Michael Laimo. Deep in the Darkness. New York: Leisure Books, 2004. 369 pages. Paperback. $6.99.

For me, horror writing falls into two types" ?one type features strong, bone-chilling suspense that could have its foundation in reality (if we imagine hard enough); the other type features the same spine-tingling suspense, but the premise is so far-fetched that I have difficulty taking the story seriously. Examples of the first, for me, are King and Straub, ghost and vampire horror (and its ilk), and dark suspense. Even Lovecraft, much criticized for his ambitious prose and poor dialogue, imagines a world where things not too far from us come too near.

Of the latter type, sadly, is Michael Laimo's effort, Deep in the Darkness. Dr. Michael Cayle moves his family to a quiet New England town (Ashborough) to get out of the hectic pace of the city. The town's previous doctor was mauled by "dogs,"? and Dr. Cayle moves in to take over as the new town physician. On his first day of work (no less!) he visits his neighbour and is set up by him to check in on his wife, who also appears to have been mauled by "dogs"? (yet survived), even though she is described as having cancer.

Things digress from there. Cayle's neighbour, Phillip Deighton, takes him on a trip into the woods, leading him back to a mysterious area of stones surrounded by a circle of oaks. The center stone appears to be an altar, and Deighton spins a tale of ancient evil that is living in the woods. From this point on, the story revolves around that evil's contact with Cayle as it requires his aid to keep its program going. Should Cayle decide not to help, he has an abundance of evidence from other townspeople about what happens when you defy this evil.

Of course, the tension escalates and the plot twists with the involvement of someone very close to the Cayle family. As Cayle ponders the origin of the ancient evil in the woods the connections he makes are too easily come by; they seem forced. And when the end comes, it is resolved too cleanly, with a disappearance that, although foretold in the prologue, doesn't make much sense in the logic of the story, other than to leave us with a tortured hero at the end, considering the unthinkable.

The suspense is top notch and the writing very good (though verbose at times). But the story falls short with the explanation of what is actually in the woods, what happens after that, and the too-neat tie-up of loose ends. That stated, if you are in the mood for a good read that will keep you turning the pages and perhaps (in places) keep you up at night, this one is affordably priced enough that it will not bother you if you are as unsatisfied with the implausible premise as I was.