Coming off his Bran Stoker award winning novel COVENANT, John Everson SACRIFICE is the second book to be released by Leisure Fiction and is a stand alone sequel to COVENANT. Everson is a writer that holds no punches. IN COVENANT, its violence and story prey upon it’s reader and show that Everson is a writer that not only wants to scare, but shock as well. Well if you felt that way about COVENANT, your in for one hell of a ride with SACRIFICE.
Now I must confess that I read these books in reverse. I never got to reading COVENANT when it first came out, but am almost done reading it as I write this review. Having already read SACRIFICE, I know what happens at the end, so if you want to stop reading this review now and go on and read COVENANT first, then I don’t blame you.
SACRIFICE takes place weeks after the events in COVENANT happened. Former news writer Joe Kieran now has the demon Malachai bound to him, and together they are traveling cross country away from the town of Terrel. Meanwhile, a ruthless female serial killer named Ariana is traveling the country with the ancient book of the Curburide. She is killing men in hotel rooms and performing rituals that will open a gateway into our world and release the demons known as the Curburide. The Curburide are sex driven demons who prefer the most sickest twisted kind of sex imaginable. While traveling Malachai informs Joe about the Curburide and how he can feel them coming. Joe then runs into a young girl named Alex who is hitchhiking. Alex is a girl with special psychic powers, and Joe and her bond quickly. The two then learn about the strange visions and dreams they have been having, by confronting Malachai about them. They soon form a team and head out to stop Ariana before she sacrifices more people to the Curburide and unleashes hell on earth. Little do they know, it will lead them back to the small town of Terrel.
If I can kick my own ass, I would for not reading COVENANT when the book was first released. SACRIFICE was a book that really kept me interested all the way though. Everson is a very talented writer with a sick and twisted imagination. SACRIFICE is one of those books that really makes the reader feel uneasy. In fact I would not be surprised if there are readers who put this one down because they simply can’t go on. There are some very explicit scenes involving sex with dismembered bodies that are very graphic and detailed. I personally was not only frightened by what I read ,but was also grossed out. But after putting the book down after reading that one brutal chapter involving a cheating couple. I thought about the chapter for a while and then realized that the most evil thing known to man would not hold anything back, and why should Everson hold back in describing the things that these demons want done. The book throws images into your mind like not other and it’s a book that really makes you think, even after you’ve finished reading the last chapter.
Overall SACRIFICE is one hell of a book, its one that really grabs you by the balls and kicks your ass all the way though. You feel bad for the characters that are doing good in the book, and are scared and freaked out by the ones who inflect evil. It’s safe to say that SACRIFICE is a book that’s not for the faint at heart. I would of given this book four stars, but was very grossed out by that one particular chapter that it made me question Everson’s sanity as a writer. Don’t get me wrong the guy is a very, very talented writer. But man did he kick my ass with this one. I think it’s safe to say that John Everson is a writer that we’ve going to see a lot of for a long time. If this is the type of horror and mayhem that he’s going to unleash on us, then we’re looking at a writer who really going to blow our minds in the future. I only hope that we get a third book in this series of novels, even though SACRIFICE does come to a pretty solid conclusion. Other horror writers take warning! John Everson is bringing a whole new nightmare to the world of horror.
– Horror Bob
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- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
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- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
