Fade to Black(Awake in the Dark Book 1) by Tim McBain and LT Vargus

Description from Goodreads:

"Live. Die. Repeat.

Dying violent deaths over and over again totally blows. Loner Jeff Grobnagger has learned this the hard way. Every time he has a seizure, he dreams that a hooded man strangles and kills him. He runs. He fights. He hides. No matter what he does, his efforts end in a pretty bad case of death.

But when someone tries to kill him in real life, he realizes that what happens with the hooded man isn't just a dream.

"Dude, please stop trying to kill me."

Who is the hooded man? And who tried to kill Grobnagger in real life? His quest for answers leads to a missing girl, cults obsessed with astral projection, an arcane puzzle sphere, an evil book, a private detective named Louise and a mustached man named Glenn that makes 'the best martini you've ever tasted.'

Yep. If it weren't for all of the horrific deaths, Jeff Grobnagger would be having the time of his life."

**************************************************

I really don't like writing bad reviews but I think honesty is the best policy and this book was not for me. I didn't connect with the characters at all and I just couldn't get into the story. It started off really well but went downhill soon after and I quickly became annoyed with the characters, particularly Jeff whom I found irritating. Jeff is supposed to be 27 but, to me, he comes across as a teenager - either that or he's just quite immature for his age.

As I have said, the story starts off well but then goes nowhere apart from all over the place and then stops with no conclusion.  I hate it when that happens.  Yes, I know it's book 1 in a series but, even so, I expect some insight which will make me buy the next book not just an ending which forces you to buy the other books just to get the rest of the story.  I would rather just read one large book than 3 smaller ones.

I can imagine this might appeal to teenagers/young adults but me, a slightly more mature lady (!), not so much but it has received quite a few 4 and 5 star reviews so what do I know? Give it a go and judge for yourself, you've nothing to lose at it's free on Amazon, I may well have missed something that is totally obvious to others.

Although I was directed by one of the authors to Amazon to download a free sample of 3 books in the series, I did actually have a full copy of this 1st book on my Kindle and so I didn't bother downloading the free sample and, given how I felt about this, I don't think I will be reading the other 2.