Dark the Halls
About
Bramwell Finch, once the toast of 1930s Hollywood, is now a desperate man. His empire of lights-camera-action, and the glittering nights of champagne toasts and Laurel Awards slip further from reach. But on Christmas Eve, an invitation arrives, summoning him to a forgotten corner of his own studio lot and to a screening room that should not exist.
What unfolds there is a nightmare.
Reels spin by unseen hands, but they do not flicker out old Hollywood glamor. The departed have waited in the wings far too long. And here in this spectral late-night feature, Finch finds himself imprisoned in a nightmare of his own making. Blood. Betrayals. Dark secrets he thought safe in shadow. Every one of them a sin upon which he built his celluloid kingdom.
The house is full tonight. And every tormented soul demands the price of admission.
Praise for this book
"In Dark the Halls, Timothy Roderick has crafted a richly textured tale of deceit, greed, and betrayal that weaves together the glamorous and the foul, the living and the dead, brittle illusion and harsh reality. No amount of tinsel, no ghost of Christmas past, present, or future can save Bramwell Finch from his own sins. Read on if you dare."
"Timothy Roderick’s haunting book Dark the Halls bridges the gap between old Hollywood and Dickens’s supernatural fable of holiday regret, with a dastardly dash of Citizen Kane thrown in for good measure. But this is not some fond, faint-hearted recasting—with whip-smart dialogue and mordant humor, Roderick paints a vivid picture of early cinematic ambition and sly cruelty. It’s all here: the glitz, the glamour, the goats and the ghosts, but Roderick brings a mad screwball energy to this surefooted, surprisingly terrifying tale. Dark the Halls is for everyone who feels like the holidays need a bit more … blood."
“Dark the Halls casts a spell as eerie as it is unforgettable, pulling readers into the shadows of old Hollywood where ambition, silence, and desire leave indelible scars. The writing is steeped in atmosphere, full of secrets that unravel with mounting dread, and just when you think the story can’t grow darker, a breathtaking twist changes everything. This is Gothic storytelling at its finest—haunting and stylish.”
"Gripping, gritty, and deeply haunting... Roderick takes us on a journey through time in this novel all about the consequences of ambition and silence. In a fantasia-like fever dream of old Hollywood nostalgia, we follow along as one man's secrecy and shame is brought to brutal and sometimes violent light for all to see. Dark The Halls promises readers a deeply moving and intimate portrayal...."
"The tone of the book is modern horror, with that rooted-in-realism feel of some of Stephen King; ...acts of both mundane and supernatural invention occur within an otherwise "normal" world, which to my mind keeps them even more ghastly. Dark the Halls is a brooding story that lets you simmer in the sinister world before letting you unwrap an upbeat ending that feels earned."