Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Inside Darkness 
AUTHOR: Hudson Lin
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 269 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2018
BLURB:
He’s come in from the field, but the darkness has followed him home.
After a decade as an aid worker, Cameron Donnelly returns home jaded, tired, and with more than just a minor case of PTSD. Plagued by recurring nightmares but refusing to admit he has a problem, Cam quickly spirals into an alcohol-infused depression, and everyone around him is at a loss for how to help.
Journalist Tyler Ang met Cam on a reporting assignment in Kenya, and their first encounters were rife with hostility and sexual tension. Back in New York, their paths continually cross, and each time, Cam’s brokenness reminds Ty more and more of his own difficult childhood. Letting Cam in goes against Ty’s instinct to live life autonomously, but the damaged aid worker manages to sneak past his guard.
Their relationship is all sharp corners and rough edges, and just as they’re figuring out how to fit together, a life-threatening accident puts it all in jeopardy. If they want a future together, both will have to set aside their egos and learn to carry each other’s burdens.
REVIEW:
I’m not a smoker, but damn, this book makes me want to light up—and not just because one of the main characters has a pretty steep nicotine addiction. This is one hell of a depressing book. Darkness, as stated in the title, is a very present theme—in fact, the word comes up on just about every page. I don’t mind grim storytelling, but even after a gritty story and some steamy love scenes, all I got out of this particular tale was gloom.
When harrowed aid worker Cam meets preppy journalist Ty for the first time, he’s battling some pretty heavy demons, and he finds comfort in the cute, optimistic new guy who awakens all those long-repressed feelings inside of him. It seems like a fairly dramatic but plausible romantic set-up. Unfortunately, everything after that makes it seem like Cam and Ty don’t even like each other! They get together and have hot sex (and it’s very well-written), but they end up screaming, arguing, and insulting each other. They don’t flirt, play, joke, or tease. They don’t seem to share their interests or goals. And the main issue is with Cam.
I strongly disliked Cam as a character. Sometimes, disliking a character is okay—just because I don’t like them doesn’t mean I have to dislike reading about them or their story. But in this case, Cam just sucked any energy, sense of humor, or passion out of every page. His relationship with Ty is completely unbalanced—Ty gives, and Cam takes. Cam is violent, unstable, rude, and cagey, and Ty just sort of learns to live with it. Cam is never shown any consequences for his actions or told that he cannot hurt people just because he is hurting. He’s allowed to be pretty much an asshole from start to finish. And I must say—Cam seems to have the most useless therapist in the world, because she pretty much just enables him at every turn.
All of this just makes me feel bad for Ty, because Ty is a pretty decent character. He’s lived a difficult and often lonely life, so a journalism career that allows him to meet new people and see new places is just what he desires. And I understand why he was drawn to Cam—Cam is intense, raw, and intelligent despite his many flaws. But the conclusion to their relationship feels much more suited to the halfway point of their story.
By the end of the book, we’re led to believe Cam and Ty get their HEA…but neither of them seem happy in the slightest. I can’t recommend the book on these grounds alone, but if you’re a real glutton for punishment and love to read about banged-up boys making each other really sad and angry, this one might be for you. Hudson Lin is a very capable author who paints a vivid picture, but this one just doesn’t knock it out the park for me.
RATING: 
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