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by Trevor Hoyle

The chilling saga of innocence and evil warring for the possession of the ultimate deadly sacrifice - a young girl's soul. 220+ pages.

Genres: Horror

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

As another reviewer notes, it starts off so classy. (Well not quite - the prelude is shrill and bloody, but that's over soon enough.) Trevor Hoyle is a rather elegant writer, paying careful attention to how his characters look, move, and talk. His prose is calm and thoughtful and dare I say it, refined. Lovely, atmospheric descriptions of landscapes and homes that are pleasing to read about if not always pleasing to his characters' eyes. The mystery of Who & Where Is The Witch is carefully unspooled and refracted through multiple perspectives, all of them completely sympathetic. There are some shivers and shocks to be had as well, still in the classy vein, in particular with the startling appearance of a misshapen Something and two very upsetting falls on a staircase. There's even a character with the classy name of Dr. Ravenscroft. And he's a very classy fellow!

But then it's like the author had a convulsion near the end and shouted to himself You Know What? Fuck This! and then all of a sudden we have some very explicitly described attempted rapes (one by demon dog and the other by a grotesque baby-shaped homunculus with a huge penis) and finally that ole standby, death by blowjob. Not that I'm complaining, I sometimes like my trash served up harsh & horrible. Still, that tone shift was something else.

"Now that God is dead we can begin."

That line was something else too, a jaw was dropped.

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Starts off pretty classy, but by the end of the book, it is no longer classy. I loved it. There was one particularly nasty paragraph near the end of the book that i tried to read to my wife to gross her out, but i wasn't able to finish reading it aloud because it was so geniusly hilarious.

[Αγγελική · Rating 3 out of 5]

It could be very very strong if there weren't some particular very funny and foolish scenes...The main idea was good.I'd rather a different end and also I would change the plot.I liked very much the historical references about witches.Finally some interesting concerns arised about faith and relegion.

[Ienilny · Rating 1 out of 5]

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