I liked this story but I didn't love it. The dark, macabre descriptions were interesting until they became repetitive. It was the same visions, the same emotions. I didn't much like the main character either. Aside from those two things, the plot was intriguing and kept my interest to the very end.

This book does not let up. Karina’s inner turmoil, which is a daily battle for her anyway, to the trauma and loss that snowballs until it consumes every moment, waking and non.

What I love about this story is how conscious and real it is despite its supernatural elements. I would argue though, that those supernatural elements make it even more relatable. When tragedy strikes, we want to look to a higher power, an outside force to blame for our misfortune. Our minds are an incredible machine that can conjure something from nothing. Lagoe captures that in this story while navigating those real, very debilitating feelings of grief, loss, and depression.

While this book was far from perfect, it wormed its way into my brain in that sick and wonderful way that only horror can.

This was a difficult little book to get through, but that's not a bad thing. There is a primary focus on handling grief as well as the weight of struggling with intrusive thoughts. There is a level of paranoia and superstition, compulsions, that come with the sort of thoughts that Karina struggles with that are very real for people managing life with mental illness. Reading about that sort of thing got more than a little upsetting at times, but because I could relate.

At first I had a hard time gelling with the story. The third-person POV felt like it was meant to be written as first-person but was changed at the last second, and I wasn't sure where the story itself was going. However, I then saw someone else compare it to <i>Final Destination</i> and things clicked in a far more enjoyable way.

I feel the point of the story is how destructive it is to hide and bottle feelings inside as well as making the very clear statement that just because someone has intrusive thoughts, it does <b><i>not</i></b> mean that they are a bad person.

As I said, this book isn't perfect, but it has heart and a vulnerability that I have a great respect for.

A novella that delves deep into darkness and explores the
depths of the human mind that blurs
the lines between reality and imagination.
The main character Karina's
struggle with her dark thoughts and the
mysterious black blob taking the shape of her
departed loved ones sounds hauntingly
captivating. Are these events all happening
or is Karina is spiraling into her hallucinations? And the
way
The ending has me even more curious. It takes a dark
turn, allowing Karina to live out some desires into a
macabre twist.

This is a little book that tells a huge story about grief.

I don’t suffer from depression, but my God if I did? This book may have pushed me too far. It definitely pushed me to a depth that I’m not accustomed to.

The book is very well written and I found that I cared so much about our Main Character. And lest my talk of grief and sorrow hint otherwise, this is still one harrowing horror story.

While this is my first book from the author, I will absolutely read them again.

ARC via Publisher

This was VERY dark! I loved how gory it was, some of the descriptions here were absolutely horrifying and disgusting -- especially the end, wow! The main character's grief is so well described, anyone who has dealt with a big loss will be able to relate to Karina's difficulties after so many people around her die. There are moments where the reader can't be sure if things are really happening to her, or if she's imagining it due to her mind breaking down from stress and pain, and I loved that sort of unsettled vibe to this. I also especially loved the setting -- a lot of the story takes place in or around the Blue Ridge Mountains, which I've driven through multiple times and could so perfectly imagine the twisty roads and steep cliffs.

Super fast paced, I read this in one single sitting and barely looked up from the screen. Each new encounter Karina faced was more disturbing than the last, and I couldn't pull myself away from finding out how her story would end. Emotionally raw and filled with A LOT of blood, this was a great little novella!

WOW. I read In Excess of Dark...in the dark, and it was a little terrifying actually. This is a short book that explores how dark thoughts can consume you and how that darkness can follow you around no matter what you do to try to escape it. It explores depression and grief and what can happen when we succumb to our demons. The end got weird and I was here for that weirdness. What a great combo of women vs the void and horror. Full review to come on pub day.

Darkness has many names.
A deep dive into a woman's mind, her childhood traumas, situations in the present and how certain situations take us out of our comfort zone one fine day.

A very big thank you to NetGalley and DarkLit Press for the eARC!

Grief horror is a monster in and of itself, an entity that is unafraid to examine the greatest moments of human desperation following the loss of someone or something we hold dear. Our dark curiosities seem to flourish when reading a story set in this genre, something Red Lagoe does with In Excess of Dark, plunging head first into the darkest depths of despair. Not only does she explore the trauma of loss, but also the dangers of holding yourself prisoner.

We meet Karina, a woman who tends to have that “glass half empty” kind of outlook on the world. She often imagines the worst-case scenario for mundane things, something that’s oddly kind of relatable, especially given the current state of our world. However, when the things she imagines begin to come true, Karina must navigate this new reality and understand just why this is happening. Karina’s state is compounded by unimaginable conditions causing the darkness inside to overflow and possibly seep into the lines of reality.

What Lagoe creates with this story is something truly special; we’re often told, “You can’t keep everything bottled up,” in terms of our deepest emotions. Yet, when these err on the darker side of nature, there’s a general reluctance, a taboo nature to these thoughts and feelings that keep people away. In Excess of Dark confronts this issue by answering the question of what happens when you do keep these things to yourself. And the answer is one of monstrous proportions. Lagos expertly captures the vastness of Karina’s desperation and her desire to return to the “normal” she once knew at any cost. The explanation behind her ideations coming to life is brilliant in and of itself. The need for creative outlets, expression, and freedom as it pertains to identity is stressed highly by Karina’s tale, one that ends on a melancholy, darker note.

Unafraid to relish in the dark, Red Lagoe’s novella, In Excess of Dark, stares headlong into the abyss of grief, depression, and loss. This story is not one for the lighthearted, and I highly recommend it with the suggestion to check trigger warnings. In addition to its superb creativity, this story features instances of gnarly body horror, moments of tightly written suspense, and a greater feeling of existential dread. Under Lagoe’s hand, darkness has never been written this sharply.

I absolutely LOVED this book. This entailed all things horror and I loved everything about it. The author wrote about Hampton Roads, Windsor, and I live in Hampton Roads in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I’m now wondering if the author lives here as well. AMAZING BOOK! I will have to read other book from the author!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for allowing me to read this amazing book! I was not paid for this review and it is my honest review. I will definitely recommend this to my horror fans!

The writing? Solid. The premise? Good. It seems like I'm in the minority, but I couldn't get into it or really care enough to stick with it past the halfway mark. There was nothing bad about it per se, just middle of the road for me personally so your mileage may vary.

“Grief is a monster. A real-world monster that ravages the body and mind and spirit.”

You know how you can never truly know what another person is thinking? It turns out that’s not entirely accurate. Karina’s deepest, darkest imaginings have the uncanny ability to come true.

She’s always had this ability, although it used to be much easier to put this down to correlation rather than causation. Recent events have changed that somewhat. It’s pretty safe to say you might want to stay on Karina’s good side now or you may no longer have a good side.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t want this to happen. I know … somehow … you did this.”

Grief can distort the way you see things but in Karina’s case, her desperate need to be with her loved ones will have her coming face to face with the darkness.

This book doesn’t shy away from the depths of despair that threaten to overwhelm you when you’re grieving. Looking straight into the rawness of the pain and the guilt that can accompany it, this is at times an uncomfortable read but that’s how you know it’s done its job.

I would have liked some of the characters to be more fleshed out (maybe literally). I wish I could have met Karina’s father and spent more time exploring her relationship with her husband and son.

Things get fairly splatty, much to my delight. While I absolutely loved the body horror, I was hoping for a larger body count. That says more about me than the book, though. Unless we’re in a slasher where the blood is practically dripping off the pages, I’m going to be wanting more insides to become outsides.

I finished this read in one sitting. I wish it had been longer, not because it was lacking but because I wanted to spend more time in the darkness with Karina. I’m keen to read more books by this author.

“Think positive thoughts.”

Content warnings include death by suicide, mental health and suicidal ideation.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and DarkLit Press for the opportunity to read this novella. I’m rounding up from 4.5 stars.

"In Excess of Dark" is most definitely that - dark and bleak and black. Black as Hades, black as death, black as the dark and morbid thoughts of wife and mother Karina, who seems to be losing her mind in this horror novella. Karina suffers a tragic accident that leaves her reeling, a tragedy for which she struggles to find any sense of closure.

At the same time, Karina starts seeing things in her distraught state of mind, and she begins to believe that she can cause violent events to occur if she fantasizes about them. Is Karina slowly descending into madness, or is there something supernatural happening?

For a novella, there are metric butt loads of graphic violence, body horror, death, dying and suicidal ideation. This story is most definitely not for the faint of heart. As a mother myself, there were a few parts where I cringed and felt very uncomfortable.

Did I enjoy this read? Most definitely! Would I read another book by this author? Hell, yes!

Just be prepared for a very heavy ride!

This book definitely had me creeped out a few times. I've always enjoyed stories where dreams come true and/or people are influencing events in their minds. In this case, our protagonist is dreaming bad things to life and doesn't realize it at first. Things get really bad before she tries to do something about it.
Even though it's short, I felt like I knew her well enough to care about what happened.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this

𝑾𝒉𝒚, 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅, 𝒅𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒄𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆?

IN EXCESS OF DARK is an exceptional example of grief horror tinged with the paranormal. As someone who has suffered from intrusive thoughts all my life, this story was a gut punch!

No one believes Karina when she insists her daydreams become reality and that she controls the narrative. It does sound completely outlandish; after all, no one imagines their annoying neighbor getting hit by a bus and then it actually happens. But in Karina's world, events like this are the norm.

When she suffers an unimaginable loss, she has difficulty coping. All she can think of is bringing back what she's lost. If only she had heard Dean Winchester of Supernatural say, "𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝," she would have given her plan a little more thought. But grief doesn't understand reason. It just knows pain. So in her pain, Karina brings something back, but are they the same?

I was glued to the pages and couldn't get to the ending fast enough. I do wish there was a little more exploration into the dynamic with Karina's parents because both of them had important character traits that would easily make Karina a little more three-dimensional, but other than that, I have zero complaints. Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Lit Press for the early read. This title will publish March 15, 2024.

Karina is filled with dark thoughts and grief. She begins to believe the darkness inside is coming out. Is it? Heartbreaking pulse pounding read. Full of amazing characters you feel for.

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about this story. It is painful to read. We are thrust into the madness and fury spawned from the grief and regrets of a mother and wife who lost her husband and child, and who blames herself for that loss. It is relatable and it hurts.
I understand what the author was trying to say. Everyone has darkness inside them, and they need to have an outlet for that darkness. If it is bottled up too long, it can hurt you and those you love. Religion, family expectations, and societal norms can repress those feelings and thoughts, leading to self harm, suicidal ideation, and lashing out at others.
However, I found myself really disliking the main character. I also felt that the supporting characters were not defined enough to be understood. So I was not able to connect with anyone in the story. I could understand what the author was doing, but none of it really inspired my empathy. The subject matter was painful as hell, but I remained untouched by it. Overall, I found the story interesting, and i would like to read more by this author, and I think that this story will have the desired effect on other readers.

In Excess of Dark is a dark and disturbing novella that explores loss and grief as the main character struggles with whether her own imagination causes horrible things to happen to the ones she loves.

This very much gives off The Babadook vibes when it comes to manifestation of grief and I liked the way the author portrayed depression and loss within the genre of horror. It’s morbid and disturbing and a perfect read for anyone who wants a horror novella centred on grief!

While I absolutely devoured this in no time and was completely hooked from the beginning, the writing sometimes felt very juvenile to me. I’m not sure if that was on purpose specifically with the main character and her relationship with her mum, but it did make it feel like a rather dark YA horror which I’m not sure was the intention? Either way, it was still really good and I enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Dark Lit Press for this ARC.

When I read the description of this book I was so excited and was expecting great things. Unfortunately I didn’t love this book. It was fine, but it wasn’t great. It took a while for me to actually get into the book and even then it took me a while to work through it despite how short it was.

Great, dark if slightly bizarre in some parts, sad story. Grief cannot be explained and everyone deals with it differently. This is an awesome story perfectly explaining some strange behaviours while dealing with grief.