Praise

The fact that this is a debut novel is crazy. The writing is exceptional! I’m currently 102 pages in and I don’t want to stop reading (damn you responsibilities).
Dark Bloom is a post-apocalyptic horror with a dash of slow burn romance.
I just love the way the book jumps from present day to the past for both Kate and Nick. It’s so seamlessly done that it gives you a better insight into why they both react the way they do in the situation they are currently in. A lot of the time when this happens it can be quite confusing, but is done perfectly in this book.

What a rollercoaster ride this book is! It will rip your heart out and then shove it back in and patch you up.

“I promise, baby. I’ll shoot you dead.” ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME?!

Had the perfect opportunity line up where I had just started this as an audio arc and I had the chance to grab a category for the Indie Ink Awards as well. I was so excited to get into this one.

You may not know this, but I am a huge zombie fan. Since Shaun of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead (Snyder), I’ve been a fan of both the more comedic and the serious iterations. As a TWD Universe stan, I just finished a rewatch and a full watch through of all the spinoffs. So I was definitely ready to go when it came to picking this up. And while I’ve been a part of the reviewing community since 2020, there does seem to be a bit of a distance between zombies and readers—not necessarily in the sense of looking down on the genre, but there’s definitely a disconnect—especially when it comes to novel form. Luckily, the author grips you with compelling characterizations, making the zombies an obstacle in the story, rather than the whole plot.

Now I will say there was some mild apprehension behind starting. Mostly as I am in the plotting/early writing phase of working on my own zombie thriller and I was worried about infecting (see what I did there) my own plot with things I loved from this one. And honestly, I know for a fact I’m not capable of being this concise. The prose are sharp and everything is to the point without appearing rushed in any way. So not only am I far too longwinded to appear like I’m pulling from this one, the author also went and made their own unique twist on the genre to take them a step further. These creatures, these infected, can laugh maniacally, can scheme, and when they turn without injury, they can remain awfully fast.

The author is certainly playing within the tropes I know and love here, which for me made this a compulsive read. Although I will say, woah! zombie novel where they say zombie!! Each scene end is a chapter, whether short or long, and that made for a continuous “one more chapter” pull to every break away. Kate and Nick find each other through unusual means, in rather unusual times, and that makes them connect all the more immediately. They’ve both got loads of baggage to deal with, making them complex and compelling in a relatable way. While this novel touches on the depravity that humanity would sink to after the world’s ending, this is more about the idea of hope. Both characters have already seen the dark side of man, and unfortunately it came for them before the world turned over. Therefore they’ve come into the apocalypse already doing what it takes to carry on—surviving. They both could have given up, could have stopped, but they didn’t, and you know what, they found each other! A person can be a safe place even when the world is not one.

Huge notes of abuse and mental health issues, as well as their coping mechanisms or lackthere of. This is a story about survival, but be warned it does not shy away from the reality that causes these issues. It’s deep and real and engaging, and it will leave you thinking when it’s done. And even though it’s dark, you’ll want even more.

*Originally reviewed on SFF Insiders Blog

A darkly atmospheric book, brimming with action, violence and gore, which also packs an emotional punch that’ll leave a gaping bloody hole in your chest

There are times in life where you come across a book that’s just so perfect you have to pinch yourself to believe it’s actually real and not just a dream. Dark Bloom is just that. I read it back in October (best book of the month AND a top 10 read of 2024). And yes, I’m only just now reviewing it. I know, shame on me for taking this long to review a book I absolutely devoured, lived and breathed it while immersed. And even though it’s been a couple months since I finished it, this darkly beautiful book of emotional destruction has been living rent free in my mind, and I’m not at all mad about it.

‘A large hunting knife…a macabre violin bow playing one deadly chord to end a horrendous symphony.’

I normally tend to avoid horror, both in books and movies because I’m a chicken and don’t typically like graphic violence outside of war violence (hello grimdark, my loves). That said, I’ve always enjoyed zombie movies, and for whatever reason these are my one exception for horror. But I don’t read/enjoy the concept as books. Only once did I try a zombie book, which was after I had previously enjoyed the movie based on it: Warm Bodies…too much brain munching for my taste. Based on that, I didn’t think I could like them as books, until now.

When we, at SFF Insiders, did the cover reveal for Molly, that cover just reached out and captured my interest. I don’t know what it was about it, but it kept nagging at me whenever I saw it online, telling me I needed to make an exception to my “no horror” rule. So when October rolled around and I wanted some spooky eerie aesthetics in my reading I decided to finally take the plunge. And it was the best reading decision of my life!

This book, guys… *mind imploding still from the aftershocks of reading it*

I will try to articulate the magnitude of perfection that Molly has accomplished in this book, the feat she has reached in making me love a book so damn much it hurts. This book has left a huge gaping hole in my chest that can only be filled with the sequel (Molly, I need it like breath in my lungs D: HELP!)

From my experience of watching zombie films you really only ever focus on the characters surviving in the apocalyptic world, just fighting to stay alive and not get eaten or turned. It’s a very narrow view point, which for a film is fine for the most part. The storyline is always driven by that action, those near misses from groping hands of death and ravenous sagging jawlines. But for a book you want more than that. You want to see actual character development, more plot than just dodging the hungry hoards. Again, I have only read one zombie book and it didn’t quite deliver on that so much, though I will admit reading from a zombie’s perspective was quite unique. But Dark Bloom? It’s everything I needed and so much more.

‘The hardest part was learning to love the only person she was left with. Herself.’

You have these two characters, Kate and Nick, who are completely broken people before the apocalypse, and who are still dealing with those past traumas during said apocalypse. That shit doesn’t just get swept under the rug just because the undead are walking around feasting. These two are entirely multi-dimensional characters, whose pasts we keep getting flashbacks from to help us see why they act and react the way they do in this current dystopian world. We get the expected drama and action of fighting zombies, while simultaneously getting this deeper story of survival, suffering, and the strength to overcome the horrors of their past lives. They learn and grow, first as just traveling companions, each struggling to learn to trust each other just to survive their new broken world. But as the story goes along they learn to lean on each other more, build a tentative relationship that blooms into friendship, full of healing and tenderness.

‘You’ve revived something in me I thought I’d lost.’

What Molly has done is incorporate some of the darkest themes/traumas that humans can perpetrate on each other and plumbed the dark depths of mental health, but she’s handled them with expert care, revealing the scars left behind by these terrible actions and then showing the depths of resolve and strength people can find inside themselves to overcome these horrific experiences. Dark Bloom isn’t for the faint of heart, but the payoff is worth it. These beautiful, fractured characters live and bleed in your heart as you cry right alongside them reliving their memories. You want nothing more than to reach into the book and wrap them up in the strongest, tightest hug, willing your love and strength into them.

‘Nick was in love with the darkness in her eyes because he lived there, too.’

Another point, this book looks deceptively slender, and yet it reads like a much longer book? I mean that in a good way. There is just so much packed into Dark Bloom that it's just shocking to see the smaller page count. Like we get these flashbacks to both of their pasts (which also I normally don’t enjoy flashbacks finding them jarring to read, but in this book they were exceptionally inserted into the story so that they didn’t disrupt the flow at all). Then we also see their present perspectives, as well as them navigating this shattered world of the undead with plenty of action scenes, as well as dealing with other humans they come across. And then that whole bit at the end that was just…much wow O_O You’d really expect it was longer for as much as is packed into this attention grabbing cover! And again, that ending just leaves you begging for more!

‘Though the sound of their breathing was unremarkable, it was a glorious symphony of survival’

Needless to say, my anticipation for the sequel is off the charts. I don’t know what to expect from it other than more darkly bingeable reading and emotional trauma, but I’m so ready for it! Bring it on!

There's no question as to why I've seen so many people rave about Dark Bloom.

Molly's take on the hellscape of an undead dystopian nightmare is a fresh one. I've read a handful of books in similar categories, and it's not easy to find one with the interpersonal complexities of this particular story.

Her ability to make you care for this cast of characters seems natural and from a place of love from the author. By sharing the intimacies of the after-effects of trauma that people would still need to find the energy to navigate in such a scenario, the characters are given depth and development.

The mark of a favourite book for me is one that invokes emotion for me, and this was absolutely it and knowing that there's another installment in the works helps me to sleep at night.

“Righteousness was no more. Virtues were dead.” Until Kate and Nick met each other.

As we follow our two main characters, we are told their story as they are trying to survive in the months following some sort of zombie apocalypse. We also dive deeper into their lives through flashbacks that give us a broader understanding of who they are.

Dark Bloom is a well thought out character study that dives into the lives of two very troubled, very traumatized individuals searching for humanity in a world where surviving at all cost seems to be all that matters.

Dark Bloom asks the question, “Can anyone be trusted when trust has only been met with abuse in the past?” It explores trauma in a painfully deep and relatable way. I love that this is not just some a bleak look at how terrible humanity can be, but we get the good side of humanity that brings hope in uncertain times.

This was my first zombie book to read. Before you read you should expect heavy themes of past trauma, suicidal thoughts, and sexual abuse. It also contains coarse language at times. What I appreciated most was that the author didn’t just write a bloody and scary zombie horror story, though those elements are present. She presented an atmospheric and emotionally charged character study of our two main characters.

DARK BLOOM is a horror story that I would compare, movie-wise, to Stake Land. But it’s also a deep delve into the human condition and the psychological despair and distrust caused by severe abuse and the worry, self-doubt, and redemption that can arise from it, as we’re taken on a journey into the mind of Kate, a woman who relives her pain in a way that is accessible to most any reader. You feel for her. One wants her to find peace in herself and find trust but aren’t sure if it is possible, as horror after horror reinforces her trauma.
I am usually not one for the trope of the hard military man with a soft core, but, even so, Nick ended up speaking to me, as the author gives us deep insight into his psyche, and one yearns for he and Kate to find happiness. Nick is believable, and he is a perfect foil for the depravity one finds that others have succumbed to in a world gripped by anomie. And, yet, one still clearly comprehends Kate’s reticence.
I will fully admit my bias here, as this is the same “genre” I tend to write, but DARK BLOOM, which verges on literary fiction over genre, was hard to put down. While the gory horror plot remains present, it takes a backseat to the psychological horror that pervades the reader’s mind and never lets go. When I review a book, which isn’t often, I apply the same critical eye that I use for my own writing, and, although there are some minor issues that stood out to me as I read, they were quickly swallowed up by the storyline and forgotten. It flows, and even the numerous flashbacks serve to add tension and do not detract from the progression.
DARK BLOOM is an exceptional debut that I recommend, and I look forward to reading the sequel.

Set during the end of the world overrun with the undead, you might think that Dark Bloom is another run of the mill zombie apocalypse novel, but you'd be sorely mistaken to overlook this grim debut by the stellar Molly Macabre.

I have no idea if Molly's surname is brilliantly real or a nom de plume, but either way, it fits her well as the skull stomps the horror genre to announce her arrival.

Macabre would certainly describe Dark Bloom in a nutshell. But we're not in a nutshell here. We're in Molly's World where the grisly and the brutal intermix seamlessly with real moments of levity and humanity set to a soundtrack of chewed flesh and unsettling death cackles. These are grand features of Molly's 2 year journey to bring us Dark Bloom, and the effort shows in her sometimes gracefully poetic prose, and the darkly detailed thrills that will have you racing to turn the page.

As we venture with Kate and Nick, we're given 3 simultaneous stories fluidly told through their present desperation for survival and the blended flashbacks of the traumas that have deeply affected our fractured MCs.

This is a grim world, I say stating the obvious if the catchy title and killer cover didn't paint that picture already, and there's levels to it that Molly has masterfully created into a pulse pounding apocalyptic thriller seasoned with an underlying and believable romantic spice. Like a Michelin chef, Molly has worked very hard to flavor her killer debut into a dish you'll want to devour with the ravenous appetite of the Infected from beginning to end.

Dark Bloom is the debut horror novel by the amazing Molly Macabre. It is an absolute thrill ride from start to finish. It focuses on 2 main characters Kate and Nick. Kate deals with a ton of past mental and physical abuse and Nick has PTSD from his time in the Marines and losing someone close to him. This book will have you cheering for the characters as they work their way through there on problems on one page and have you fearing for their lives on another as zombies and laughing children chase after them. This was my first ever horror novel and let me say I can't wait to see what Molly has instore for us next! Please go pick this book up if you like horror novels because dang it is incredible!