Something is listening to the prayers of St. Paul’s United Church, but it’s not the god they asked for; it’s something much, much older.A quiet Sunday service turns into a living hell when this ancient entity descends upon the house of worship and claims the congregation for its own. The terrified churchgoers must now prove their loyalty to their new god by giving it one of their children or in … children or in two days time it will return and destroy them all.
As fear rips the congregation apart, it becomes clear that if they’re to survive this untold horror, the faithful must become the faithless and enter into a battle against God itself. But as time runs out, they discover that true monsters come not from heaven or hell…
…they come from within.
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First, big thanks to Hellbound Books for sending this my way. This is a publisher that likes to release pretty horrific releases and I can’t thank them enough for contacting me.
Stewart wastes no time in throwing us into the woods. Something stirs and comes forth. Something the townspeople have no idea is heading towards their town, ready to wreak havoc.
Stewart bounces back and forth between this God, this entity and the people of the town, which gives us a fun POV shift as things go full Pete Tong.
I loved how visceral Stewart makes this story. As the Behemoth begins to kill without care, Stewart ensures there are no boundaries for the victims and the story is elevated because of this.
I found a few spots that I didn’t connect with, but that happens and was more on me than the writing or story.
I do love when dark subject matter is taken to dark places and Stewart was never afraid to go there, and here he firmly planted his flag in that territory and decided to stake claim to more and more ground.
The townsfolk all felt real and believable which was a bonus. One thing I found though, was much like when I read George RR Martin, as people begin to be killed off at an increasing rate, I detached from any caring, not sure if any of them would survive to the end.
Overall, I had a fun time but felt a bit let down with my own experience here, not connecting as much as I thought it would. It may be theme burn out, as I’ve read a number of similarly themed books this year and even released a religious cult story myself. While this may be why for me, it certainly may well be the exact reason you should read this.
A fun, gory, romp through a small town –can’t go wrong there.
The Sunday service of St. Paul’s United Church is besieged by a dark being from the woods claiming to be their new God…
The story handles a big cast of characters, spending time with each and their inner thoughts and opinions towards one another. They are full of petty squabbles and gossip, before they are set upon by a man, thought missing, now proclaiming to bring them before a new God. His unexpected return causes everything underneath to spill over.
Dealing with issues of domestic abuse, fitting in with a community, and musings about the true nature of God and religion, the characters are excellently done and are like real people, a mix of good and bad and filled with often conflicting and hypocritical thoughts. No tired archetypes and filler characters that only exist to advance the plot here.
There’s quite a bit of world-building here, but it’s paced perfectly and happens while the plot also advances, so you’re not bogged down by info and waiting for things to happen. When the horror starts you see and feel the character’s lives being torn apart.
That horror being absolutely gruesome and brutal. The author almost lovingly deploys a straight razor again and again horribly mutilating victims. The being is capable of things right out of a body horror movie, so steel your stomach. Extreme acts of violence are commonplace here, and you can believe the characters would fall before this thing as their new God to attempt to save themselves from it.
I wasn’t expecting a book that’s three hundred and fifty-eight pages long and filled with a lot of character point of views to read so fast, but it did. It never gets too bogged down and keeps the tension by giving the characters two days to choose a child to sacrifice, a choice that destroys their relationships and pits them against each other.
Extremely well-written, full of horror and well-developed characters. I loved the pondering about religion and God and people coming to terms with an ugly, brutal existence. Worth the read.