“Everything his parents had taught him. Every single insane rambling from Martha Lange had been true. This, he thought. This is the First Night. This is Blight Harbor.” – Carlos E. Rivera, Blackout (White Harbor: Book 2) 

“WHAT YOU WHISPER, WHAT YOU HIDE, WHAT YOU FEAR… THE TOWN KNOWS.” Rivera’s Blackout is the second book in his White Harbor series, continuing the story directly from where the first book ended. Thirty years ago, Freddie Parham sacrificed six lives in the Vanek House. Now, as a servant of a local cult leader, he sets out to perform the Ritual of the Four Nights to awaken an entity beneath White Harbor. Meanwhile, a mysterious figure puts Peter Lange and his friends in mortal danger, and they must uncover the key to it all. An inexplicable blackout devours White Harbor as the First Night begins.

Blackout is a testament to Rivera’s aptitude for inventive storytelling, with each chapter designed to captivate and immerse the reader in his story. Despite its substantial length, the novel is quite manageable, not laborious or overwhelming. On the contrary, it’s a wonderfully eerie and engaging read, with each page seamlessly leading to the next. However, it’s not the kind of book you can breeze through in one sitting. And I genuinely believe that is the author’s stance. He joins those writers like King, Rice, and myself (heh!) who love a good thick and juicy tome to sink into, take our time with, and truly invest in the story. While not for everyone, this type of descriptive narrative adds depth to the reading experience, particularly in a gothic horror setting, where it enhances the reader’s relationship with the foreboding, surreal atmosphere of the novel. 

One of the standout features of Rivera’s writing is his skill in crafting “flashback” scenes, something I praised him for in my review of The Local Truth. This narrative technique can be challenging to execute, and I know from experience that it takes some thought and planning. Like its predecessor, this novel moves fluidly back and forth through time periods and the different experiences of multiple characters without creating confusion. I never lost my way in the narrative or felt that past scenarios were unnecessary for understanding a future act or a character’s personality trait. Again, if you’re looking for linear storytelling, the White Harbour books are not that; in my opinion, they are stronger for it. 

Talking more about the novel’s use of flashbacks, the trope of storytelling via two alternating storylines featuring the life stories of children from the past in relationship to adults in the future (or the now) isn’t uncommon, King’s IT being the most famous example. But this isn’t to say that Rivera doesn’t add his own unique stamp of creative individuality to his narrative. He absolutely does!

The author’s depictions of childhood trauma and dysfunctional, if not downright deviant, family dynamics and how this plays out over time into the future lives of certain characters is as captivating as it is deeply uncomfortable to read. But no one said reading horror was painless. Rivera’s ability to write harrowing psychological abuse without coming across as gratuitous or shock for shock value’s sake is masterful. Even the expected violence, which is often graphic, especially his death scenes, is written with the utmost sophistication, a literary dance of death, where atrocity and gruesomeness meet evocative vocabulary and cleverness. Rivera is a writer who values storytelling in horror literature, not just the impact of horror for its own sake. He writes thoughtfully, approaching his work as both the author and potential reader.

I won’t name which characters’ arcs affected me the most because doing so might alter how another reacts to what they read if given a hint of an outcome. Blackout is a novel that people must experience for themselves in the moment. Okay, I will say this: I HATED “The Mother” in the first novel (in the way you love to hate a genuinely evil, vile villain), and I abhor her even more here! LOL! I can’t say enough about Rivera’s characterizations and their authenticity, never stiff or forced caricatures of literary horror archetypes.

Rivera, a queer/gay author, provides LGBTQ content, though not always in an easily palatable manner, which, considering the landscape of the narrative, is not unsurprising. There are touching moments, but the use of slang and slurs in some places may trigger some readers. I admit, there are certain words I’d be happy never to hear or see again, but authenticity is the name of the game here. Rivera is quite possibly using his own experiences as well as his general familiarity with LGBTQ situations common to many of us queer readers in his storytelling. And let’s face it, as this is horror, discomfort comes with the territory in all its forms. We take the good with the “What the BLEEP did he just say?!” 

Blackout is a brilliant novel of terror and suspense, tension and despair, and, yes, a modicum of hope. It’s absolutely filled with unexpected twists and turns, though that aspect I’ve come to expect from Rivera’s writing. Amid a nightmarish landscape, this novel vividly illustrates the awful collapse of trust and friendships, the profound consequences of surviving into adulthood in a place like White Harbor, and the cost of decisions both children and adults make. Good vs evil? Like the entire White Harbor series, Blackout is much broader than what that simplistic notion could ever convey. A MUST READ!

Blackout: White Harbor: Book 2 is available for purchase online at amazon.ca, amazon.com, indigo.ca, and barnesandnoble.com. For more information about this author, follow Carlos E. Rivera on Instagram and Facebook. Also, check out his TikTok and website!

[Feature Image Property of Carlos E. Rivera/Slashic Horror Press]