Highly enjoyed this one! It kept me engaged throughout and was a joy to read, would certainly recommend!

I tried this one twice, but unfortunately, it was a DNF for me. The writing style just didn't suit me, though I'm sure it would suit others perfectly.

Unfortunately, not for me.

Are You Afraid of the Dark? by Seth C. Adams is an intense and captivating page-turner that delves deep into the minds of its two main characters, Reggie and the mysterious contract killer. As Reggie attempts to understand the complex life and emotions of his father figure, readers are drawn further into the psychological abyss.

Seth C. Adams does an amazing job at developing suspense and tension with vivid descriptions of Reggie's environment. He captures the fear of the dark, painting a frightening and enthralling landscape that captivates readers from the very beginning.

This gripping tale will keep you on the edge of your seat, waiting for what’s next. It’s perfect for fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Ray Bradbury. Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a dark, intense and thrilling ride through the depths of humanity that shouldn’t be missed.

A somewhat coming of age story with a twist. The boy meets and befriends a contract killer.
We see them develop and unlikely friendship and admits truths about themselves.
The boy then goes to lengths no teenager should to help the murderer escape.

While I did find this enjoyable, the story would have worked as a novella instead of being slightly drawn out. This wasn't spectacular, probably for this reason. Fast paced and easy to get through. Without being scary or too dark.

The plot was exceptional and I found the twists and turns unpredictable which I really enjoyed however I took me some time to finish the book as it didn’t fully grip me. I would read the book again and would likely read another book. All in all it was a good book and I liked the conversations between reggie and the hitman very good, especially at the start.

Took me about 4 months in all to read this book (because of time not because I thought it was bad!)

I enjoyed this book, although it didn't have the ending I was expecting, personally upset me a little bit. But all in was a good read 😊

While the writting at the beggining caught my attention. As the time was going, the pacing was starting to bore me and the plot just wasn't keeping me in it anymore.

Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book!

I loved this book. The atmosphere was everything I wanted it to be. I loved the plot and storyline in the book. I loved the characters in this story. It gave me all the feels I was looking for when I started reading this. I highly recommend this author. I loved the writing. I will be looking for other works in the future from this author.

If I wasn't afraid of the dark before, Seth Adams' 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?' has made me. It was a thrill ride I enjoyed immensely.

An interesting story though hard to understand how a mastermind killer would become so dependant on a child to “save him.” I did very much respect and appreciate the struggle of grief Reggie suffered and how the two bonded over death.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

The cover and the summary really caught my attention.. not to mention the title.
I started the book with high hopes. Unfortunately, it fell short for me.
Somewhere around the middle of the book, it all slowed down and stopped making sense to me.
Too many ... things to question, too many things unrealistic... I can see that this would possibly appeal to a younger audience though.

Finding this a difficult one to rate because I liked the story for the most part. The only thing I can really pinpoint as an issue is that there was some questionable dialogue choices made that threw me on occasion, yet I'm still here giving this only 3 stars.

I think it's mostly because I wasn't necessarily invested in either main character's motivations. Obviously there's another story being told underneath the main events, which is Reggie dealing with his father's death and I thought that was handled fairly well. Outside of that, I wasn't ever really sure what Ivan was doing wasting time teaching a random child his own warped life lessons. By the end of the book, Ivan is dependant on Reggie for other reasons but at the beginning it almost feels clumsy from a supposed master criminal to rely on a young child with his life. It doesn't really affect the story as a whole but again it's just another small thing that stopped me from rating this any higher.

Thanks to Harper Impulse and Killer Reads and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

3 for neutral. Was not able to get into this book, although I tried a few times. Finally decided to review as a neutral and will update if able to enjoy later,

Thought provoking brilliant second novel by this new author.
I struggled to put it down as I was soon hooked.Saying that the ending felt rushed and could have been spread out better but it didn't retract from this superb book

This is a story of a 14 year old boy who rescues and befriends a contract killer. The boy is devastated by the death of his dad and is desperate for a father figure or anyone, really, to help him figure out the world. They’ve both been affected by death and they’re both damaged and both incredibly lonely. And rather unusually, they see something in each other, sort of a kindred spirit that allows them to connect. Reggie meets Ivan in the woods near his home. Ivan has been shot in the stomach and in need of help. Rather than tell his mum or the authorities, Reggie takes him to his tree house and nurses him back to health. As Ivan gets better, they set out for the border. Ivan wants to escape to Mexico. They set out on a rather odd road trip. When they reach the border, all heck breaks loose. Reggie has a decision to make.

This story was pretty good, i was surprised that i enjoyed it as much as i did.

This book was fast paced. Hard to put down. It flowed well and it was very well written. It caught hold of me and had me hooked from the start . I was literally on the edge of my seat reading this book.

This was a great book! It held my attention and I couldn't put it down, kept me awake at night because I just wanted to keep reading! It was an easy to follow along story and contained good easy to follow characters. I highly recommend this to anyone and can't wait to read more by this author. Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this.

What a fantastic read, it had gripped from the first chapter. I became emotionally involved with the story and didn't want to put it down. I will definitely read more by seth

This is a story of a 14 year old boy who rescues and befriends a contract killer. The boy is devastated by the untimely death of his beloved father and thus is somewhat desperate for a father figure or anyone, really, to help him figure out the world. The killer is, as you’d expect, a nihilistic psycho. However, a wounded one and, as such, reliant on boy’s help. And so an unconventional friendship unfolds, but as it progresses and gets increasingly more violent, serious and real, it becomes time to for boy to reassess his priorities and rethink his ideas. So I suppose this is a classic coming of age story, boy meets world, boy decides what kind of man he wants to become and so on. Very straight forward story, somewhat overwritten for what it is, but reads quickly enough. Likeable kid, thoroughly evil adult. Few nuances, but mostly a fairly black and white morality lesson. Overall, thoroughly decent, but nothing spectacular. Given how much the author states Koontz has taught him about writing, this actually came out pretty good. Which may say more for my low, very low, opinion of Koontz’ work, but either way, there’s that. This might have been a very nice novella, streamlined and concentrated. Instead the fight for the kid’s soul as it were is somewhat drawn out. But at any rate, a fairly entertaining read. And you won’t need to sleep with the lights on. Thanks Netgalley.

Let me begin by saying I gave this book a very fair chance and wanted to love it from the beginning.

This is a rather odd story about a fourteen year old boy who befriends a hitman.

The story is entirely unbelievable. While that is not usually a problem for me, this one was a bit much --especially for an adult level fiction novel.

I felt that this book glorified bullying, gun violence, and violence as a whole. The fourteen year old listens to stories of the hitman's past and relishes the stories of children and people being killed for various reasons. The killer also tells the boy that if he is being bullied, then he should stand up to them/scare them into leaving him alone. The killer also encourages Ivan to learn to shoot to feel empowered over his bullies.

I felt that all of the above mentioned sentiments were highly unnecessary and in bad taste. Seriously, with all of the gun violence today, why would an author choose to write this? This book is pretty graphic and if in the wrong hands could inspire someone to "take matters into their own hands" and be the bully.

I did not like this book much to my initial liking to it.