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The Acolyte
Jonah Murtag is an Acolyte on the New Bethlehem police force. His job: eradicate all heretical religious faiths, their practitioners, and artefacts. Murtag's got problems - one of his partners is a zealot, and he's in love with the other one. Trouble at work, trouble at home. Murtag realizes that you can rob a citizenry of almost anything, but you can't take away its faith. When a string of bombings paralyzes the city, religious fanatics are initially suspected, but startling clues point to a far more ominous perpetrator. If Murtag doesn't get things sorted out, the Divine Council will dispatch The Quints, aka: Heaven's Own Bagmen. The clock is ticking towards doomsday for the Chosen of New Bethlehem. And Jonah Murtag's got another problem. The biggest and most worrisome... Jonah isn't a believer anymore.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 21, 2015
44 people are currently reading
4638 people want to read
About the author
Nick Cutter
13 books8,393 followersHello Everybody!
I figured this bio was looking a little cobwebby, so here to update it a bit (Sept 2025). What's changed in the decade since I wrote my initial bio? Mmmm, not a lot. I still enjoy bubblebaths, strong coffee and passionate conversations, moonlit walks on the beach, eldritch horrors and biological horrors run amuck.
Oh, and I have a new book: The Queen!
The following years should see the arrival of The Dorians (2026?), The Coffin Worms and other Grotesques (2027?), The Invaders (2028?) Gravenhurst (etc), and republications of The Acolyte and The Breach ... after which I will likely devolve into a puddle of sentient goo (2030 - RIP).
I've been politely requested to be on Twitter again. I may pollinate to other social media locales in the coming months and years, but for now I can be found malingering around at:
@ItsNickCutter
Yrs,
Nick Cutter
(but not really)
I figured this bio was looking a little cobwebby, so here to update it a bit (Sept 2025). What's changed in the decade since I wrote my initial bio? Mmmm, not a lot. I still enjoy bubblebaths, strong coffee and passionate conversations, moonlit walks on the beach, eldritch horrors and biological horrors run amuck.
Oh, and I have a new book: The Queen!
The following years should see the arrival of The Dorians (2026?), The Coffin Worms and other Grotesques (2027?), The Invaders (2028?) Gravenhurst (etc), and republications of The Acolyte and The Breach ... after which I will likely devolve into a puddle of sentient goo (2030 - RIP).
I've been politely requested to be on Twitter again. I may pollinate to other social media locales in the coming months and years, but for now I can be found malingering around at:
@ItsNickCutter
Yrs,
Nick Cutter
(but not really)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 279 reviews
July 9, 2018
when noir just isn't rough enough, release nick cutter.
breathtakingly violent, there are situations in this book that made even ME squirm, and i'm basically just a jaded husk of "nothing fazes me, son." this is his take on what can happen when organized religion steamrolls personal liberties, and it's just brutal rolled in gruesome dusted with wrong. cutter's previous two novels have had scenes of sad and wasteful violence (dear god, not the TURTLE!) but this one kicks the asses of all others on a scale that will make your brain recoil. in a good way, naturally. there is a scene towards the end of the book - just a little sentence or two involving eyeballs and what can be done to them that gave me the full-body shudders.
those if you with animal-cruelty triggers - do not enter. because this book nearly made me forget that poor turtle with dear god, not the FROGS!!!
it's written in a very different style from both The Deep and The Troop. those were both written in the stephen-king-osphere, where creepy things happened to ordinary folks and the eeriness resulted from the familiarity of the characters and setting layered over by supernatural terrors. (okay, not so much the setting for The Deep, but we've all seen submarine movies, so it's a familiarity once-removed.) and we've all seen and read religious/political dystopias, but cutter's particular brand here is all his own. gritty and hardboiled, with wonderfully precise details in his world-building. it's a crime story and a social commentary all at once, where the chosen few - the acolytes - administer violent justice upon religious and social dissenters in a christian fundamentalist nightmarescape, all told with an Ellroyian flavour. bombs and preachers, circuit freaks and animal sacrifice, shotguns that turn people into red mashed potato, cannibals and mercy kills and emphatically UNmerciful kills. and family.
it's chilling and fast-paced, with very short punchy chapters and perfectly concise lines bigger than their word count:
Yeah, I could have.
which restraint punctuates a beautifully understated moment.
oh, it is a vicious book.
the thing is, i have met nick cutter, when he was wearing his craig davidson skin*, and he is such a sweet, affable gent. and he's sweet and affable enough to have included an afterword here that basically says: "i am not a monster - this is just a book" where he apologizes for some of what he's written and entreats you to not hold it against him. oh, canada…
so, while it is nothing like his first two in the cutterverse, it is a deviation, not a disappointment.
read it if you have the balls for it.
* not literally, obviously.
come to my blog!
breathtakingly violent, there are situations in this book that made even ME squirm, and i'm basically just a jaded husk of "nothing fazes me, son." this is his take on what can happen when organized religion steamrolls personal liberties, and it's just brutal rolled in gruesome dusted with wrong. cutter's previous two novels have had scenes of sad and wasteful violence (dear god, not the TURTLE!) but this one kicks the asses of all others on a scale that will make your brain recoil. in a good way, naturally. there is a scene towards the end of the book - just a little sentence or two involving eyeballs and what can be done to them that gave me the full-body shudders.
those if you with animal-cruelty triggers - do not enter. because this book nearly made me forget that poor turtle with dear god, not the FROGS!!!
it's written in a very different style from both The Deep and The Troop. those were both written in the stephen-king-osphere, where creepy things happened to ordinary folks and the eeriness resulted from the familiarity of the characters and setting layered over by supernatural terrors. (okay, not so much the setting for The Deep, but we've all seen submarine movies, so it's a familiarity once-removed.) and we've all seen and read religious/political dystopias, but cutter's particular brand here is all his own. gritty and hardboiled, with wonderfully precise details in his world-building. it's a crime story and a social commentary all at once, where the chosen few - the acolytes - administer violent justice upon religious and social dissenters in a christian fundamentalist nightmarescape, all told with an Ellroyian flavour. bombs and preachers, circuit freaks and animal sacrifice, shotguns that turn people into red mashed potato, cannibals and mercy kills and emphatically UNmerciful kills. and family.
it's chilling and fast-paced, with very short punchy chapters and perfectly concise lines bigger than their word count:
Yeah, I could have.
which restraint punctuates a beautifully understated moment.
oh, it is a vicious book.
the thing is, i have met nick cutter, when he was wearing his craig davidson skin*, and he is such a sweet, affable gent. and he's sweet and affable enough to have included an afterword here that basically says: "i am not a monster - this is just a book" where he apologizes for some of what he's written and entreats you to not hold it against him. oh, canada…
so, while it is nothing like his first two in the cutterverse, it is a deviation, not a disappointment.
read it if you have the balls for it.
* not literally, obviously.
come to my blog!
June 4, 2015
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
“LET YOUR SINS GO UNPUNISHED.”
Dear tiny 8 pound 6 ounce Baby Jesus (don’t even know a word), WTF did I just read?
I fell hard and fast for Nick Cutter when I read his debut The Troop . When he followed that up with The Deep, I knew I had found someone special. But this? Holy crap. Whole ‘notha level of storytelling.
I logged on to Goodreads in order to see how people were shelving this. What did I find? NO ONE has read it. 38 ratings and a measly 14 reviews? What the hell is wrong with you people?!?!?!?!?! With numbers that small, shelving doesn’t really help too much. However, I did see that “Horror” took first place. I’m making up a new shelf – “Realistic Dystopian Fiction”. I’ve read my fair share of dystopian books. Everything from zombies to superflus to post-nuclear holocaust, etc. and I’m telling you The Acolyte could be classified as a “horror” simply because it seems so horrifyingly plausible.
The Acolyte takes place in the not-so-distant future where religion rules. The divine leader? One known as The Prophet . . .
who brings the message of God to the masses via his superchurch. All other religions? Illegal. Oh, you can work if you’re a Jew – you just have to make sure you’re back behind the concertina wire of the ghetto before curfew. Muslims, on the other hand, are a whole different story. That’s where our MC comes in to play. Jonah Murtaugh . . .
(Nick Cutter, you really can’t name a character anything resembling Murtaugh without me picturing that)
is an Acolyte. It’s his job to keep the city safe from religious heretics who refuse to follow the one true faith. However, when bombings start happening everywhere across the city (including fanatic neighborhoods), it’s a race against time for Jonah to find the culprit before all of New Bethlehem is eradicated.
This being the third book of Cutter’s that I absolutely flipped my shit over, it’s fairly safe to say I’m a fangirl. Talk about an author who is just WILLING. TO. GO. THERE. Nothing is off limits when it comes to a Cutter book. Religion is a pretty sticky subject to want to tackle in the first place, but tackle all of the crazy zealots in one book????
Balls of steel, my friend. Balls of steel.
Fair warning: This being a Nick Cutter novel, there are gruesome scenes. While I’m not someone who is bothered by gore and understand the point of some of the nasty . . .
There was one scene toward the end that was just . . . .
I wasn’t “disturbed” by it (I live with Mitchell – I don’t get disturbed by much) and I have a strong stomach, so I wasn’t even disgusted. I just found it to be . . . unnecessary. It was like Cutter realized he had made it 90% through the book without making the reader dry-heave and just had to throw something completely over-the-top in to the mix. He didn’t need to and this book loses a Star because of it. That minor complaint noted, I still highly recommend The Acolyte.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to take another jab at Preacher Osteen . . .
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!
“LET YOUR SINS GO UNPUNISHED.”
Dear tiny 8 pound 6 ounce Baby Jesus (don’t even know a word), WTF did I just read?
I fell hard and fast for Nick Cutter when I read his debut The Troop . When he followed that up with The Deep, I knew I had found someone special. But this? Holy crap. Whole ‘notha level of storytelling.
I logged on to Goodreads in order to see how people were shelving this. What did I find? NO ONE has read it. 38 ratings and a measly 14 reviews? What the hell is wrong with you people?!?!?!?!?! With numbers that small, shelving doesn’t really help too much. However, I did see that “Horror” took first place. I’m making up a new shelf – “Realistic Dystopian Fiction”. I’ve read my fair share of dystopian books. Everything from zombies to superflus to post-nuclear holocaust, etc. and I’m telling you The Acolyte could be classified as a “horror” simply because it seems so horrifyingly plausible.
The Acolyte takes place in the not-so-distant future where religion rules. The divine leader? One known as The Prophet . . .
who brings the message of God to the masses via his superchurch. All other religions? Illegal. Oh, you can work if you’re a Jew – you just have to make sure you’re back behind the concertina wire of the ghetto before curfew. Muslims, on the other hand, are a whole different story. That’s where our MC comes in to play. Jonah Murta
(Nick Cutter, you really can’t name a character anything resembling Murtaugh without me picturing that)
is an Acolyte. It’s his job to keep the city safe from religious heretics who refuse to follow the one true faith. However, when bombings start happening everywhere across the city (including fanatic neighborhoods), it’s a race against time for Jonah to find the culprit before all of New Bethlehem is eradicated.
This being the third book of Cutter’s that I absolutely flipped my shit over, it’s fairly safe to say I’m a fangirl. Talk about an author who is just WILLING. TO. GO. THERE. Nothing is off limits when it comes to a Cutter book. Religion is a pretty sticky subject to want to tackle in the first place, but tackle all of the crazy zealots in one book????
Balls of steel, my friend. Balls of steel.
Fair warning: This being a Nick Cutter novel, there are gruesome scenes. While I’m not someone who is bothered by gore and understand the point of some of the nasty . . .
There was one scene toward the end that was just . . . .
I wasn’t “disturbed” by it (I live with Mitchell – I don’t get disturbed by much) and I have a strong stomach, so I wasn’t even disgusted. I just found it to be . . . unnecessary. It was like Cutter realized he had made it 90% through the book without making the reader dry-heave and just had to throw something completely over-the-top in to the mix. He didn’t need to and this book loses a Star because of it. That minor complaint noted, I still highly recommend The Acolyte.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to take another jab at Preacher Osteen . . .
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!
November 8, 2019
I don't know how to describe the mad, dark, mash-up genius contained in the pages of Nick Cutter's upcoming release The Acolyte -- but I've found myself in a similar state of speechlessness with other titles released by the incomparable ChiZine Publications. Their motto is Embrace the Odd and embrace it they do with abandon. ChiZine's book covers alone are enough to send this bibliophile into paroxysms of delight. Here are a few of my favorites:
ChiZine has also recently gotten into the graphic novel game and I adore this cover too:
Let me wrap up the fangirling over cover art to conclude that ChiZine is a wickedly weird publishing house seemingly ruthless in seeking out unique voices in speculative fiction. Enter this book and Nick Cutter.
Nick Cutter (a pseudonym for Craig Davidson) blasted onto the horror scene in 2014 with The Troop -- the book Stephen King declared scared the hell out of him. For the record, it scared the hell out of me too. In January, Cutter followed up with an equally gripping and richly written sci-fi horror novel The Deep.
Fans of either or both of those books should not expect the same kind of story in The Acolyte. I'm not surprised it was ChiZine who published it for him because it is an odd, intense mixture of horror, police procedural, dystopia, and noir. It is violent, contemplative, thematic, and disturbing. It's not a book you 'enjoy' or 'savor': it is one you endure and survive.
And that's all I'm going to say about it. Read the plot summary if you want, but it's not going to help prepare you for what lies in wait in its pages. If you are feeling adventurous and brave, and want a taste of something not so mainstream that will take you off the beaten path into a darker part of the forest, then by all means take The Acolyte home with you.
An advanced reading copy was provided by the publisher for review.
ChiZine has also recently gotten into the graphic novel game and I adore this cover too:
Let me wrap up the fangirling over cover art to conclude that ChiZine is a wickedly weird publishing house seemingly ruthless in seeking out unique voices in speculative fiction. Enter this book and Nick Cutter.
Nick Cutter (a pseudonym for Craig Davidson) blasted onto the horror scene in 2014 with The Troop -- the book Stephen King declared scared the hell out of him. For the record, it scared the hell out of me too. In January, Cutter followed up with an equally gripping and richly written sci-fi horror novel The Deep.
Fans of either or both of those books should not expect the same kind of story in The Acolyte. I'm not surprised it was ChiZine who published it for him because it is an odd, intense mixture of horror, police procedural, dystopia, and noir. It is violent, contemplative, thematic, and disturbing. It's not a book you 'enjoy' or 'savor': it is one you endure and survive.
And that's all I'm going to say about it. Read the plot summary if you want, but it's not going to help prepare you for what lies in wait in its pages. If you are feeling adventurous and brave, and want a taste of something not so mainstream that will take you off the beaten path into a darker part of the forest, then by all means take The Acolyte home with you.
An advanced reading copy was provided by the publisher for review.
November 24, 2015
★★★☆☆½
This is a very odd little book. I'm having a difficult time wrapping my mind around what I just read. It's sort of like an updated version of 1984 with a strong religious slant to it, but without the Big Brother elements.
Christianity has been deemed the One True Faith, all other religions illegal.
This book begs further discussion, soI'll attempt to work up a proper review sometime soon. Um no, I guess not!
Footnote: The story is filled with very dark images and extreme violence. Religious bigotry also plays a major theme, thus this may be considered highly offensive to any people of strong faith. You've been warned.
This is a very odd little book. I'm having a difficult time wrapping my mind around what I just read. It's sort of like an updated version of 1984 with a strong religious slant to it, but without the Big Brother elements.
Christianity has been deemed the One True Faith, all other religions illegal.
This book begs further discussion, so
Footnote: The story is filled with very dark images and extreme violence. Religious bigotry also plays a major theme, thus this may be considered highly offensive to any people of strong faith. You've been warned.
February 12, 2020
Well, that was messed up. Now I need a book about rainbows and puppies... Vegetarians and people who are triggered by violence against animals should not read this. Actually, only read this if you have a really strong stomach.
If "The Handmaid's Tale" and James Ellroy had a baby, it would probably be a lot like this book. Fanaticism, theocracy, police corruption, violent extermination of heathens, (lack of) freedom of religion... The story takes place in New Bethlehem, which was part of the United States at some point. Before the Purge. That was when Church and State were merged and the New Republican Testament was written and imposed as law on this new city-state's citizens. Now the ultimate authority is the Prophet... Murtag is an Acolyte: that means he's part of a special police force, who's role is to find and eradicate heretics. That includes people who do not live by the True Faith, as well as homosexuals and Darwinists; you know, people who could potentially make you doubt your beliefs, or simply don't live by this revised and improved version of the Bible everyone is now reading.
Jonah Murtag is a rather typical noir novel police officer: sullen, jaded, depressed. Not alcoholic, but only because the city-state has outlawed booze. He is stuck between highly forbidden feelings for his partner Angela Doe (of course, sexuality is also highly regulated, and copulation outside the bonds of matrimony is enough to get you ritually mutilated or worse) and the massive disillusionment that comes with working behind the wizard's curtain. There's something about knowing how the sausage gets made that takes away your taste for hot-dogs, and being the muscle of a religious dictatorship is no different. So when he gets caught up in an investigation on a string of bombings, originally attributed to fanatics of other faiths, his shaky faith and ability to deal with the system he is a part of starts unraveling fast. Because evidence begins to indicate a different kind of perpetrator, more dangerous than your run-of-the-mill jihadist. And extreme circumstances call for extreme measures: Heaven's very own creepy "enforcers"...
Religious fanatics scare me, for many reasons. The idea of born-again Christians with guns is enough to make me lose sleep, so this book was basically tailor-made to traumatize me. It's a hard-boiled detective story, a scathing commentary on extremism and a horribly realistic speculation on what happens when critical thinking and objective reality are thrown out the window in favor of bigotry and violence. The world-building is succinct, but spooky and believable. I suppose all dictatorships headed by megalomaniacs are the same on the surface, but Cutter really nails what it would be like if all the Bible-Belt Jesus nuts were armed, organized and decided to take over. And holy cow is it ever disturbing and gory! Add to that the old-fashioned noir atmosphere that permeates the book: everything is dark, dirty... and the things that are clean are wrong somehow. This is my first Nick Cutter book, and I’ll definitely check out his other novels because I found his writing beautiful and riveting, in the most fucked-up way imaginable. His twisted choice of subject matter resulted in a unique and terrifying dystopian tale.
The author’s acknowledgements at the end is very interesting: if you read the book and wondered “what kind of sicko writes stuff like this?”, Cutter gives a very interesting insight as to WHY he wrote it. Highly, highly recommended!
If "The Handmaid's Tale" and James Ellroy had a baby, it would probably be a lot like this book. Fanaticism, theocracy, police corruption, violent extermination of heathens, (lack of) freedom of religion... The story takes place in New Bethlehem, which was part of the United States at some point. Before the Purge. That was when Church and State were merged and the New Republican Testament was written and imposed as law on this new city-state's citizens. Now the ultimate authority is the Prophet... Murtag is an Acolyte: that means he's part of a special police force, who's role is to find and eradicate heretics. That includes people who do not live by the True Faith, as well as homosexuals and Darwinists; you know, people who could potentially make you doubt your beliefs, or simply don't live by this revised and improved version of the Bible everyone is now reading.
Jonah Murtag is a rather typical noir novel police officer: sullen, jaded, depressed. Not alcoholic, but only because the city-state has outlawed booze. He is stuck between highly forbidden feelings for his partner Angela Doe (of course, sexuality is also highly regulated, and copulation outside the bonds of matrimony is enough to get you ritually mutilated or worse) and the massive disillusionment that comes with working behind the wizard's curtain. There's something about knowing how the sausage gets made that takes away your taste for hot-dogs, and being the muscle of a religious dictatorship is no different. So when he gets caught up in an investigation on a string of bombings, originally attributed to fanatics of other faiths, his shaky faith and ability to deal with the system he is a part of starts unraveling fast. Because evidence begins to indicate a different kind of perpetrator, more dangerous than your run-of-the-mill jihadist. And extreme circumstances call for extreme measures: Heaven's very own creepy "enforcers"...
Religious fanatics scare me, for many reasons. The idea of born-again Christians with guns is enough to make me lose sleep, so this book was basically tailor-made to traumatize me. It's a hard-boiled detective story, a scathing commentary on extremism and a horribly realistic speculation on what happens when critical thinking and objective reality are thrown out the window in favor of bigotry and violence. The world-building is succinct, but spooky and believable. I suppose all dictatorships headed by megalomaniacs are the same on the surface, but Cutter really nails what it would be like if all the Bible-Belt Jesus nuts were armed, organized and decided to take over. And holy cow is it ever disturbing and gory! Add to that the old-fashioned noir atmosphere that permeates the book: everything is dark, dirty... and the things that are clean are wrong somehow. This is my first Nick Cutter book, and I’ll definitely check out his other novels because I found his writing beautiful and riveting, in the most fucked-up way imaginable. His twisted choice of subject matter resulted in a unique and terrifying dystopian tale.
The author’s acknowledgements at the end is very interesting: if you read the book and wondered “what kind of sicko writes stuff like this?”, Cutter gives a very interesting insight as to WHY he wrote it. Highly, highly recommended!
June 1, 2015
Jonah Murtag is an Acolyte on the New Bethlehem police force. His job: eradicate all heretical religious faiths, their practitioners, and artefacts. Murtag’s got problems – one of his partners is a zealot, and he’s in love with the other one. Trouble at work, trouble at home. Murtag realizes that you can rob a citizenry of almost anything, but you can’t take away its faith. When a string of bombings paralyzes the city, religious fanatics are initially suspected, but startling clues point to a far more ominous perpetrator. If Murtag doesn’t get things sorted out, the Divine Council will dispatch The Quints, aka: Heaven’s Own Bagmen. The clock is ticking towards doomsday for the Chosen of New Bethlehem. And Jonah Murtag’s got another problem. The biggest and most worrisome… Jonah isn’t a believer any more.
I received an advanced copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
It seems as if with each subsequent book, Cutter is looking to see just how far he can push his audience out of their comfort zone and with The Acolyte, Cutter has written a novel that will burrow under your skin and stay with you long after you put it down. If you’re looking for an experience similar to The Deep or The Troop, you won’t find it here. Don’t get me wrong, the stomach churning violence is in full force, but The Acolyte is very much its own story.
Having read most of Cutter/Davidson’s catalogue, no other novel of his has made me squirm nearly as much as The Acolyte. Some of the scenes are tougher to get through than a two dollar steak and while its got a lot to do with just how brutal his imagery can be, it’s more to do with the fact that this scenario is entirely plausible. With the majority of the world’s violence rooted in religious extremism, an entire western civilization ruled under strict Christian fundamentalism isn’t that hard to imagine, and it’s beyond terrifying.
By no means is The Acolyte an easy read and I certainly don’t mean for that to be a deterrent. The thing I like most about Cutter is that he challenges me as a reader. While many authors can write scenes that churn my stomach, it takes a special breed to make those scenes matter, to develop characters and worlds so strongly and slowly just to tear them down so swiftly and in such a devastating manner.
Also posted @ Every Read Thing.
I received an advanced copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
It seems as if with each subsequent book, Cutter is looking to see just how far he can push his audience out of their comfort zone and with The Acolyte, Cutter has written a novel that will burrow under your skin and stay with you long after you put it down. If you’re looking for an experience similar to The Deep or The Troop, you won’t find it here. Don’t get me wrong, the stomach churning violence is in full force, but The Acolyte is very much its own story.
Having read most of Cutter/Davidson’s catalogue, no other novel of his has made me squirm nearly as much as The Acolyte. Some of the scenes are tougher to get through than a two dollar steak and while its got a lot to do with just how brutal his imagery can be, it’s more to do with the fact that this scenario is entirely plausible. With the majority of the world’s violence rooted in religious extremism, an entire western civilization ruled under strict Christian fundamentalism isn’t that hard to imagine, and it’s beyond terrifying.
By no means is The Acolyte an easy read and I certainly don’t mean for that to be a deterrent. The thing I like most about Cutter is that he challenges me as a reader. While many authors can write scenes that churn my stomach, it takes a special breed to make those scenes matter, to develop characters and worlds so strongly and slowly just to tear them down so swiftly and in such a devastating manner.
Also posted @ Every Read Thing.
January 2, 2018
My first review of 2018!
A Nick Cutter book, how appropriate.
I might be biased so you can read this review with a grain of salt. Nick Cutter/Craig Davidson is my favorite author right under Stephen King and just before Dennis LeHane. I could be seeing his words through La-La-Land Rose Colored Glasses--(but I doubt it. I still can give honest reviews)
The Acolyte. This is a dystopian world ruled by religious fanaticism. Everything, literally everything in this reality is fueled by some kind of hatred towards anything that doesn't smack of white, privileged, Judeo Christianity.
The most fascinating part to me was the narrative that came from a protagonist who was heavily influenced and involved in enforcing the religious laws, so all the descriptions of everything came from a perspective that wasn't disgusted by it all but was in fact, knee deep in its practices.
The descriptions of the setting had a very futuristic vibe--like a religious planet from the Star Wars saga or almost like a Blade Runner feel--with the cops of the future being these "spiritual law enforcement" officials--rooftops blazing with neon crucifixes and corner stores called "Puritan Pantry", Nick Cutter left no stone overturned here--everything normal had been given a religious white wash and it was equal parts horrifying and disgusting.
There was also a bit of a "Name of the Rose" feel, if you ever read that religious/thriller/mystery by Umberto Eco. It's amazing how an author can be so clearly horrified by the subject matter but can somehow manage to write from a place of static acceptance and present to us this sick alternate reality as though these are just the facts--the way things are--without letting the subtext drip with sarcasm or disapproval. So keep that in mind when you read this because there are 1,000 ways to be offended by the story and the characters. There are a lot of racial slurs, hatred towards any religion that is not the accepted one of the future, hatred towards anything that doesn't look heterosexual, just a lot of unadulterated hate--so you have to steel yourself against letting that stuff get under your skin and let the story play out in the context of that reality--religion unbridled and unchecked--like everything you've read about the Holy Wars and conversion by threat or sword--unleashed.
I loved the story and as it reached its climax and started racing towards the end, I knew it was almost over and I was sad to see this one go. I know this is an older book and Craig Davidson would call it "an old chestnut" but this is totally worth a read if you're a Nick Cutter fan. I really, really enjoyed it. Great plot, amazing, insightful writing (as per usual) and a unique approach to a dystopian universe we would never, ever want.
A Nick Cutter book, how appropriate.
I might be biased so you can read this review with a grain of salt. Nick Cutter/Craig Davidson is my favorite author right under Stephen King and just before Dennis LeHane. I could be seeing his words through La-La-Land Rose Colored Glasses--(but I doubt it. I still can give honest reviews)
The Acolyte. This is a dystopian world ruled by religious fanaticism. Everything, literally everything in this reality is fueled by some kind of hatred towards anything that doesn't smack of white, privileged, Judeo Christianity.
The most fascinating part to me was the narrative that came from a protagonist who was heavily influenced and involved in enforcing the religious laws, so all the descriptions of everything came from a perspective that wasn't disgusted by it all but was in fact, knee deep in its practices.
The descriptions of the setting had a very futuristic vibe--like a religious planet from the Star Wars saga or almost like a Blade Runner feel--with the cops of the future being these "spiritual law enforcement" officials--rooftops blazing with neon crucifixes and corner stores called "Puritan Pantry", Nick Cutter left no stone overturned here--everything normal had been given a religious white wash and it was equal parts horrifying and disgusting.
There was also a bit of a "Name of the Rose" feel, if you ever read that religious/thriller/mystery by Umberto Eco. It's amazing how an author can be so clearly horrified by the subject matter but can somehow manage to write from a place of static acceptance and present to us this sick alternate reality as though these are just the facts--the way things are--without letting the subtext drip with sarcasm or disapproval. So keep that in mind when you read this because there are 1,000 ways to be offended by the story and the characters. There are a lot of racial slurs, hatred towards any religion that is not the accepted one of the future, hatred towards anything that doesn't look heterosexual, just a lot of unadulterated hate--so you have to steel yourself against letting that stuff get under your skin and let the story play out in the context of that reality--religion unbridled and unchecked--like everything you've read about the Holy Wars and conversion by threat or sword--unleashed.
I loved the story and as it reached its climax and started racing towards the end, I knew it was almost over and I was sad to see this one go. I know this is an older book and Craig Davidson would call it "an old chestnut" but this is totally worth a read if you're a Nick Cutter fan. I really, really enjoyed it. Great plot, amazing, insightful writing (as per usual) and a unique approach to a dystopian universe we would never, ever want.
May 16, 2015
We are unique in this view that something within each of us is so valuable it must exist forever in some form, on some plane - heaven, hell. Insects, animals: Their existence is finite. Ours, infinite. Why should we be so special?
I read and really enjoyed Nick Cutter's book The Deep, so I was thrilled when I requested this from Netgalley and was approved.
Until I started reading.
The Deep had tremendous amounts of gore, and descriptions that shocked me and I still gave it 4 stars, but The Acolyte took it a step further with scenes that I found hard to stomach. As a result I found myself struggling to get into this book.
I think a large part of it had to do with me over analyzing how this society came to be. I know there are people that believe that blood transfusions are a sin, and would refuse them to family members are dying, but I have a hard time thinking that all society would take a leap backwards as they did in this book to ban any medical intervention other than prayer. That being only one example of how far the society has regressed.
But I guess that this book taking it to the extreme in order to get the message across, and if the primary goal was to get me thinking it definitely did succeed. The lessons here on religion and government are valuable.
I appreciate an author that keeps pushing the envelope, but for some reason this felt off to me, so I believe this is just a classic case of it's not you, it's me.
Recommended for anyone that doesn't mind a book that makes you think through the use of copious amounts of gore.
I read and really enjoyed Nick Cutter's book The Deep, so I was thrilled when I requested this from Netgalley and was approved.
Until I started reading.
The Deep had tremendous amounts of gore, and descriptions that shocked me and I still gave it 4 stars, but The Acolyte took it a step further with scenes that I found hard to stomach. As a result I found myself struggling to get into this book.
I think a large part of it had to do with me over analyzing how this society came to be. I know there are people that believe that blood transfusions are a sin, and would refuse them to family members are dying, but I have a hard time thinking that all society would take a leap backwards as they did in this book to ban any medical intervention other than prayer. That being only one example of how far the society has regressed.
But I guess that this book taking it to the extreme in order to get the message across, and if the primary goal was to get me thinking it definitely did succeed. The lessons here on religion and government are valuable.
I appreciate an author that keeps pushing the envelope, but for some reason this felt off to me, so I believe this is just a classic case of it's not you, it's me.
Recommended for anyone that doesn't mind a book that makes you think through the use of copious amounts of gore.
December 2, 2015
My original The Acolyte audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.
I always like a good book that gives the religious-right a much-deserved solid kick in the tuchus. When I heard of Nick Cutter’s The Acolyte, shortly after reading his previous horror novel The Deep, I was more than slightly curious to see his take on American Christian extremism run amok. That said, this book isn’t for the squeamish, the easily-offended, or those who are afraid of having their beliefs challenged. Cutter takes a no holds barred approach, confronting right-wing extremism head on in such a fashion that the hand-wringing crowd would likely deem “offensive.”
The story opens with Acolyte Jonah Murtag recalling a scene he witnessed as a child, during The Purges, in which a mentally handicapped Muslim boy is beaten, tied to his bicycle, and then set on fire. It’s a powerful opening, and sets the tone for what follows. The Acolyte is a dark work of dystopian fiction, and also one that is bleakly satirical. Looking at the current slate of GOP nominees, most of whom have publicly admitted to hearing voices in their heads and Kasich’s recent proposal to develop an arm of the government devoted to spreading religious propaganda, the Starbucks red cup scares, and a particular Kentucky Court Clerk, this story is way too plausible, which makes it scarily effective.
Cutter takes America’s present-day culture wars against far-right religiosity to a bold new level with a story that quite clearly illustrates that faith is not a virtue. Separation of Church and State is no more – in fact, The Church is the state, and the US operates under the biblical mandates set forth in the New Republican Testament. As an officer of the Faith Crimes unit, Murtag’s duties are to ensure the purity of belief among the citizens of New Bethlehem, rooting out the cultist scourges of Scientologists, Mormons, and homosexuals so they can be sent to conversion camps, where their skulls are cut open and the sin is burnt out of their brains (presuming these “criminals” survive the police raids long enough to make it so far as being arrested).
After being assigned to protect The Prophet’s daughter, Eve, and failing when a suicide bombers strikes the nightclub she parties at, Murtag finds himself wounded and accused of terrorism simply for surviving. After enduring a brutal interrogation, and plenty of string pulling for those On High, he is allowed to be reinstated as an Acolyte and charged with finding the perpetrators behind the increasing spate of terror attacks. What follows is a twisty, noir-tinged narrative that follows in the mold of classic detective fiction with plenty of violence, femme fatales, con artists, and criminal conspiracy.
The world Murtag inhabits is very well realized, with Cutter drawing on Biblical elements that most believers gloss over or outright ignore, crafting New Bethlehem has a horrendously regressive, pre-Englightment dungeon of sorts. When Murtag goes to confession after murdering a Scientologist, he has to pick a properly-sized animal to sacrifice in a spiritual blood cleansing ritual. The female Acolyte, Doe, Murtag tells us, has hit the limits of her profession thanks to the glass ceiling put in place by Leviticus, which demands she earn less shekels than the men around her because she has the wrong set of genitals. Abortions, of course, are illegal and men have the option of ensuring the viability of their woman’s pregnancy with strong-armed toughs. One bombing victim is left to the care of a hospital where nurses are praying for him around the clock and even have their best practitioner sitting at his bedside. Actual medicine, along with forensic science, has long since been outlawed, you see. Eve’s corpse, meanwhile, becomes a Vaudevillian stage-show prop in The Prophet’s ministrations, an act that would no doubt make him the envy of many real-life prosperity preachers. Cutter gives plenty of details on life following The Purge, most of them horrifying, to illustrate how badly the nation has fallen and in which religious extremism is a part of daily life, infecting the minds and actions of the entire society. As Murtag is keenly aware, and is forced to discover first-hand, it’s a very thin line separating saints from sinners.
Jonathan Yen’s narration is pitch-perfect for the tone of this book. He has a gritty, almost-gravely, style that lends itself beautifully to the first-person noir elements that are pervasive in Cutter’s writing, giving the book a sort of L.A. Confidential by way of religious fundamentalism vibe. Murtag is a straight Joe Friday-type, and Yen voices the Just The Facts, Ma’am sensibility wonderfully, but also adopts some natural voice-work for ancillary characters, with his performance of The Quints, a murderous batch of quintuplets, suitably scary and effective. The production values are top-notch, too, with nary a hiccup in the nine-plus hours of listening time.
Part horror story, part word of warning, listeners of The Acolyte should at find themselves thankful that this story is only fiction.
[Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com]
I always like a good book that gives the religious-right a much-deserved solid kick in the tuchus. When I heard of Nick Cutter’s The Acolyte, shortly after reading his previous horror novel The Deep, I was more than slightly curious to see his take on American Christian extremism run amok. That said, this book isn’t for the squeamish, the easily-offended, or those who are afraid of having their beliefs challenged. Cutter takes a no holds barred approach, confronting right-wing extremism head on in such a fashion that the hand-wringing crowd would likely deem “offensive.”
The story opens with Acolyte Jonah Murtag recalling a scene he witnessed as a child, during The Purges, in which a mentally handicapped Muslim boy is beaten, tied to his bicycle, and then set on fire. It’s a powerful opening, and sets the tone for what follows. The Acolyte is a dark work of dystopian fiction, and also one that is bleakly satirical. Looking at the current slate of GOP nominees, most of whom have publicly admitted to hearing voices in their heads and Kasich’s recent proposal to develop an arm of the government devoted to spreading religious propaganda, the Starbucks red cup scares, and a particular Kentucky Court Clerk, this story is way too plausible, which makes it scarily effective.
Cutter takes America’s present-day culture wars against far-right religiosity to a bold new level with a story that quite clearly illustrates that faith is not a virtue. Separation of Church and State is no more – in fact, The Church is the state, and the US operates under the biblical mandates set forth in the New Republican Testament. As an officer of the Faith Crimes unit, Murtag’s duties are to ensure the purity of belief among the citizens of New Bethlehem, rooting out the cultist scourges of Scientologists, Mormons, and homosexuals so they can be sent to conversion camps, where their skulls are cut open and the sin is burnt out of their brains (presuming these “criminals” survive the police raids long enough to make it so far as being arrested).
After being assigned to protect The Prophet’s daughter, Eve, and failing when a suicide bombers strikes the nightclub she parties at, Murtag finds himself wounded and accused of terrorism simply for surviving. After enduring a brutal interrogation, and plenty of string pulling for those On High, he is allowed to be reinstated as an Acolyte and charged with finding the perpetrators behind the increasing spate of terror attacks. What follows is a twisty, noir-tinged narrative that follows in the mold of classic detective fiction with plenty of violence, femme fatales, con artists, and criminal conspiracy.
The world Murtag inhabits is very well realized, with Cutter drawing on Biblical elements that most believers gloss over or outright ignore, crafting New Bethlehem has a horrendously regressive, pre-Englightment dungeon of sorts. When Murtag goes to confession after murdering a Scientologist, he has to pick a properly-sized animal to sacrifice in a spiritual blood cleansing ritual. The female Acolyte, Doe, Murtag tells us, has hit the limits of her profession thanks to the glass ceiling put in place by Leviticus, which demands she earn less shekels than the men around her because she has the wrong set of genitals. Abortions, of course, are illegal and men have the option of ensuring the viability of their woman’s pregnancy with strong-armed toughs. One bombing victim is left to the care of a hospital where nurses are praying for him around the clock and even have their best practitioner sitting at his bedside. Actual medicine, along with forensic science, has long since been outlawed, you see. Eve’s corpse, meanwhile, becomes a Vaudevillian stage-show prop in The Prophet’s ministrations, an act that would no doubt make him the envy of many real-life prosperity preachers. Cutter gives plenty of details on life following The Purge, most of them horrifying, to illustrate how badly the nation has fallen and in which religious extremism is a part of daily life, infecting the minds and actions of the entire society. As Murtag is keenly aware, and is forced to discover first-hand, it’s a very thin line separating saints from sinners.
Jonathan Yen’s narration is pitch-perfect for the tone of this book. He has a gritty, almost-gravely, style that lends itself beautifully to the first-person noir elements that are pervasive in Cutter’s writing, giving the book a sort of L.A. Confidential by way of religious fundamentalism vibe. Murtag is a straight Joe Friday-type, and Yen voices the Just The Facts, Ma’am sensibility wonderfully, but also adopts some natural voice-work for ancillary characters, with his performance of The Quints, a murderous batch of quintuplets, suitably scary and effective. The production values are top-notch, too, with nary a hiccup in the nine-plus hours of listening time.
Part horror story, part word of warning, listeners of The Acolyte should at find themselves thankful that this story is only fiction.
[Audiobook provided for review by the audiobookreviewer.com]
August 18, 2015
3.5 stars. This was a unique story focusing on the evils of organized religion in an imaginative way. The cover alone gives you a pretty good idea of where the author goes with this one. With ISIS on the march, I was a little surprised at the particular religion we should all be fearing and couldn't help thinking of actual religious police that already exist in parts of the Middle East but I guess that's where the imagination part comes in.
All in all, not quite as good as THE TROOP but far better than THE DEEP.
Free copy courtesy of Netgalley.
All in all, not quite as good as THE TROOP but far better than THE DEEP.
Free copy courtesy of Netgalley.
August 28, 2022
I’m not in the business of bashing books, especially by authors I respect. Nick Cutter, in my opinion, is easily one of the better modern day horror writers. This book is the only one of his I didn’t love. It didn’t work for me at all, for a multitude of reasons. I’m just gonna leave it at that. I’d happily recommend The Troop, The Deep, and Little Heaven any day of the week. The Acolyte, however, missed the mark for me.
August 15, 2016
Another really disturbing piece of work from Nick Cutter.
A book set in a dystopian society where religion rules, and I mean, really rules. Jonah is an Acolyte, which is a member of the police force in New Bethlehem that arrests people and destroys all artifacts, books and all notions of a different religion than the one that has been branded The One True Religion. They aim to eradicate all other religions and practices. I wouldn't consider this is a horror novel, but then again it's almost hard to categorize Nick Cutter's novels. He is one sick puppy. But I can't get enouugh of his writing and its characters.
Triggers: Serious religion goes may be really upset at this book. Also, the violence is pretty gory, including an abortion scene that was just not needed, IMO
A book set in a dystopian society where religion rules, and I mean, really rules. Jonah is an Acolyte, which is a member of the police force in New Bethlehem that arrests people and destroys all artifacts, books and all notions of a different religion than the one that has been branded The One True Religion. They aim to eradicate all other religions and practices. I wouldn't consider this is a horror novel, but then again it's almost hard to categorize Nick Cutter's novels. He is one sick puppy. But I can't get enouugh of his writing and its characters.
Triggers: Serious religion goes may be really upset at this book. Also, the violence is pretty gory, including an abortion scene that was just not needed, IMO
December 31, 2017
As an Acolyte, Jonah Murray's job is to eradicate all heretical religious faiths,etc... and while he's troubled in all aspects of his life, the biggest worry is that he no longer believes in the Prophet. As someone who is not religious, I'm always fascinated by reads regarding religious fanaticism and blind faith. It can seem extremely cult like with people using these beliefs and twisting them to suit their own selfish wants. I couldn't even imagine living in a world where everything looks like one big cult.
If you've read Nick Cutter before, then you are already familiar with the way he is beautifully disgusting in his detail of the macabre. He's especially talented in doing this with animals and children. There's one scene in the first 100 pages regarding animals that made me cringe... and then smile. 😈 His ability to throw you right into the pages with these details is one of my favorite things about his writing. There were even a couple of scenes that put me into an Enter the Void kind of mind... and if you've ever seen that movie, I think you'll know what I mean.
This book probably won't be for everyone, but I absolutely loved it. The only reason I don't have this as 5 star review is that I wasn't as engaged with this one as I was with his other work. Now that I've read everything under this pen name, I should probably now add his other work under his real name, Craig Davidson.
If you've read Nick Cutter before, then you are already familiar with the way he is beautifully disgusting in his detail of the macabre. He's especially talented in doing this with animals and children. There's one scene in the first 100 pages regarding animals that made me cringe... and then smile. 😈 His ability to throw you right into the pages with these details is one of my favorite things about his writing. There were even a couple of scenes that put me into an Enter the Void kind of mind... and if you've ever seen that movie, I think you'll know what I mean.
This book probably won't be for everyone, but I absolutely loved it. The only reason I don't have this as 5 star review is that I wasn't as engaged with this one as I was with his other work. Now that I've read everything under this pen name, I should probably now add his other work under his real name, Craig Davidson.
July 23, 2015
Courtesy of Netgalley.
A weird story. The first two thirds of the book were paced more slowly than the last third, which explodes off the page in a rather intense and harrowing manner. I felt that the worldbuilding was problematic. There was a larger world outside of this one, but it was almost never mentioned. Also problematic was the protag's voice. The book is written in first person but there is almost no insight into the narrator's emotions, thought process, just description of action. Whether this was intentional or not, it is a huge hole in the structure of the story. That being said, the plot was interesting and engaging, and moved along--I was definitely never bored. I appreciate when an author does something different.
June 28, 2015
If you threw "1984","American Horror Story","Revival" in a blender and added a pinch of "Brave New World"……
This book is not what I expected,it was better.It was simply a good read, well written,creepy,fresh.
This book is not what I expected,it was better.It was simply a good read, well written,creepy,fresh.
July 12, 2015
Wow! Nick Cutter has written quite a scary world. A dystopian crime noir novel that doesn't let up for a second, a literal page turner. Ultra violent, and raises a lot of questions on organized religion, therefore probably not for everyone.
September 23, 2023
What starts off as a cookie-cutter "religious dystopia" alternate universe crime novel drops its pants in the third act and descends straight into Ken Russell territory. Just when the book is getting boring the Acolyte decides to go completely wacky and streaks naked across a football field while lighting itself on fire.
Is it possible for a book to be both predictable and complete random lunacy at the same time?
Yes?
There are times when an author tries to channel a ton of different influences into a single work and the ending result is like a Jackson Pollock painting. So much homage you can no longer find the plot, but the lines and streaks of chaos are so recognisable they form a comfortable map to the story's beats and ideas.
Nothing makes sense but the book has a fearful symmetry, you might say.
And here's the thing: I love chaos. And this novel is constantly trying to either confuse me, drown me in world-building, rub its mother issues in my face or detail how bombs turn children into a crispy tableau of horror.
All that and religious commentary?
What is this? Evangelion?
It's like I've gone to the weird horror dystopia all you can eat buffet. I appreciate the spread. But it needs more giant robot cannibalism.
If you're going to go nuts. Don't go half-way. Go fully nuts. Half-way is steamed beans. Not bad, if you're into that kind of thing. But it doesn't got that crunch.
6.5/10
Is it possible for a book to be both predictable and complete random lunacy at the same time?
Yes?
There are times when an author tries to channel a ton of different influences into a single work and the ending result is like a Jackson Pollock painting. So much homage you can no longer find the plot, but the lines and streaks of chaos are so recognisable they form a comfortable map to the story's beats and ideas.
Nothing makes sense but the book has a fearful symmetry, you might say.
And here's the thing: I love chaos. And this novel is constantly trying to either confuse me, drown me in world-building, rub its mother issues in my face or detail how bombs turn children into a crispy tableau of horror.
All that and religious commentary?
What is this? Evangelion?
It's like I've gone to the weird horror dystopia all you can eat buffet. I appreciate the spread. But it needs more giant robot cannibalism.
If you're going to go nuts. Don't go half-way. Go fully nuts. Half-way is steamed beans. Not bad, if you're into that kind of thing. But it doesn't got that crunch.
6.5/10
February 14, 2022
Well. SOMEBODY really likes Judge Dredd. Straight out of the pages of Heavy Metal, or something like late 90s Dark Horse comics, comes a flagrantly edgy noir tale of a dystopian government executioner who realizes the evil regime he works for is... well... evil. It's 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 mixed with a little bargain basement Raymond Chandler. It's heavy on dystopian satire of the American religious right. It's also kind of boring.
It's interesting when you see a talent like Cutter and their early work is messy and juvenile but shows flashes of brilliance. This sort of satiric takedown of religious hypocrisy is all just too on-the-nose. But, as a human in the American south, I really wish I could say it wasn't a little relevant. The thing is, there are just too many characters. This book wants to have a vignette style with a lot of people who represent satirical Christianity takes. But it's just too many, the story is a mess and leads to a predictable conclusion. But there are moments where it works, the adopted homeless girl is a nice character, there's a scene where the protagonist talks to some children that's kind of chilling and an apocalyptic scene with a blind man that turned my stomach a little. It's all just, it portrays this fascist "Christian" empire as this sort of cannibalizing social plague that's reverting the country to a third-world nation. And while I don't entirely disagree with that sentiment, as an atheist, it just seems a little quaint. This has a real "came up with the idea when I was 15 and thought it would be really badass" energy. You know, come to think of it, teenagers would probably eat this shit up.
It's interesting when you see a talent like Cutter and their early work is messy and juvenile but shows flashes of brilliance. This sort of satiric takedown of religious hypocrisy is all just too on-the-nose. But, as a human in the American south, I really wish I could say it wasn't a little relevant. The thing is, there are just too many characters. This book wants to have a vignette style with a lot of people who represent satirical Christianity takes. But it's just too many, the story is a mess and leads to a predictable conclusion. But there are moments where it works, the adopted homeless girl is a nice character, there's a scene where the protagonist talks to some children that's kind of chilling and an apocalyptic scene with a blind man that turned my stomach a little. It's all just, it portrays this fascist "Christian" empire as this sort of cannibalizing social plague that's reverting the country to a third-world nation. And while I don't entirely disagree with that sentiment, as an atheist, it just seems a little quaint. This has a real "came up with the idea when I was 15 and thought it would be really badass" energy. You know, come to think of it, teenagers would probably eat this shit up.
June 30, 2015
Reseña en español en el blog: Click Aquí
3.75 (?) stars actually: The Troop and The Deep were some of the most disturbing books I've read lately, so I was really looking forward to read Nick Cutter's next book. This is not a horror novel, even though it has several gory and sick moments, it felt more like a crime or thriller.
The story takes place in a future society governed by catholic fanatics: everyone who commits a crime against religion is hunted down, several books are banned (and most has been burned), the practice of science is forbidden and people from other religions are forced to live in ghettos.
The protagonist of this book is Jonah Murtagh. He work as an Acolyte, some sort of elite police force that chase down "heathens" and investigate others crimes against religion; the story begins when Murtagh start investigating a series of suicide bombings across the city of New Bethlehem.
This was a very entertaining book and an extremely fast read, the kindle edition has only 250 or so pages and the chapters are very short so I kept reading like a madman wanting to know what was going to happen next.
The setting was another strong point. Cutter describes a very dark and sinister society governed by a mad religious zealot called The Prophet and we really don't know how the church took over since every source of information must be approved by the government, we can only guess what happened: some of the characters remember how life was before the Republic, this gives us the hint that the new society is still in development and the church doesn't have absolute control. I found this uncertainty very interesting because it reflects the ignorance and confusion that our main character suffers.
So why didn't I rate this book higher? because it was predictable, some of the plot twist didn't surprise me and Murtagh wasn't an appealing character. The short chapters make this a fast read but it also made the story sort of messed and disconnected, the way how Murtagh meets some of the other characters wasn't convincing and felt rushed.
All in all, I think it was an entertaining story and this society created by Cutter was great. I congratulate him for trying to write something different from horror (even though I enjoyed The troop and The Deep more), this book is disturbing in a different way: it shows a society where all hope is lost and the only true word comes from The Prophet, it's a good critic about how many people uses religion for their own benefit.
Also I warn that this is not a book for everyone. Even though it's a crime or thriller novel, it has a lot (and I insist A LOT) of gore, disturbing scenes and profanity, so don't read it if you're easily impressed by violence.
"The question becomes: how to make an entire species self-destruct? What is the most effective system of annihilation? Religion. It's a tool, and any tool has right and wrong use (...) Fear, obedience, sacrifice, fanatic loyalty: these are fruits religion cultivates in a nurturing hand. And the greatest part is that the nurturer doesn't need to promise anything tangible: the reward is only delivered in death. It all rest in the bones of belief. And those bones are unbreakable."
3.75 (?) stars actually: The Troop and The Deep were some of the most disturbing books I've read lately, so I was really looking forward to read Nick Cutter's next book. This is not a horror novel, even though it has several gory and sick moments, it felt more like a crime or thriller.
The story takes place in a future society governed by catholic fanatics: everyone who commits a crime against religion is hunted down, several books are banned (and most has been burned), the practice of science is forbidden and people from other religions are forced to live in ghettos.
The protagonist of this book is Jonah Murtagh. He work as an Acolyte, some sort of elite police force that chase down "heathens" and investigate others crimes against religion; the story begins when Murtagh start investigating a series of suicide bombings across the city of New Bethlehem.
This was a very entertaining book and an extremely fast read, the kindle edition has only 250 or so pages and the chapters are very short so I kept reading like a madman wanting to know what was going to happen next.
The setting was another strong point. Cutter describes a very dark and sinister society governed by a mad religious zealot called The Prophet and we really don't know how the church took over since every source of information must be approved by the government, we can only guess what happened: some of the characters remember how life was before the Republic, this gives us the hint that the new society is still in development and the church doesn't have absolute control. I found this uncertainty very interesting because it reflects the ignorance and confusion that our main character suffers.
So why didn't I rate this book higher? because it was predictable, some of the plot twist didn't surprise me and Murtagh wasn't an appealing character. The short chapters make this a fast read but it also made the story sort of messed and disconnected, the way how Murtagh meets some of the other characters wasn't convincing and felt rushed.
All in all, I think it was an entertaining story and this society created by Cutter was great. I congratulate him for trying to write something different from horror (even though I enjoyed The troop and The Deep more), this book is disturbing in a different way: it shows a society where all hope is lost and the only true word comes from The Prophet, it's a good critic about how many people uses religion for their own benefit.
Also I warn that this is not a book for everyone. Even though it's a crime or thriller novel, it has a lot (and I insist A LOT) of gore, disturbing scenes and profanity, so don't read it if you're easily impressed by violence.
"The question becomes: how to make an entire species self-destruct? What is the most effective system of annihilation? Religion. It's a tool, and any tool has right and wrong use (...) Fear, obedience, sacrifice, fanatic loyalty: these are fruits religion cultivates in a nurturing hand. And the greatest part is that the nurturer doesn't need to promise anything tangible: the reward is only delivered in death. It all rest in the bones of belief. And those bones are unbreakable."
June 2, 2021
This is my third book by Cutter and I am a little mixed on this one. Cutter takes us to a not so distant future in North America (I assume) where a strict religious order now rules. Our main lead, Jonah, is an Acolyte-- a special part of the police force, basically the faith crimes unit that is tasked maintaining 'moral law' and "searching out and eradicating all non-conforming faiths, their artifacts, sites of worship, and practitioners." The theocracy is loosely based on a conservative (e.g, racist and such) christian ideology with the "Prophet" as basically the leader; there is no longer a separation between church and state. This sounds like a very interesting dystopia, but I had some problems with the book nonetheless.
TA definitely has a wealth of dark humor. We start off with Jonah and some fellow Acolytes rousting Mormons, some Scientologists, some gays and so forth; the Mormons seems to be the toughest. Basically, the Acolytes have carte blanche to stamp out any form of deviation and they do so with aplomb; the poor souls who they catch are rounded up for 'the cure', which basically means removing part of their brain. Then, some 'human bombs' start going off in strategic places and things start getting a little hectic for the Acolytes...
This is a fast paced story and the book design is quite nice-- kudos for our friends up north in Canada who published it! My biggest issue is that Cutter seems to throw every nasty piece of bigotry, racism and so forth at the wall simply to make an impact. Perhaps he researched 'triggers' and sought to add as many as possible to the book, again, just to make the book 'controversial' or something. I mean, we have animal fu, gay fu, jewish fu, Mormon fu, nepotism, police corruption, a ludicrous 'faith' that involves sacrificing animals to purge your sins along with 'prayer booths' littering the streets, mandatory church attendance, abortion fu, you name it. It is like a someone's liberal ideas of a total nightmare coming into the real.
I love the horror genre in many of its forms, but TA one the one hand tried to do too much (e.g., the 'liberal nightmare') but also too little (thin plot and characters). The plot evokes a very old trope-- the 'cog in the wheel' awakening to the injustice around him and finally deciding to take action against the status quo. I can understand why people may like this; besides the dark humor, there were some pretty gristly scenes and mayhem to keep the gore hounds happy. Nonetheless, TA read more like a string of hate crimes articulated for their impact without doing much for the story plot wise. Call me jaded, but I was hoping for more on this one. Cutter's The Troop I really liked, but TA and The Deep? Meh. 3 stars.
TA definitely has a wealth of dark humor. We start off with Jonah and some fellow Acolytes rousting Mormons, some Scientologists, some gays and so forth; the Mormons seems to be the toughest. Basically, the Acolytes have carte blanche to stamp out any form of deviation and they do so with aplomb; the poor souls who they catch are rounded up for 'the cure', which basically means removing part of their brain. Then, some 'human bombs' start going off in strategic places and things start getting a little hectic for the Acolytes...
This is a fast paced story and the book design is quite nice-- kudos for our friends up north in Canada who published it! My biggest issue is that Cutter seems to throw every nasty piece of bigotry, racism and so forth at the wall simply to make an impact. Perhaps he researched 'triggers' and sought to add as many as possible to the book, again, just to make the book 'controversial' or something. I mean, we have animal fu, gay fu, jewish fu, Mormon fu, nepotism, police corruption, a ludicrous 'faith' that involves sacrificing animals to purge your sins along with 'prayer booths' littering the streets, mandatory church attendance, abortion fu, you name it. It is like a someone's liberal ideas of a total nightmare coming into the real.
I love the horror genre in many of its forms, but TA one the one hand tried to do too much (e.g., the 'liberal nightmare') but also too little (thin plot and characters). The plot evokes a very old trope-- the 'cog in the wheel' awakening to the injustice around him and finally deciding to take action against the status quo. I can understand why people may like this; besides the dark humor, there were some pretty gristly scenes and mayhem to keep the gore hounds happy. Nonetheless, TA read more like a string of hate crimes articulated for their impact without doing much for the story plot wise. Call me jaded, but I was hoping for more on this one. Cutter's The Troop I really liked, but TA and The Deep? Meh. 3 stars.
February 13, 2020
Unsere Welt in naher Zukunft: Die westliche Hemisphäre wird von religiösem Fundamentalismus regiert. Das Mantra der Neuen Republik lautet: Die Kirche ist der Staat. Jonah Murtag ist ein treuer Staatsdiener. Er arbeitet für die Religionspolizei, die brutal gegen Andersgläubige vorgeht. Alle sogenannten Sünder werden »umerzogen « oder hingerichtet. Als die Republik von einer Serie grausamer Attentate heimgesucht wird, gerät Jonahs Weltbild ins Wanken. Er stellt sich gegen die Republik – und wird zum Gehetzten … (Quelle Amazon)
Ich hatte mich unglaublich auf dieses Buch gefreut, nachdem ich von "Die Tiefe" von Nick Cutter so begeistert war. Und auch der Klappentext hörte sich sehr interessant an. Leider hatte ich doch etwas anderes erwartet und habe mir mit dieser Geschichte sehr schwer getan.
Die Menschen leben in einer Welt in der so gut wie alles verboten ist und es einen zu einem Staatsfeind macht, wenn man nur die falsche Musik hört oder von irgendwoher noch eine Schmerztablette hat. Wenn Gott uns Schmerzen auferlegt, sollen wie gefälligst damit leben oder uns mit Naturprodukten helfen. Z.B bekommt Jonah im Krankenhaus statt Antibiotika ein verschimmeltes Stück Maisbrot. Das war für mich, die ich schon seit 10 Jahren an starken chronischen Schmerzen leide, besonders heftig. Auch sonst ist eigentlich alles verboten was Spaß macht und Frauen werden nicht viel anders behandelt als im Mittelalter. Das Leben in der Republik ist ein einziger riesen Rückschritt.
Es gibt eine Art Polizei, die nur darüber wacht, dass sich alle Menschen gottgefällig benehmen. Homosexuelle und Andersgläubige werden hingerichtet. Am Schlimmsten aber fand ich, dass die Oberen so schreckliche Heuchler waren. Sie lebten in Prunk und mit allem was das Herz begehrt und der Rest der Menschheit soll demütig sein und sich mit dem wenigen zufrieden geben, was ihnen laut der Kirche zusteht.
Jonah, um den es in diesem Buch hauptsächlich geht, merkt irgendwann, dass da etwas ganz gewaltig falsch läuft und stellt sich gegen die Republik. Damit ist sein Leben eigentlich so gut wie vorbei. Aber zum Glück steht er nicht ganz alleine da.
Ich weiß nicht, warum ich mit dieser Geschichte so gar nicht warm wurde, denn eigentlich hat sie alles was ein spannendes Buch braucht. Aber ich quälte mich teilweise schrecklich. Wäre es kein Rezensionsexemplar gewesen, hätte ich es abgebrochen, aber dann wäre mir ein sehr spannender Schluss entgangen, denn nachdem ich mehr als die Hälfte gelesen hatte, nahm die Geschichte endlich an Fahrt auf.
Darum vergebe ich auch 3 von 5 Punkten und bin letztendlich froh, dass ich das Buch zu Ende gelesen habe, auch wenn es mir zu Beginn echt egal war was aus Jonah Murtag und Angela Doe wird. Mit einer Lesempfehlung tue ich mir etwas schwer. Ich denke, man sollte es einfach mal mit dem Buch versuchen, falls einem der Klappentext zusagt. Ich hoffe, dass mich "Das Camp" wieder genauso begeistern kann wie "Die Tiefe".
© Beate Senft
Ich hatte mich unglaublich auf dieses Buch gefreut, nachdem ich von "Die Tiefe" von Nick Cutter so begeistert war. Und auch der Klappentext hörte sich sehr interessant an. Leider hatte ich doch etwas anderes erwartet und habe mir mit dieser Geschichte sehr schwer getan.
Die Menschen leben in einer Welt in der so gut wie alles verboten ist und es einen zu einem Staatsfeind macht, wenn man nur die falsche Musik hört oder von irgendwoher noch eine Schmerztablette hat. Wenn Gott uns Schmerzen auferlegt, sollen wie gefälligst damit leben oder uns mit Naturprodukten helfen. Z.B bekommt Jonah im Krankenhaus statt Antibiotika ein verschimmeltes Stück Maisbrot. Das war für mich, die ich schon seit 10 Jahren an starken chronischen Schmerzen leide, besonders heftig. Auch sonst ist eigentlich alles verboten was Spaß macht und Frauen werden nicht viel anders behandelt als im Mittelalter. Das Leben in der Republik ist ein einziger riesen Rückschritt.
Es gibt eine Art Polizei, die nur darüber wacht, dass sich alle Menschen gottgefällig benehmen. Homosexuelle und Andersgläubige werden hingerichtet. Am Schlimmsten aber fand ich, dass die Oberen so schreckliche Heuchler waren. Sie lebten in Prunk und mit allem was das Herz begehrt und der Rest der Menschheit soll demütig sein und sich mit dem wenigen zufrieden geben, was ihnen laut der Kirche zusteht.
Jonah, um den es in diesem Buch hauptsächlich geht, merkt irgendwann, dass da etwas ganz gewaltig falsch läuft und stellt sich gegen die Republik. Damit ist sein Leben eigentlich so gut wie vorbei. Aber zum Glück steht er nicht ganz alleine da.
Ich weiß nicht, warum ich mit dieser Geschichte so gar nicht warm wurde, denn eigentlich hat sie alles was ein spannendes Buch braucht. Aber ich quälte mich teilweise schrecklich. Wäre es kein Rezensionsexemplar gewesen, hätte ich es abgebrochen, aber dann wäre mir ein sehr spannender Schluss entgangen, denn nachdem ich mehr als die Hälfte gelesen hatte, nahm die Geschichte endlich an Fahrt auf.
Darum vergebe ich auch 3 von 5 Punkten und bin letztendlich froh, dass ich das Buch zu Ende gelesen habe, auch wenn es mir zu Beginn echt egal war was aus Jonah Murtag und Angela Doe wird. Mit einer Lesempfehlung tue ich mir etwas schwer. Ich denke, man sollte es einfach mal mit dem Buch versuchen, falls einem der Klappentext zusagt. Ich hoffe, dass mich "Das Camp" wieder genauso begeistern kann wie "Die Tiefe".
© Beate Senft
September 6, 2015
3.5 stars
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I've been planning to read The Troop for some time but when I got my hands on an ARC for The Acolyte, I thought I might as well start with that one instead. And if I could only say one thing about it, it would be that it's certainly not something you read everyday.
Jonah is an Acolyte, member of a special religion police force that puts the Dystopian into this Dystopian society. As he fails to protect a very important person at a bombing Muslim terrorists are the first suspects. But the evidence might point in a completely different way, and besides Jonah has bigger problems. He's lost his faith.
One thing that's certainly creepy about this kind of dystopian stories is that it doesn't feel like something that could never really happen in one way or another. (As opposed to let's say a zombie apocalypse). The Acolyte started really good and I thought it was going to be a very good read, perhaps even more than 4 stars, but the second half was very weird. Don't get me wrong, I like weird as much (perhaps a bit more) as the next person when it comes to books and movies but not everything made sense to me, even after I considered that there were religion fanatics and terrorists in play. I never understood exactly why the Quints needed to be added to the story.
Near the end there's a gruesome scene that makes me conclude this review with a warning that it's not for people with a weak stomach.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com
I've been planning to read The Troop for some time but when I got my hands on an ARC for The Acolyte, I thought I might as well start with that one instead. And if I could only say one thing about it, it would be that it's certainly not something you read everyday.
Jonah is an Acolyte, member of a special religion police force that puts the Dystopian into this Dystopian society. As he fails to protect a very important person at a bombing Muslim terrorists are the first suspects. But the evidence might point in a completely different way, and besides Jonah has bigger problems. He's lost his faith.
One thing that's certainly creepy about this kind of dystopian stories is that it doesn't feel like something that could never really happen in one way or another. (As opposed to let's say a zombie apocalypse). The Acolyte started really good and I thought it was going to be a very good read, perhaps even more than 4 stars, but the second half was very weird. Don't get me wrong, I like weird as much (perhaps a bit more) as the next person when it comes to books and movies but not everything made sense to me, even after I considered that there were religion fanatics and terrorists in play. I never understood exactly why the Quints needed to be added to the story.
Near the end there's a gruesome scene that makes me conclude this review with a warning that it's not for people with a weak stomach.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
August 19, 2022
Cutter REALLY enjoys “sweet rotting smells” I’ve noticed, and it makes me gag every time I think about it. This book was definitely a departure from “The Troop” or “The Deep,” but not in a bad way. It gave me “Little Heaven” vibes more than anything. Organized religion creeps me out & I have a lot of disdain for the inflated amount of power given to the government/police already. That being said, the dystopian future in this book sounds like like a nightmare & if this is what we are in for, count me OWT. Cutter’s talent for making you wince & die a little inside reading his detailed body horror abound & lead up to a pretty epic ending. My only complaints would be that I felt parts of the middle got tangled up, especially keeping track of the characters & the animal violence (not a horrible amount but I’m just not a fan of it) didn’t seem necessary tbh.
on-hold
June 26, 2015The Troop, The Deep...and now The Acolyte -- Can't wait!
OK, I tried this and either I was not in the mood or this book was not for me.
It happens sometimes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.
OK, I tried this and either I was not in the mood or this book was not for me.
It happens sometimes.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.
July 14, 2017
The third book by this master of horror creates a world where religious fanatics rule by law--a real-life nightmare, hell-on-earth. As a Christian, I've dealt with hypocrites like that, who pretend to be nice, try to control people, then hurt them in perverse and/or violent ways. This created world chills the blood and captivates from first page to last, with a staggering plot twist at the end.
July 8, 2015
In the interest of full disclosure I read this book as a devout Christian and as such, knowing I would find a lot of the material offensive based on the blurb, was not disappointed. I kept reading because the protagonist, according to the blurb, loses his faith though this aspect is not displayed.
While I no illusions that religion can be--and often has been--a cruel and oppressive bludgeon, it also can be--and often has been--a liberating and rehabilitating force.
In The Acolyte, we only get religion as a tool of tyrants and thugs used to keep true believers in check through fear of the religious machine and manufactured fear of God.
I kept reading hoping in vain for some olive branch--maybe one believer who isn't a murderous thug or complete imbecile--or in the case of the protagonist, both at the same time. But even one sympathetic person of religious conviction was one too many for Cutter. Before I had half finished the book, I had given up any hope that there would be even a reluctant approving nod that religion can be--sometimes, if rarely--a good thing.
But even if it were not so egregiously offensive (and it is egregiously offensive), as an interview with Cutter makes crystal clear, a diatribe born when the electorate had the unmitigated gall to re-elect Dubya to a second term, and the author's inexplicable horror that Rumsfeld would deign to pray before taking military action.
Even when you understand what it is, the book is full of so many plot contrivances that it fails on any literary ground. Take for instance the reemergence of animal sacrifices in a Christian setting. From its birth Christianity has regarded Christ's atoning sacrifice as fulfilling animal sacrifices. No Christian sect, ancient or modern has revived the practice. Given that animal sacrifices are closely related to Old Testament Judaism, and the powers that be in the book are rabidly antisemitic then why would they resurrect such a custom? But its on full display in gory detail in the book. Yet not a whisper as to how this practice came into being.
Another contrivance is when the protagonist goes to investigate one of the bombings by interrogating the only survivor, a man on his death bed. The investigator brings along devil horns to impersonate the devil. But this impersonation can only provide information that only the questionee would have. Our protagonist has none, but how very fortunate for him the man has no short term memory and goes in and out of consciousness frequently.
In another scene the tyrant in chief, an ex-tent revivalist known as The Prophet--gives the protagonist a lot of very useful information for no apparent reason, other than that it will be very useful to jump start the plot when it gets sluggish.
Then there is the habit--three separate occasions--when the protagonist is captured and could easily be killed, but is let go with little apparent reason for doing so. A work that is so openly hostile to religion, maybe ought not rely so heavily on the machine of the Gods to keep the plot plugging away.
Then there is a small matter of the author making blunders with actual facts. In one scene, at someone's funeral, the hymn "Near my Lord to Thee" is played. It is perhaps too much for a ranter in mid screed to pay attention to little details such as these, but perhaps an editor might have wanted to get the title correct. The correct title is, in fact, "Nearer my God to Thee."
Another plot contrivance is the author fails to accurate ground the piece in a specific time. It's in the nefarious near future. However the protagonist has spoken to someone who remembers HG Well's "War of the Worlds" broadcast. We learn elsewhere that the Passion of the Christ has been playing non stop in a church/state run theater every day since before he was born. Assuming the religious right's takeover of the government happened the date of publication April, 2015, and assuming the man who remembers the broadcast was at least 6 years old and the protagonist was also at least 6 years old to recall the conversation, he would be speaking to someone nearing 100 years old. That's not impossible, but highly improbable.
Though not a contrivance, but the mark of a mediocre author, is the excessive use of needless and gratuitous violence--including a very disturbing scene of the aftermath of wholesale animal torture.
Then there is the whole matter with the protagonist himself. I suppose he is supposed to be somewhat sympathetic. But the protagonist is a man who repeatedly lies to children, telling them to inform the police if their parents aren't towing the church/state line, promising they will be fixed and returned good as new--better in fact. The truth is that they receive frontal lobotomies and come back as mental children or drooling vegetables. This fact is even more disturbing knowing from chapter one that the protagonist's own mother was subjugated to such treatment.
Another glaring moral defect happens in another scene where he describes taking part in a terror campaign to fulfill the Prophet's prophesy correct as "fun" knowing the mayhem and death it will occur and knowing that others taking part in the deception, and who are much more innocent of it them he and his gang will shortly be exterminated to keep their lips shut.
While I no illusions that religion can be--and often has been--a cruel and oppressive bludgeon, it also can be--and often has been--a liberating and rehabilitating force.
In The Acolyte, we only get religion as a tool of tyrants and thugs used to keep true believers in check through fear of the religious machine and manufactured fear of God.
I kept reading hoping in vain for some olive branch--maybe one believer who isn't a murderous thug or complete imbecile--or in the case of the protagonist, both at the same time. But even one sympathetic person of religious conviction was one too many for Cutter. Before I had half finished the book, I had given up any hope that there would be even a reluctant approving nod that religion can be--sometimes, if rarely--a good thing.
But even if it were not so egregiously offensive (and it is egregiously offensive), as an interview with Cutter makes crystal clear, a diatribe born when the electorate had the unmitigated gall to re-elect Dubya to a second term, and the author's inexplicable horror that Rumsfeld would deign to pray before taking military action.
Even when you understand what it is, the book is full of so many plot contrivances that it fails on any literary ground. Take for instance the reemergence of animal sacrifices in a Christian setting. From its birth Christianity has regarded Christ's atoning sacrifice as fulfilling animal sacrifices. No Christian sect, ancient or modern has revived the practice. Given that animal sacrifices are closely related to Old Testament Judaism, and the powers that be in the book are rabidly antisemitic then why would they resurrect such a custom? But its on full display in gory detail in the book. Yet not a whisper as to how this practice came into being.
Another contrivance is when the protagonist goes to investigate one of the bombings by interrogating the only survivor, a man on his death bed. The investigator brings along devil horns to impersonate the devil. But this impersonation can only provide information that only the questionee would have. Our protagonist has none, but how very fortunate for him the man has no short term memory and goes in and out of consciousness frequently.
In another scene the tyrant in chief, an ex-tent revivalist known as The Prophet--gives the protagonist a lot of very useful information for no apparent reason, other than that it will be very useful to jump start the plot when it gets sluggish.
Then there is the habit--three separate occasions--when the protagonist is captured and could easily be killed, but is let go with little apparent reason for doing so. A work that is so openly hostile to religion, maybe ought not rely so heavily on the machine of the Gods to keep the plot plugging away.
Then there is a small matter of the author making blunders with actual facts. In one scene, at someone's funeral, the hymn "Near my Lord to Thee" is played. It is perhaps too much for a ranter in mid screed to pay attention to little details such as these, but perhaps an editor might have wanted to get the title correct. The correct title is, in fact, "Nearer my God to Thee."
Another plot contrivance is the author fails to accurate ground the piece in a specific time. It's in the nefarious near future. However the protagonist has spoken to someone who remembers HG Well's "War of the Worlds" broadcast. We learn elsewhere that the Passion of the Christ has been playing non stop in a church/state run theater every day since before he was born. Assuming the religious right's takeover of the government happened the date of publication April, 2015, and assuming the man who remembers the broadcast was at least 6 years old and the protagonist was also at least 6 years old to recall the conversation, he would be speaking to someone nearing 100 years old. That's not impossible, but highly improbable.
Though not a contrivance, but the mark of a mediocre author, is the excessive use of needless and gratuitous violence--including a very disturbing scene of the aftermath of wholesale animal torture.
Then there is the whole matter with the protagonist himself. I suppose he is supposed to be somewhat sympathetic. But the protagonist is a man who repeatedly lies to children, telling them to inform the police if their parents aren't towing the church/state line, promising they will be fixed and returned good as new--better in fact. The truth is that they receive frontal lobotomies and come back as mental children or drooling vegetables. This fact is even more disturbing knowing from chapter one that the protagonist's own mother was subjugated to such treatment.
Another glaring moral defect happens in another scene where he describes taking part in a terror campaign to fulfill the Prophet's prophesy correct as "fun" knowing the mayhem and death it will occur and knowing that others taking part in the deception, and who are much more innocent of it them he and his gang will shortly be exterminated to keep their lips shut.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2018
3,5 Sterne
April 25, 2015
**I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
"1984" meets "Fahrenheit 451", meets the Spanish Inquisition and crime noir.
Brilliant, brutal, mildly horrifying; at times savagely funny…I think I have another favourite author in Nick Cutter.
In a country ruled by fundamentalist Christians, Jonah Murtagh is an Acolyte, an officer of the Faith Crimes Unit in the City of New Bethlehem - a unit which enforces religious conformance and operates outside the law. Jonah’s involvement in an investigation into a series of terrorist bombings, expose him to the machinations of the extremist theocracy.
I could not put this book down. At times I was horrified and at others I laughed out loud at the biting satire of Cutter’s writing. The scariest thing is that I can see how you could extrapolate our current world into this dystopian vision.
The characterisations are wonderful and the story is fast paced. Cutter’s writing and use of imagery immerses you in this harsh world and two of the scenes made me grimace in their savagery; it takes a lot to make me do that. I loved every minute of it.
This has to be one of the best books I’ve read in a long while.
Five out Five Stars. Brutally Awesome.
Release Date: May 5th, 2015
"1984" meets "Fahrenheit 451", meets the Spanish Inquisition and crime noir.
Brilliant, brutal, mildly horrifying; at times savagely funny…I think I have another favourite author in Nick Cutter.
In a country ruled by fundamentalist Christians, Jonah Murtagh is an Acolyte, an officer of the Faith Crimes Unit in the City of New Bethlehem - a unit which enforces religious conformance and operates outside the law. Jonah’s involvement in an investigation into a series of terrorist bombings, expose him to the machinations of the extremist theocracy.
I could not put this book down. At times I was horrified and at others I laughed out loud at the biting satire of Cutter’s writing. The scariest thing is that I can see how you could extrapolate our current world into this dystopian vision.
The characterisations are wonderful and the story is fast paced. Cutter’s writing and use of imagery immerses you in this harsh world and two of the scenes made me grimace in their savagery; it takes a lot to make me do that. I loved every minute of it.
This has to be one of the best books I’ve read in a long while.
Five out Five Stars. Brutally Awesome.
Release Date: May 5th, 2015
April 13, 2015
There were parts of this book that read like one of my worst nightmares and I wondered if that author and I had some of the same fears for the future. With religious intolerance in some countries, the idea of there being some type of fundamentalist that control an area in the future.
is something that I worry about occurring; seems the author might have some concerns as well.
I found the characters to be well-developed and despite having to put the book down at times because the scenes were so chilling that I needed a break, I found myself caring about some of them. In caring, I was concerned about what could happen to them in this type of society. I am not going to give any spoilers, pick up this book and read it but be warned this is not a lite beach read.
4.5/5 **Receiving a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley did not influence my rating or review of this book; all opinions are my own.**
is something that I worry about occurring; seems the author might have some concerns as well.
I found the characters to be well-developed and despite having to put the book down at times because the scenes were so chilling that I needed a break, I found myself caring about some of them. In caring, I was concerned about what could happen to them in this type of society. I am not going to give any spoilers, pick up this book and read it but be warned this is not a lite beach read.
4.5/5 **Receiving a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley did not influence my rating or review of this book; all opinions are my own.**
March 9, 2017
There's just nothing much here. Yes, I get it, religion ruling everyone is bad, I agree, but this was not really fleshed out, the narrator (1st person no less) had zero personality. Many things would have struck me as gross or offensive if I had been even remotely able to connect with anyone or their motivations in this, but I was not. It feels much more like a rushed first draft than a complete story.
I did the Audible audio book and I also absolutely hated the narrator. This bums me out, premise-wise, this book sounded very culturally and politically relevant and I like the author so was looking forward to reading it. Oh well, on to the next.
I did the Audible audio book and I also absolutely hated the narrator. This bums me out, premise-wise, this book sounded very culturally and politically relevant and I like the author so was looking forward to reading it. Oh well, on to the next.
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