NOT DARK YET, the 4th of Bobby Underwood’s Noir Shot series, is more than a shot. It is a blast of vivid shapes and color that form a brilliant portrait of rural small-town life and those who live it. Underwood describes place like no one else in modern fiction. The flavor and feeling of whatever time and setting he chooses, he enlivens by smoothly drawing in meaningful references to figures and events from the culture associated with the time. Music plays a prominent role in his stories, and rightly so, because there is no life without music for many of us who lean toward the sentimental side of human emotion. He dedicates this story partially to Merle Haggard, who, as Underwood states in the introduction, did enough hard living--like the people represented in this story--that he understood how young persons could lose their way. When Haggard got himself straightened out, he took the knowledge and values he learned, and turned them into songs of truth that resonated with the average Joes and Jills just trying to be good and do good, hoping to improve their own lives along with the ones they love.
But, this is much more than a place and time, but a look at those folks who find themselves on the wrong side of the tracks, yet fight and scrape for a better tomorrow through honest work. It is about love, too. Underwood understands the power of love, and it comes shining through in all of his writing, especially this moving tale.

Not Dark Yet may be his best story, at least for the emotional impact it provides in such a short work. There’s not a wasted word in this masterpiece. As he stated in the introduction, he “...wanted the story to possess a quiet beauty, capturing rural small town life in all its glory, while being truthful about the downside of life lived in a fishbowl.”
This story certainly does that.
He also hoped the characters and atmosphere would resonate with readers. For me, he hit a home run in that regard.
REAL is how I would describe it. I felt like I’d been a part of it. When an author can do that to you, you know it’s something really special. It was of such quality storytelling I lost track of everything going on around me, and just lived in that world he created. ( )