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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Really entertaining, June 11, 2009
This review is from: The Kult (Paperback)
"People are predictable. That's what makes them so easy to kill."
I was lucky enough to score an advance copy of The Kult by Shaun Jeffrey through a giveaway contest hosted by his publisher, Leucrota Press. Which was amazing, because I was so psyched to read this book. It is a perfect example of why choosing the right cover art is so important, because just seeing the book made me want to read it. Not even knowing what it was about. It may sound silly and is obviously superficial, but there is something about the cover of this book that screams "READ ME!!!"
The premise of the book involves a serial killer, The Oracle, and Prosper Snow, the investigator hunting him down. A simple enough scenario, it would seem. But then our protagonist goes out and does something that throws a wrench into an otherwise well oiled plot-line. He participates in a copy-cat killing at the request of one of his childhood friends. That friend, along with Prosper and several others, is a member of a group called The Kult, which is really a vigilante-esque club that was formed by the members back in their school days.
You might ask yourself why a good person, and a police detective no less, would assist in murdering anyone. The answer is simple: blackmail. Pretty much "Help us murder this guy, or we'll reveal all of the other crimes you have committed over the years as a member of The Kult." (Some friends this guy has, right?) Long story short, Prosper helps. And immediately afterward, he and his friends are personally targeted by The Oracle.
But why? No one outside The Kult knew about the murder.
This, of course, leads to suspicion and paranoia among the friends. The feelings are short lived among most of them, as they start to die off one-by-one.
I can't really go any further into the story without running into spoiler territory, but I will say this: The Kult is impossible to put down. It has a great, almost impossible to solve mystery. The action starts off right away (and the violence is graphic enough to satisfy even the most jaded slasher fan). The climax was action packed, and (in my opinion) one of the most obnoxious characters in the book got what was coming to them, which is always satisfying. All in all, a really great read. Easily four stars
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not for the faint-of-heart, May 6, 2010
This review is from: The Kult (Paperback)
"People are predictable. That's what makes them easy to kill." - The Oracle
Killing people is The Oracle's business, and business is good in author Shaun Jeffrey's incredibly dark novel The Kult. The Oracle, you see, doesn't just kill people; he tortures and mutilates them in horrifying ways, turning them, in his mind, into macabre works of art. Then he takes photographs of his creations, which he sends to the police.
Detective Chief Inspector Prosper Snow is in charge of The Oracle investigation. He's also a member of the Kult, a small group of friends he's known since his school days. Initially formed when they were just kids to help each other deal with bullies, the Kult stayed in contact over the years, occasionally calling on each other for assistance with increasingly "grown up" issues.
An email Snow receives from one of the members calling for a meeting leads to the group facing the most grown up issue possible: murder. At the meeting, Snow learns that the wife of one of his friends has been raped and not only does his friend intend to seek revenge, he expects his fellow Kult members to assist. He argues that the timing is perfect for them to kill his wife's rapist, because if they do so in a sufficiently gruesome manner it will be blamed on The Oracle.
Though he'd always been there for the Kult in the past, Snow can't agree to such extreme action. That is, not until his supposed friends inform him that if he doesn't help, including supplying them with the inside information necessary to copy the unique m.o. of The Oracle, they will reveal to his superiors all the previous questionable activities in which Snow has participated. Caught between the proverbial rock and hard place, Snow caves and assists in the killing. And that is when things go from merely screwed up to genuinely life threatening, because following their attempt to frame The Oracle for the murder they commit the Kult members begin getting knocked off themselves.
In The Oracle Jeffrey has conjured up one of the nastiest, most perversely creative serial killers in recent memory, which makes it all the more impressive that Jeffrey did not make his protagonist an über-Detective. Quite the contrary, Snow spends most of the story frustrated, one step behind, and continuously making extremely questionable decisions based on emotion rather than logic... which makes him a believable and sympathetic lead.
The tension and stakes rise to almost stifling levels as Snow races to discover The Oracle's identity before he finds himself in the crosshairs, setting the stage for a truly disturbing showdown in The Oracle's decidedly creepy lair. Definitely not for the faint-of-heart, The Kult is a gripping read that's part horror, part mystery, part police procedural, and completely in-your-face.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Kult - A Thrilling Page-Turner, June 17, 2009
This review is from: The Kult (Paperback)
A gory, terrifying thriller, The Kult will keep you hooked until the very last page.
Detective Chief Inspector Prosper Snow thought paperwork was the worse part of his job, until his partner dropped the photograph on his desk. The mutilated body of a young woman surrounded by photographs of famous serial killers signaled the beginning of a hunt for a killer calling himself the Oracle, and might end with Prosper serving time for murder.
In the midst of searching for a sadistic killer, Prosper receives a plea from an old school friend. Jerel wants to revive their blood oath and get revenge on the man who raped his wife, and he wants The Kult to help him.
Caught between loyalty to his old friends and his duty as a police officer, Prosper makes a difficult decision. And when more photographs start to appear in his office, Prosper comes to a terrible conclusion. Could one of his old friends be the Oracle? And what motive did the Oracle have for framing Prosper?
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started my journey through The Kult. What I got was a roller coaster ride that plunged me straight down that first terrifying hill into a house of horrors, festooned with bloody, mutilated corpses. The Kult will draw you in with a pace that grows more intense as the story continues. Shaun Jeffrey has created a well-crafted horror that will keep the reader guessing and will keep the pages turning until the ride finally comes to an end.
A word of caution, though...don't be turning those pages late at night in a creaky house!
The reviewer received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) from the publisher.
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