The Dark that Doesn’t Sleep
The Dark That Doesn’t Sleep is a taut, psychological military and spy thriller set in 1967. Jack Miller, a psychoanalyst with a New York practice, vets applicants for the CIA along with other professional work. He is called to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington to interview the sole survivor of a fire at an abandoned top-secret underground military base in Greenland. A seven-day arctic storm trapped the last three servicemen at the base. Two are dead, and the badly injured survivor, Connor, says he can’t remember anything. Professional instinct tells Jack that Connor is lying, withholding what he knows, although he doesn’t know why. Gradually a story emerges which, upon further investigation, doesn’t add up. What follows is a web of lies, cover-ups, and psychological mind games which almost cost Jack his life. To find the truth, will he be forced to go to the abandoned facility before the lethal ice caves in upon itself?
Rather than switching viewpoints, the author follows Jack during the whole investigation, giving the reader both a compelling and unbroken chain of evidence, and the intimate process of Jack’s logic. The plot is complex, twisting and turning back upon itself as conflicting details emerge. Although most of the action takes place in Washington, the far-edge-of-the-world location of the base, the lethally frigid conditions, and “The fear that comes over you. The gradual inability to distinguish your dreams and nightmares from reality” invade the reader’s thoughts constantly. The Inuit have a saying for it―’the dark that doesn’t sleep’. The novel sinks its teeth in on page one and doesn’t let go. Reading in one sitting will dramatically increase the emotional impact. This is Mockler’s U.S. adult debut―a talented author to watch. One of the best historical thrillers I have read.
