First the birds disappeared.
Then the insects took over.
Then the madness began . . .

They call it Wanderer’s Folly–a disease of delusions, of daydreams and nightmares. A plague threatening to wipe out the human race.

After two years of creeping decay, David Arlen woke up one morning thinking that the worst was over. By midnight, he’s bleeding and terrified, his wife is dead, and he’s on the run in a stolen car with his eight-year-old daughter, who may be the key to a cure.

Ellie is a special girl. Deep. Insightful. And she knows David is lying to her. Lying about her mother. Lying about what they’re running from. And lying about what he sees when he takes his eyes off the road . . .Goodreads.com

I’m a fan of apocalyptic novels, and that probably started with Stephen King’s The Stand, so the book description and the fact that it’s labeled as horror – along with the fantastic cover – made me want to read this novel.  And it didn’t disappoint.

As a parent, I could identify with David’s need and overpowering urgency to protect his daughter and attempts to shelter her from the horrors around them; however, David is definitely not a person I’d like to be on the run with.  He makes so many mistakes with regards to their whereabouts and wastes money on such frivolous things, that I was cringing and shaking my head in several spots.  Ellie is intuitive, mature, and wise beyond her years and makes several thought-provoking points regarding humanity and responsibility.

I liked the way the author gradually reveals the backstory, alternating between past and present in several chapters.  There are many macabre visuals – people wearing Halloween and paper plate masks, the hallucinations and physical symptoms the infected people experience.  And some of the characters – the ice cream man and that weird backroads family in Kentucky – make for some morbidly suspenseful scenes.

Personally, I would have liked to learn more about Ellie, but with the ending, I have to wonder if the author is considering a sequel.  If so, I’d love to read it.

The Night Parade isn’t a gory-type of horror novel – it’s a story with a dark tone that inspires feelings of hopelessness and anxiety in the reader and I found it difficult to put it down.  This book is scheduled for publication July 26, 2016.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.