Will you suffer for your god?
Bewertet mit 4 Sternen
'Devil's Creek' tells the story of a religious cult and its descendants in the small town of Stauford. Thirty years ago, a Imogene Tremly brought a violent end to the congregation of 'Lord's Church of the Holy Voices', saving six innocent kids from being sacrificed by group leader Jacob Masters. Now, thirty years later, the surviving kids have grown up, but are still haunted by their past. When Imogene dies, her grandson Jack, a now famous artist, returns to Stauford once more, unaware that Jacob Masters is about to return. Reuniting with his siblings, Jack has to face his father, and his greatest hidden but ever-present fears, one more time.
There are a number of things I really loved about this book. The epic complexity of the story, which spans several generations and infests a whole town, reminds me of some great books I used to read in the 80s/90s. Even the approaching door-stopper size seems reminiscent of those glory days of horror I like to remember. And while I am usually not much into religious horror, I appreciated the tangible quality of Jacob Masters' preaching (ugh, that does sound weird somehow). The author painted some very vivid and expressive images of the church's beliefs and their execution, and did so quite literally through Jack's paintings of his nightmarish memories.
Not to forget the characters. I was afraid of loosing track of who was who, but actually that was never the case. From the beginning, it was easy to distinguish each of the six siblings and the other involved residents of Stauford. Finally: the story itself. While the main plot followed familiar paths and was predictable to a certain degree, the details and execution were original and delivered some freshly cut piece of horror, and on a big scale. My visit of Stauford and the Devil's Creek surely was a memorable one.
(thanks to netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of the book, all opinions are my own)