The Children of Red Peak

The writing was good, a classic slow burn mystery. But the ending was just so underwhelming. I was left feeling as if I’d wasted half my time reading from the POV of two useless characters.

Very beautifully constructed start full of suspense and it drives you mad with curiosity about the disappearance of a religious cult. It follows the survivors well and dives into each of their coping mechanisms (except for 2 of the more interesting characters) and fleshes them out like real cult survivors. The ending throws ALL of that away. It devalues all of their own coping that was built up, it completely breaks all their trauma down into nothing in a single scene, and it never ties up any loose ends it opens, except for the main superstition about the cult which is HORRIBLY tied up. It's like he wrote 3 lines of code for an A.I. writing bot and told it to make the ending. I don't recommend it.

I received an e-Galley ARC of The Children Of Red Peak, authored by Craig DiLouie, from NetGalley and the publisher Redhook Books; my honest review follows below, freely given. I am thankful for the opportunity. I rated this novel 5 stars. Cults are a real world phenomenon, death cults a subset that by name warn you of their intended tragic end. It may seem impossible to us, the likelihood of ever falling into the clutches of such an institution, but I would caution you to remember most begin as a much desired familial embrace. The cult is filling an emotional void members had been unable to fill otherwise. I think the author was emphatic when writing the survivors, also the members who did not, those who believed to the very end, and those who may have wavered. As the reader, some characters were open books (see what I did there?), while others would always remain enigmas. It is a nonlinear timeline, but easily marked so you will not be confused, which I appreciated. As always, saying too much about the story can spoil it. I will say these suggestions: Adam Nevill wrote Last Days, which is another fictional novel with a cult, that is not quite similar, adjacent maybe? If you have read it and enjoyed, I think you would like this novel. The Veil (2016) is a cult movie with Jessica Alba and Thomas Jane, which I absolutely think should get more love, but also if you have seen it and dug it, you know the deal...check out this book yeah? The Endless (2017) is a cult movie with Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson, I immediately thought of this movie while reading, because TCoRP invoked that same head rush; I knew I experienced something new to the sub-genre and I was loving it. As above so below, like this movie, I think you would like this book. This is my first work by the author I have read, but I am going to be looking up all his work that I can to catch up. I also am going to buy a copy of my own, because I want to hold that beautiful cover in my hands when I read it again.