but it adds a nice flavor and extra depth to things that aren't fully revealed in the book. As a side note, if you do decide to give this book a try I would highly recommend not looking at all of the personal effects that are included until you've read the story. The items will all be revealed in due time and if you look at them all at once it will spoil some of the surprises that will come later on.

The story is told from a first person view by Zach, a sensitive young man who ignores traditional methods and thinks outside the box when it comes to helping his patients. He also has a serve case of nyctophobia, fear of the dark, which confronts him at nearly every turn and threatens to overwhelm him in his search for answers.

Opposite of Zach is Martin Grace, a ghost of a man who is Zach's enemy as much as he is his patient. He is cold and cruel and his talent for reading people is truly extraordinary due to the fact that he is blind. This blindness is psychosomatic, meaning his eyes are perfectly healthy but his mind has shut them off in order to keep the Dark Man from finding more targets. In spite of his claims that he did not kill any of his alleged victims, Martin seems hell bent on accepting responsibility for their deaths, a fact which further hinders Zach's efforts.

Drawn into the nightmare are Zach's hot, pro-gamer girlfriend Rachel, his parkour enthusiast younger brother Lucas, and his domineering father William. The devotion and faith that Rachel and Lucas have for Zach runs deep, evidenced again and again by their willingness to help him in his search for the truth, even if that includes doing things that run from the questionable to the downright unethical and illegal. Zach, in turn, does everything he can to protect them from the mounting dangers.

Zach has no less love for his father, William, in spite of his father's heavy handed tactics that come from a life of prosecuting New York's criminals. However, the patriarch of the Taylor family is driven by a crusade of his own to destroy Martin Grace and in order to protect his son he pulls every string he can to have Zach removed from the case while working to keep buried secrets that connect his son and Martin in ways Zach couldn't imagine.

This story is little slow to start into the serious action. However, I realized that this was simply to build a false sense of security and normality, because by the forth chapter the rug gets pulled out from under you. After that, the momentum builds more and more until you simply can't stop reading because you want to know what happens next, even if you might be scared to look.

This book appealed to me in the same way that Paranormal Activity did, because both deal with things that you can't see and you can't fight with your fists but which have the ability to fuck with you mind and body and who want to do everything they can to instill absolute terror in you before they kill you. And they will. This book was scary, making me not want to go into places that weren't very well lit and wondering if that movement in the corner of my eye was something sent to tear me apart and devour my soul.

At least, that's how it was for me. Your mileage may vary.

Read this book if you like: Murder mysteries, conspiracies, hidden secrets, puzzles, being scared of the dark, monsters in the shadows