Little Heaven: A Novel by Nick Cutter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Paranormal Horror, Extreme Horror
“Yet his soul was mad,” Ebenezer whispered. “Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself and, by heavens I tell you, it had gone mad.”
“There is a saying that goes: Evil never dies; it merely sleeps. And when that evil awakes, it can do so soundlessly—or almost so.”
Something comes in the night, a pied Piper of sorts, and takes Micah’s only daughter. Micah knows immediately who took her and where it is taking her. He knows that he will have to return to the place where it all began, Little Heaven.
“It was dreadful to encounter such spots; places that appeared to have experienced horrors that, while unseen and ages-old, were still trapped there—held there by whatever malignancy had minted them. But there was no visible evidence. No sacrificial alter, no open graves or moldering skulls mounted on pikes. Just the implacable rock and the fearsome chill it gave off.”
Three mercenaries are hired by a woman to take her to Little Heaven, a religious compound deep in the woods of New Mexico. Her nephew was taken there with his dad and she needs to know if he is safe, and if not, to take him away. Once they reach Little Heaven, they quickly realize that things are not quite right. Ran by an egomaniacal preacher who was led to the area by the voice of God to build his church … however this voice was not that of God.
“The ground simply felt mushy underfoot, as if it had been saturated with thick and fatty oil. It feels like flesh was Micah’s thought. The waterlogged flesh of a corpse coughed up from the bottom of a lake.
What a stupid thought. But the inkling remained: they were walking on a huge carcass. If they were to dig, their fingernails would scrape its wormy skin. And if they dug into its hide, it’s black blood would surely gush out, syrupy as crude oil.”
They barely escaped with their lives the first time, will they be so lucky this time?
“It was there again. That old squirming fear creeping up her legs like gangrene. It got inside and ate you from within, squandered and reduced you until you were helpless to fight it. That kind of fear could ruin you—you and those around you, too, because you were no use to anyone with that dread lodged in your heart.”
The best horror novel I have read in a long time. It has all the elements required: creepy, gory, graphic, antiheroes, evil creatures, and a psychopathic cult leader. This is for adult readers only. Written in multiple points of view and jumps back and forth between 1965 and present (1980). The writing style was elegant and stomach turning at the same time. It’s a mix of old school gunslingers meets Jonestown. I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway, it was my first Nick Cutter novel and it will certainly not be my last.
“It’s all so goddamn fragile. Your life and the thread you carry it on. And the more love you carry, the more stress you put on that thread, the better chance it will snap. But what choice do any of us have? You take on that love because to live without it is to exist as half a person. You give that love away because it is in you to give, not out of a desire for recompense. And you keep loving even when the world cracks open and reveals a black hole where all that love can get swallowed.”
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