Steven is a loser with no friends, stuck in a dead-end job, and constantly berated by his boss. On a whim, he visits a pub where he meets the charming bartender Fenston, who believes Steven is destined for greatness if he’s willing to prove himself to the Dark Mistress. Hungry for acceptance and willing to do anything to escape the banality of his existence, Steven begins a series of tests which not only push him to the limits but threaten to pull apart the very fabric of our reality.
As soon as this book began, I was hooked. The author, Stuart R. Brogan, doesn’t waste any time plunging the reader directly into the story and quickly ratchets up the action with a fascinating blend of nightmarish visions and deadly realities.
In Steven’s waking nightmares, shadowy monsters fill the sky against a backdrop of broken buildings, streets littered with dead bodies, and spiked tendrils ripping people apart. As the story progresses, we begin to wonder if these visions are fuelled by images Steven finds on the dark web in his quest to “kneel before the altar of flesh” or if they are part of a true reality hidden behind the façade of everyday life.
To gain favour with the Dark Mistress, Steven’s first task is to buy two hammers, take them to St. Benedict’s Church, and begin killing parishioners. Is he desperate enough to escape his life to go through with the act? Are the intended victims innocent people or merely pawns in a larger scheme? What follows is an epic battle scene that had me on the edge of my seat. And the story only gets more intense from there.
One thing I really enjoyed in this novel was the rich detail Brogan infuses into every scene. Some authors spend pages describing scenes to an extent the details kill the tension, while others have so few it’s almost impossible to clearly picture what’s happening on the page, but Brogan strikes the sweet spot conjuring concrete images that heighten the reading experience.
I’d liken Goddess to the love child of a Cenobite and a cosmic entity like Cthulhu. This book is filled with action, weirdness, and sexual tension, and I enjoyed every page of this strange journey.