Barbara quinn

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By Anna Lefler 

I very much enjoyed Ms. Quinn's SPEED OF DARK. I found her handling of the story to be engaging and original and her characters came to life for me. On a personal note, I grew up in an area of the country that also had those pesticide trucks rolling through the neighborhood at dusk (hard to imagine in today's times!) so the conjuring of a character from those mists really resonated for me as a reader. Regardless of where you grew up, I can enthusiastically recommend this book!

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By Amazon Customer

I grew up in Italy and never knew about the DDT trucks and other nostalgic items mentioned in this charming fantasy. Love the cover, love the names, and love the story. This is a lot of love for someone who doesn't generally read paranormal. Barbara Quinn is a writer to watch.

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By Janet E Dalton 

Great I couldn't put it down.

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By Susan L. Ogletree

Speed of Dark is a coming of age novel that really sucks the reader into the emotion of it all. We all know about the speed of light...but just maybe there is a speed of dark. Interesting opposites presented in a creative and entertaining way.

 

By teethetrav 

It's the 1960s and a young teenager named Luke moves to a new community with his family. While riding in the fog of a DDT truck, he meets a girl named Celeste who seems to rise up out of the fog to lure him in and turn his world upside down. There is something strange about Celeste. This fantastic girl seems to be able to make strange things happen, and not just to Luke. Between coping with his new home, friends, his odd new girlfriend and his mentally challenged sister, Luke is having quite a summer. Speed of Dark is well written, fast-paced, and a fun, escapist fantasy. I highly recommend it.

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By Avid Reader 

"The Speed of Dark" is an entertaining novel that is one part a coming of age story and one part spiritual thriller. It is a first person narrative told by Luke D'Angelo about his interaction and affection for a mysterious young girl named Celeste. Luke is new to the small town of Faith Junction, and he finds himself in the position of an outsider, struggling to make friends. He is immediately drawn to Celeste, a beautiful young girl, who, despite being a longtime resident of the town, also seems to be an outsider. As Luke queries with the other residents of the town, he finds there is a rather large mystery surrounding Celeste. Her origins are uncertain, and she is rumored to have supernatural powers of an unprecedented scale. Undeterred by the warnings, Luke continues his pursuit of Celeste, and soon finds himself wrapped up in a sequence of events that threaten to destroy everyone he knows and cares about. "The Speed of Dark" is a well-crafted tale that quickly draws in the reader and keeps them entertained until the final word. The supernatural element is the real hook to the story, but I found myself enjoying the natural interactions of the young characters even more. Their is a realism to their behavior that provides an interesting glimpse into the adolescent life of 1964. At one point, Luke chases after a truck spraying DDT just to play in the chemical cloud it is producing. In the author's note, Barbara Quinn writes that this was a common practice in the days of her youth, a fact which I found to be as interesting as it is disturbing.

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At times, "The Speed of Dark" might be a little too honest in its portrayal of things such as adolescent sexuality for the likes of some parents. However, these components of the work are included for authenticity and realism, and are never gratuitous or offensive. Any parent who doesn't think that such activities are going on today, is really just being naive.

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"The Speed of Dark" is an entertaining novel that I think will especially appeal to adolescents and young readers. It has a supernatural element that keeps you guessing until the end, but its real draw is the simple interaction, and realism of its characters.

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