THE SOUND OF THE DARK by Daniel Church – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Sound of the Dark by Daniel Church
Published by Angry Robot on October 28 2025
Genres: Adult, Horror
Pages: 400
Format: Finished paperback
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Daniel Church takes on cosmic horror in this oppressive, dread-inducing tale full of eerie imagery and tension, perfect for horror fans looking for a unique story.

The Sound of the Dark was not what I expected, and I’m happy to say that’s a good thing. Daniel Church has written a dark story about a podcaster who stumbles upon a dangerous set of cassette tapes while researching her latest project, only to find herself with a weird, terrifying infection. Church carefully builds the tension until the last third of the book when all hell breaks loose, and while the first half is a bit slow, I loved the sense of unease that eventually ramps up into a terrifying battle between good and evil.

Cally Darker has a podcast called You Want It Darker, where she explores strange mysteries and unexplained disappearances. When one of her listeners suggests she look into a murder/suicide that took place in 1983, a terrible tragedy involving a derelict RAF base called Warden Fell, Cally jumps at the opportunity. She begins interviewing people connected to Toby Mathias, an artist who was working on an installation themed around Warden Fell, who came home one day and shot his wife and children, and then turned the gun on himself. According to everyone who knew Toby, he was a nice, regular guy who loved his family, and no one can figure out why he snapped.

As her investigating leads to Toby’s various friends and family members, she uncovers the original cassette tapes that Toby recorded. The tapes contain not only Toby’s journalistic-style ramblings, but odd background noises like chanting, old radio broadcasts and strange sound effects. Soon after, Cally begins to dream about monstrous creatures and an old, dark pit, dreams that feel uncomfortably real. And then she meets a man who convinces her that she might be suffering from the same malady that took hold of Toby. Cally is changing, and she will do anything to stop the darkness from taking over her life. Acknowledging the evil is one thing, but confronting it is quite another.

Church excels at creating an atmospheric setting, and the location of the abandoned Warden Fell was extremely creepy. Once Cally listens to the tapes, everyone she comes into contact with seems to start suffering the same symptoms. Whatever is happening to Cally is spreading, and it’s terrifying to think that she—and her friends—might follow the same path that Toby did. I don’t normally care for dream sequences, but this time they worked for me, adding yet another layer of dread to the story.

We meet a large cast of characters, some of them helpful in Cally’s plight, and others who are clearly on the side of evil. Cally meets a constable named Ellen Rooke (who is also a love interest), a woman who finds herself caught up in Cally’s investigation. We also meet Toby’s sister Stella, who, along with Cally and Ellen, plays an important part in the final battle. Then there’s the slimy Rowland Woodwis—and seriously, I just wanted to take a shower after reading his chapters with Cally—who grew up near the Mathias family and was a child in 1983 when the killings occurred. Cally also interviews Rowland’s mother Edna, who leads Cally in some new and interesting directions. My least favorite character was Cally’s friend Griff, although other readers might wonder why I disliked him so much. He’s been in love with Cally for years, although she isn’t interested in him romantically. But no matter how often she reminds him of that fact, he is constantly professing his love for her. I would have slugged him or taken out a restraining order, but Cally continues to simply brush aside his inappropriate comments with a nervous giggle.

Which brings me to a couple of things that didn’t work for me. There is quite a bit of relationship drama that really wasn’t necessary, at least in my opinion. Although the focus is on the mystery of the cassette tapes, the author spends much of the first half of the story fleshing out Cally’s relationships with various people like Ellen and Griff. I would have much preferred more focus on the past, like delving more into Toby’s backstory. I also thought there was a missed opportunity with the whole podcast angle. This would have been the perfect story to insert some epistolary elements, like snippets of the podcast Cally is working on, or even more of Toby’s recordings, which are strangely a very small part of the story.

But when it comes to creating memorable horror elements, Daniel Church is simply brilliant. I don’t want to spoil the details of what this horror entails, but when the specifics of what happened to Toby and his family are revealed, I was floored. I’m a big fan of body horror when it’s done right, and Church’s descriptions made me squirm! The final showdown was very well done, and I loved the way the author ended his story.

Horror fans who love slow-build terror will appreciate Daniel Church’s original story elements, and I’m very glad I had the chance to read The Sound of the Dark.

Big thanks to Angry Robot for providing a review copy and inviting me to join the blog tour.