Item: In a Dark Place
Rating: 1
Author: msdravenrahl

Review: In a Dark Place by Ray Garton | Whassamatter with the Snedeker Family?

In a Dark Place by Ray Garton
Series: Ed & Lorraine Warren #4
Published by Graymalkin Media on October 4, 2014 (first published 1992)
Genres: Nonfiction
Pages: 238
Format: Paperback
Where to buy: Affiliate Link

The story of the most terrifying case of demonic possession in the United States. It became the basis for the hit film “The Haunting in Connecticut” starring Virginia Madsen.

Shortly after moving into their new home, the Snedeker family is assaulted by a sinister presence that preys one-by-one on their family. Exhausting all other resources, they call up the world-renowned demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren—who have never encountered a case as frightening as this... No one had warned the Snedekers their new house used to be an old funeral home. Their battle with an inexplicable and savage phenomena had only just begun. What started as a simple “poltergeist” escalated into a full-scale war, an average American family battling the deepest, darkest forces of evil—a war this family could not afford to lose.

Whassamatter with the Snedeker fam? Honestly… I can’t say for sure. My initial thought is addiction and mental illness, because the way this family is written in the book is not a great look. But truly, whassamatter with the author for using words like “whassamatter,” “hummum,” and “whum” and pretending they’re real?

I hate feeling like a Karen in a book review—I really do. I try not to make things personal.
But seriously… whassamatter with all of these people?

This has to be one of the most poorly written books I’ve ever read, rivaled only by the three paragraphs I once attempted from a certain wildly popular book series—you know the one. It spawned a couple of movies, butchered BDSM representation, and romanticized toxic relationships. This book is only marginally better than those three paragraphs.

Yikes.

Anyway, the book is packed with wild claims, profanity thrown in for shock value, and absolutely nothing of real substance. I genuinely started wondering if the entire family was on a very bad LSD trip.

But the accuracy (or lack thereof) behind these sensational claims?
Well, that’s a topic for another day — a day when my brain isn’t recovering from the traumatic brain injury I probably sustained just from reading this book.

CW / TW:

This piece contains graphic references to:
Alcoholism, Sexual Assault, Rape, Death, Incest & Child Molestation, and Profanity,
Recommended Age: 18+

About Ray Garton

Ed and Lorraine Warren both had supernatural experiences growing up in Connecticut. They became high school sweethearts and, on Ed’s seventeenth birthday, he enlisted with the U.S. Navy to serve in World War II. A few months later, his ship sank in the North Atlantic, and he was one of only a few survivors. Soon after, Ed and Lorraine were married and had a daughter. In 1952, Ed and Lorraine formed the New England Society for Psychic Research, the oldest ghost-hunting group in New England. From Amityville to Tokyo, they have been involved with thousands of investigations and church-sanctioned exorcisms all over the world. They have dedicated their lives and extraordinary talents to helping educate others and fight against demonic forces whenever they are called. Ed and Lorraine Warren also wrote Graveyard, Ghost Hunters, The Haunted, In a Dark Place, Werewolf, and Satan’s Harvest.

Ray Garton Jr. (December 2, 1962 – April 21, 2024) was a celebrated American author whose career spanned nearly four decades and close to seventy books. Best known for his influential contributions to horror, he wrote standout novels such as Live Girls, Crucifax, E4 Autumn, The Folks, Shackled, and Trade Secrets, along with an extensive body of short stories and novellas.

Garton also wrote for younger audiences under the name Joseph Locke, contributing novelizations and tie-ins for popular franchises including A Nightmare on Elm Street, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

In 2006, he was honored as a World Horror Convention Grand Master, recognizing his lasting impact on the genre and his influence on generations of horror readers and writers.

Ray spent most of his life in California, where he began writing at a young age and published his first novel in 1984. He passed away in 2024 after a battle with cancer, survived by his wife, Dawn. His legacy lives on through the dark, visceral, and imaginative worlds he created.

Carmen Reed and Al Snedeker, formerly married, were at the center of the Snedeker haunting. Their firsthand experiences provide a personal perspective on the events behind In a Dark Place.

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