4 out of 4 stars
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Raven’s Peak by Lincoln Cole grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go from the beginning until the very end. As the book opens we are introduced to The Reverend and are immediately plunged into a world of madness, fear, and an intense and desperate fight of good versus evil where the lines sometimes blur and it is no longer always easy to tell the difference between the two.
Straight from The Reverend’s fight with pure evil we are dropped into the life of Haatim, a grief-stricken man from India who is hiding from his old life, his parents, and the God who has failed him. What do you do when your entire life has revolved around religion and now that life feels meaningless and empty? Well, you unknowingly take a job from a demon to spy on a demon hunter of course.
Abigail, the demon hunter, ends up rescuing Haatim from death at the hands of these demons and events conspire to keep them together as she investigates mysterious and possibly demonic happenings in the distant town of Raven’s Peak. Haatim and Abigail both have secrets, and they need to learn to trust and lean on each other if they are to have any hope of surviving the battle they will face in Raven’s Peak.
I couldn’t put this book down; it was just that good. It was so well paced. There were absolutely no moments where I wished the author would just get on with it. Horror is not my usual kind of read but this book is not just a book that is designed to scare you, although it can certainly do that, but it also makes you think deeply about relationships, religion, and the nature of evil.
This book is not just action candy. It is also beautifully written. There are times where you can almost smell the fear in the air as you read, but that is nicely balanced with just enough lighter moments that it doesn’t become oppressive. Cole draws you into a world where demons exist and a special society also exists particularly to save the world from the ravages of demonic activity. The author causes you to ask questions about your conceptions of right and wrong, especially in the cause of the greater good, but his hand is so light you don’t even know that you are asking those questions until days later when you are still thinking about it.
The characters are well developed, and you find yourself rooting for them. I enjoyed the way the relationship between Haatim and Abigail develops. Haatim is almost comically naïve, and Abigail is rigidly hard; yet, as the story progresses we see that this is just the surface. All of these characters are more than they appear on the surface. He even manages to make a demon sympathetic for a moment. No mean feat when they are the bad guys.
This book seems professionally edited and I did not notice any errors. I give this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is a gripping read and I eagerly anticipate the continuing books in the series. If you are sensitive to violence or stories involving demons this is probably not for you as it is not for the timid. Although violent, it is amazingly clean as regards language and sex, with very little of either, and nothing at all graphic. Although I would not recommend this for younger readers because of the violence and scary themes, mature readers will enjoy this, and the depth of the story makes it a great, solid read.
******
Raven's Peak
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