Dark Passages: A Work of Fiction, a Roman A' Clef or, Somehow, Both?

[Bob_the_Bartender]

Hey, gang,

I think that KLS' recent novel, "Dark Passages," is outstanding.  Ms. Scott deftly combines her own experiences as an actress and Playboy Club bunny in New York City in the book, along with a very compelling supernatural storyline.

It was fun to "contrast" the fictional members of the cast of "Dark Passages" with the members of the cast of "Dark Shadows."   Two "Dark Passages" characters, leading man Steve (Burke Devlin?) and Mr. Harrison (Sam Evans?), were very "outgoing" and even ribald individuals on and off camera! 

Ms. Scott also incorporates the Cuban missile crisis and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy into her novel.  (I remember one of my boyhood friend's fathers, a local policeman, clearing out his family home's basement in order to set up a makeshift bomb shelter in the event that Nikita Kruschev did fire missiles at New York City back then.  I thought this was a bit silly, since we only lived about two miles from Times Square!)   

Ian Fletcher/Sebastian Stanhope (Barnabas Collins?) was another terrific character with a European background in the novel.  Mr. Fletcher and Margie Blatch (KLS' "real" name in the novel) also have a budding romance to go along with the supernatural intrigue.

I hope that Ms. Scott intends to write a sequel to "Dark Passages."  Maybe Johnny Depp will even want to portray Ian Fletcher/Sebastian Stanhope in a screen version of ""Dark Passages" in a couple of years!?!

Bob

[Lydia]

I too like Dark Passages quite a lot.  I have it on my Kindle, and it's included there in my "Candy" collection, which has easy, pleasant books for when I want some comfort reading.  I've been thinking about this book lately as the Watching Project does the first Barnabas episodes; in particular I'm thinking of the mention that the cast on the fictional show wasn't overly thrilled when the show went supernatural.  As with so much else in Dark Passages, it seems to me I read that somewhere about Dark Shadows as well.

I liked the scene about the JFK assassination, which comes straight out of the blue - as, of course, is only right.

So far, I know of two alternate names for Barnabas Collins: Sebastian Stanhope in Dark Passages, and Grenville Hawkes in Hawkes Harbor.  Are there any others?

[Annie]

Hi Bob and Lydia  glad  you both enjoyed  KLS  book  .  I'll have to  purchase  a copy to read.
                              Take   Care  Love  Anne   

[arashi]

Thanks for the glowing reviews guys, I hadn't read it yet and they really pushed me to do so.