Reviews: Born to the Dead (The Daoloth Trilogy Book 2) by Ramsey Campbell

 

Thirty years after the events in The Searching Dead, forty-year-old Dominic Sheldrake has long put the days of his childhood investigation of Christian Noble and his practice of spiritualism behind him. Now a husband and father, as well as a university film professor, Dominic is worried about his son Toby’s nocturnal seizure disorder and finding a treatment that will cure him. When Dominic’s wife Lesley learns of the Safe to Sleep program from a pediatrician that will cure Toby of his seizures, they are elated.

Almost immediately after sending Toby to Safe to Sleep, Dominic overhears him and another child playing strange games and learns that Toby has been telling outlandish stories in school. Stories that Toby has learned by reading Dominic’s old copies of Christian Noble’s journals. Toby begins to tell his parents about dreams of traveling the universe and drawing pictures that remind Dominic of Christian Noble’s sermons from his church. Trying to learn more about the Safe to Sleep program’s mysterious origins and the widespread seizure disorder affecting numerous children in the area, Dominic begins to wonder what became of Christian Noble and his precocious daughter Tina. With the help of his old friends Jim and Roberta, Dominic seeks answers to not only the motives of the Nobles, but also to save his family.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to read the first book in The Daoloth Trilogy, The Searching Dead thanks to Flame Tree Press. I wasn’t initially sold on the first book, but Ramsey won me over with his world-building and fleshed-out characters. I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book since I finished the first in March, and I wasn’t disappointed. If it at possible, I think I enjoyed Born to the Dark more than The Searching Dead. Just as in the first book, Ramsey nailed the character development. Grown-up Dominic was just as compelling as he was a kid. I loved seeing the nods to his past in his relationship with his father and seeing his friends Roberta and Jim again. Yes, The Tremendous Three are still friends! Most of all, I loved the character of Toby, Dominic’s young son. I cannot wait to see what happens in book 3 when I get it.

 

4/5 Stars

Thank you to #NetGalley and #FlameTreeBooks for providing me with the eARCs to both this novel and its predecessor in exchange for my honest reviews. All thoughts and opinions are my own.