A bizarre, memorable, and messy occult tale.
Years after escaping a cult, a woman rejoins the diabolical organization to take it down in this conclusion to a supernatural trilogy.
Psychologist Alina Masters and her family have led blissfully uneventful lives on the Greek island of Corfu. But when her construction worker husband takes a nasty fall, his hospital transfer sends them back to Chicago, Alina’s home. Alina may know who’s responsible for this reputed accident—her former lover Galen Drake, who belongs to the cult Ascension. She was once part of it, too, but fled the cult when pregnant with her and Galen’s child, Destin, who is now 6 years old. Craving some form of revenge against Galen, Alina squeezes her way back into Ascension. Surprisingly, Galen proposes an alliance to knock Ascension’s higher-ups, including his own mother, out of their seats of power. Alina is all for ending the cult that’s been a perpetual threat to her family. She maintains the pretense that she and Galen have reunited while struggling to ensure that Destin stays safe. But despite her previous involvement with the cult, Alina has much to learn, including that her mom has an unexpected link to Ascension as well. Bacon’s hazy plot reveals few details on the cult; even Alina doesn’t seem to know what Ascension is or its three rules (for example, “Respect the hierarchy”). But things get clearer in the latter half, and the organization’s evil, with a supernatural bend, is unmistakable throughout. The author delivers intriguing set pieces, like a potential terrorist strike and a political fundraiser for Galen, a United States senator with vice presidential aspirations, where Alina makes headlines. The book often displays a vibrant prose: Speaking with a pastor about Destin, Alina chokes out “an ugly sob, reliving the image of his tiny hands covered in blood.” Unfortunately, long-winded and occasionally repetitive sentences as well as grammatical flubs and abundant misspellings (“fain” instead of feign; “segway” instead of segue; “flea” instead of flee) permeate the narrative.
A bizarre, memorable, and messy occult tale.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 445
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Dec. 3, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
For readers who like their fun laced with skin-crawling weirdness.
A comic-strip artist loses first her cat and then, possibly, her mind.
Working with artists Horner and Staehle, as he did for Hidden Pictures (2022), Rekulak uses illustrations to support a paranormal thriller plot. Penny Padgett, a 27-year-old cartoonist living in Philadelphia, has published three beloved graphic novels about her life with her cat, Popcorn, and is working on a fourth when Popcorn darts out the window during a snowstorm and disappears. When all efforts to locate him fail, Penny spirals into unproductive despair. Her live-in boyfriend, Dean Everhardt, who works in finance, insists she accompany him to a cocktail party at the Brandywine Valley estate of his most important client, Evelyn Bruehl. At the party, Penny hears mewing that at first she’s sure must be Popcorn, but which turns out to be a very different cat named Godfrey. Godfrey immediately attaches himself to Penny, and when Evelyn—who’s about to take an extended trip to Europe—asks her to cat-sit, Dean pressures her to agree. Though at first Godfrey’s presence helps Penny break through her writer’s block, she’s completely disgusted by his custom-made food, which is delivered by his equally repugnant private veterinarian. And then something very strange starts happening to her artwork, which is suddenly filled with macabre and demonic imagery she can’t remember producing. Also, she’s losing weight and something terrible is happening to her skin. At this point the plot pivots into full-on horror, with a disgusting infestation of giant beetles and revolting odors taking over Penny’s house and a horrific murder next door. Penny finds some clues about what’s happening in a biography of Evelyn Bruehl’s grandfather, illustrator Barnabas Godfrey—the cat’s namesake. The 80-plus pages of illustrations include both Penny’s comic panels and Barnabas’ 19th-century images, the latter also filled with hints of what will emerge in the dramatic, screamworthy climax.
For readers who like their fun laced with skin-crawling weirdness.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781250895875
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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