Publication Date: October 28, 2025
From the author of the internationally acclaimed bestseller HEX comes a modern twist on the Faustian tale about a gilded street in a Pacific Northwest town where the charmed residents have made a frightening deal . . . resulting in devastating consequences.
Sometimes you think you can see things behind the fence. Bad things. So it’s better not to look . . .
In Lock Haven, a quiet little town in Washington State, Bird Street is a special place. The residents of this pretty cul-de-sac on the edge of the woods are all successful, healthy, and happy. Their children are prodigies; well-mannered and… unnaturally smart.
But come November, the “Darker Days” descend, bringing accidents, bad luck, conflict, and illness. Luana and Ralph Lewis-da Silva prepare for this, and so do their children Kaila and Django. It is in November when a stranger appears to collect on a longstanding debt. A price must be paid for the good fortune they enjoy the rest of the year. A sacrifice must be made.
So it has been for over a century. To assuage their guilt, the residents of Bird Street choose carefully who will be sent into the woods. Usually, it is an elderly or terminally ill individual who wishes to die with dignity and is content to be helped on their way.
But this year, things don’t go to plan, and events take a terrifying turn . . .
Darker Days is a propulsive, haunting novel that begs the questions: “How far will we go for our own happiness and what sacrifices are we willing to make?”
The residents of Bird Street share a secret that upends their lives every year in November. This year, though, is different.
Author Thomas Olde Heuvelt serves up a horrifying tale in Darker Days. Set in a small Washington town near the Snoqualmie National Forest, the theme centers around a bargain made with terrifying consequences.
Four families enjoy prosperity and success, with the children all excelling in some way. However, during November, they experience the bad things in life as they pay the required price. Someone must be sent into the woods, never to return.
Organized into chapters featuring specific characters, the story highlights a neighborhood that suffers the consequences of a terrifying bargain gone wrong.
Darker Days delivers a chilling tale of families sentencing people to death as a way to keep their prosperity.
Thomas Olde Heuvelt is an international bestselling author from The Netherlands and the first translated author to win a Hugo Award. His novels include the acclaimed HEX, Echo, and Oracle, and are published in over twenty-five countries around the world. TV rights to Darker Days have already been sold to a major US studio. Olde Heuvelt, whose last name means “Old Hill” in Dutch dialect, is also an avid guitar player and mountaineer. He lives in the south of France with his partner and pet lizard.
