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Sacrifice
Yesterday, Alice had a not-so-hot body, a brute of a boyfriend and an accident that crippled her. Today, she has an erotic power over men, but it's a power that soon turns deadly. For Alice has begun to dream about a demon with the face of a goddess and an unmerciful soul. Now, Alice is about to make a terrifying discovery about whom she is.
- GenresHorror
380 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 7, 2022
Alice Sterling just recently survived a car crash with a drunk driver, but she will never be the same person again, as she loses her leg, leaving her with severe self-esteem issues, not to mention she walks in on her boyfriend cheating on her shortly after.
In need of a change, she purchases an old Watch house - a historic landmark in her town, and totally restores it. No matter what she does, though, including seeing a psychiatrist regularly, Alice cannot shake her terrible depression, and attempts suicide. During her botched attempt, Alice has strange dreams and visions, where she 'meets' a woman named Dessamona, who offers to give Alice back her self-esteem and encourages her to hook up with men.
Shortly after, Alice is suddenly losing weight and not only looking, but feeling better than ever. She begins to experience over-sexualization and starts having random one night stands - all of whom are coincidentally found brutally butchered the next day... She also hears a voice telling her to stop taking her anti-depressants, and dumps them out.
Alice's psychiatrist, Holly becomes a close friend of hers, and is growing concerned about Alice. One night, she sleeps over her house and gets a nighttime visit from Dessamona, warning her that Alice belongs to her. She tells herself it must be a dream, but she's not totally convinced.
Alice has been blacking out and losing chunks of time, and has also began sleepwalking down to the basement. Holly can not fight the urge to snoop any longer, and in the basement, finds the boards of an old ship, the Scrimm. She goes to the historical society to learn more, and discovers that ship never made it to port back in 1793, and that same day, the Watch house burned to the ground. Holly also finds a book on witchcraft and demonology and finally learns about her nighttime visitor.
"Dessamona - a demon of some sorts, worshipped before Christianity. Before the Druids. The demon can be thought of as being possessed of a dual personality, Dessamona appears as a beautiful woman, a seductress, promising wealth and beauty to it's unfortunate victims. Yet the demon's actual gender is male, and he is called Amon. Dessamona/Amon's manner of seduction came through dreams; the demon would falsely inspire confidence in the mind of the subject. Eventually, Amon would grow tired of a subject, having deceived her sufficiently, and would then abandon her after inspiring suicide. Amon was routinely worshipped in caves, caverns and grottos, a demon whose spirit was condemned by God to spend eternity enslaved in the rocks of the earth."
All of a sudden, things are making a lot of sense to Holly... And the very rock the demon was imprisoned in, was used to rebuild Alice's house. Can she save Alice before it's too late?
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This wasn't very much like any other Lee book I've read before. There wasn't too too much gore, but there was a ton of sex and perversion. Not too much happened in the beginning, but I really enjoyed it regardless. I liked the twist at the end, and I'm very glad to have finally read this one.
In need of a change, she purchases an old Watch house - a historic landmark in her town, and totally restores it. No matter what she does, though, including seeing a psychiatrist regularly, Alice cannot shake her terrible depression, and attempts suicide. During her botched attempt, Alice has strange dreams and visions, where she 'meets' a woman named Dessamona, who offers to give Alice back her self-esteem and encourages her to hook up with men.
Shortly after, Alice is suddenly losing weight and not only looking, but feeling better than ever. She begins to experience over-sexualization and starts having random one night stands - all of whom are coincidentally found brutally butchered the next day... She also hears a voice telling her to stop taking her anti-depressants, and dumps them out.
Alice's psychiatrist, Holly becomes a close friend of hers, and is growing concerned about Alice. One night, she sleeps over her house and gets a nighttime visit from Dessamona, warning her that Alice belongs to her. She tells herself it must be a dream, but she's not totally convinced.
Alice has been blacking out and losing chunks of time, and has also began sleepwalking down to the basement. Holly can not fight the urge to snoop any longer, and in the basement, finds the boards of an old ship, the Scrimm. She goes to the historical society to learn more, and discovers that ship never made it to port back in 1793, and that same day, the Watch house burned to the ground. Holly also finds a book on witchcraft and demonology and finally learns about her nighttime visitor.
"Dessamona - a demon of some sorts, worshipped before Christianity. Before the Druids. The demon can be thought of as being possessed of a dual personality, Dessamona appears as a beautiful woman, a seductress, promising wealth and beauty to it's unfortunate victims. Yet the demon's actual gender is male, and he is called Amon. Dessamona/Amon's manner of seduction came through dreams; the demon would falsely inspire confidence in the mind of the subject. Eventually, Amon would grow tired of a subject, having deceived her sufficiently, and would then abandon her after inspiring suicide. Amon was routinely worshipped in caves, caverns and grottos, a demon whose spirit was condemned by God to spend eternity enslaved in the rocks of the earth."
All of a sudden, things are making a lot of sense to Holly... And the very rock the demon was imprisoned in, was used to rebuild Alice's house. Can she save Alice before it's too late?
------------------
This wasn't very much like any other Lee book I've read before. There wasn't too too much gore, but there was a ton of sex and perversion. Not too much happened in the beginning, but I really enjoyed it regardless. I liked the twist at the end, and I'm very glad to have finally read this one.
September 29, 2017
I picked up “Sacrifice” from the top of my pile of Gruesome Horror To Read This Fall, and couldn’t decide if author Richard Kinion’s name sounded familiar or not. But a quick Internet search revealed that Richard Kinion is actually a pen name of one of our old gory favorites, Ed Lee!
Since this is an Ed Lee story, we begin many decades ago. A woman is assaulted by some crusty British soldiers. The prologue finishes: “[They attacked her], and they did so repeatedly and for hours on end, and in manners that were better left undescribed . . . ”
Manners better left undescribed? Since when does Ed Lee leave anything horrific undescribed?
Don’t worry, the conclusion of the prologue is not a sign of things to come. There are plenty of disgustingly gory scenes later on, described in full detail. The character Steve, for instance, commits a few acts that really push the limits of what I’m willing to read on a piece of paper. Actually, almost every scene involving Steve also involves something gross.
Steve’s a budding serial rapist/killer. He used to just rob people’s houses when they weren’t home, but recently decided to upgrade to nastier crimes. His ex, Alice, is in a state of emotional distress months after discovering Steve cheating on her, fleeing his house, and getting hit by a car. Nowadays she moves around with a prosthetic limb and the support of her psychologist, Holly.
At first Holly comes off as a bit of a jerk. The way she pushes Alice into different romantic scenarios, her tough love routine, it just seems a bit much. Then we learn that Holly is secretly in love with Alice, and her actions and advice aren’t coming strictly from a place of objective assistance. Cue Holly’s internal monologues, which grow increasingly redundant and unnecessary the further we get into the story.
Alice is being guided, taken over, by a demon named Dessamona. The demon encourages her to commit atrocities Alice would never consider in her normal state of mind. Lovesick Holly tries to help, while Steve considers revisiting his ex. There’s some good suspense in the first two hundred pages, and Alice is a likable lead. But “Sacrifice” could have used some heavy editing, starting with Holly’s (and Alice’s) internal monologues.
There’s a lot of sex in this book, with erotic scenes containing little that is truly tantalizing. I’m no expert on erotic fiction, but I’d suggest that any sentences that include the word “pubis” will never be described as “erotic”—and this word, along with other clinical terms, appears several times in Lee’s story.
[SPOILERS, NEXT PARAGRAPH]
There’s a twist at the end; not a bad one, but not enough to change my opinion of the book. Also, when Steve meets his end, it’s basically off-screen. That’s right, after pages and pages of this son of a bitch carving, raping, mutilating, and murdering innocent women, he’s killed on a blank page. Talk about a missed opportunity.
“Sacrifice” certainly won’t turn me off of Ed Lee. I’ve read more good than bad from this author. But if you’re unfamiliar with Lee’s work, I wouldn’t suggest starting with this one.
Since this is an Ed Lee story, we begin many decades ago. A woman is assaulted by some crusty British soldiers. The prologue finishes: “[They attacked her], and they did so repeatedly and for hours on end, and in manners that were better left undescribed . . . ”
Manners better left undescribed? Since when does Ed Lee leave anything horrific undescribed?
Don’t worry, the conclusion of the prologue is not a sign of things to come. There are plenty of disgustingly gory scenes later on, described in full detail. The character Steve, for instance, commits a few acts that really push the limits of what I’m willing to read on a piece of paper. Actually, almost every scene involving Steve also involves something gross.
Steve’s a budding serial rapist/killer. He used to just rob people’s houses when they weren’t home, but recently decided to upgrade to nastier crimes. His ex, Alice, is in a state of emotional distress months after discovering Steve cheating on her, fleeing his house, and getting hit by a car. Nowadays she moves around with a prosthetic limb and the support of her psychologist, Holly.
At first Holly comes off as a bit of a jerk. The way she pushes Alice into different romantic scenarios, her tough love routine, it just seems a bit much. Then we learn that Holly is secretly in love with Alice, and her actions and advice aren’t coming strictly from a place of objective assistance. Cue Holly’s internal monologues, which grow increasingly redundant and unnecessary the further we get into the story.
Alice is being guided, taken over, by a demon named Dessamona. The demon encourages her to commit atrocities Alice would never consider in her normal state of mind. Lovesick Holly tries to help, while Steve considers revisiting his ex. There’s some good suspense in the first two hundred pages, and Alice is a likable lead. But “Sacrifice” could have used some heavy editing, starting with Holly’s (and Alice’s) internal monologues.
There’s a lot of sex in this book, with erotic scenes containing little that is truly tantalizing. I’m no expert on erotic fiction, but I’d suggest that any sentences that include the word “pubis” will never be described as “erotic”—and this word, along with other clinical terms, appears several times in Lee’s story.
[SPOILERS, NEXT PARAGRAPH]
There’s a twist at the end; not a bad one, but not enough to change my opinion of the book. Also, when Steve meets his end, it’s basically off-screen. That’s right, after pages and pages of this son of a bitch carving, raping, mutilating, and murdering innocent women, he’s killed on a blank page. Talk about a missed opportunity.
“Sacrifice” certainly won’t turn me off of Ed Lee. I’ve read more good than bad from this author. But if you’re unfamiliar with Lee’s work, I wouldn’t suggest starting with this one.
November 12, 2023
Yet another exceptional horror novel by Edward Lee, written under the Richard Kinion pseudonym. A psycho-sexual demonic thriller that creeps up on you. The book is written from the point of view of the characters, so it really gets inside their heads. While this is an interesting and effective storytelling technique, the sheer amount of psycho babble from two of the main characters, a psychiatrist and her patient, gets tiresome here and there. Some of this could have definitely been trimmed down. For Lee, this book takes awhile to really get going, as well. That said, it's strengths far outweigh it's weaknesses and Lee's writing is just as great as ever here.
Don't let the endless psycho babble deter you, this is an excellent horror novel with an intense and effective climax and ending. Stick with it!
Don't let the endless psycho babble deter you, this is an excellent horror novel with an intense and effective climax and ending. Stick with it!
January 25, 2026
It reads like Ed Lee writing as Richard Laymon at his sleaziest, but under a pseudonym. Paper-thin, silly plot. Nonstop unsexy sex. Completely unscary demons.
The best thing about the book is laughing at the therapist who practices “antagonistic therapy”, brow-beating, abusing and physically assaulting her patients.
The best thing about the book is laughing at the therapist who practices “antagonistic therapy”, brow-beating, abusing and physically assaulting her patients.
November 28, 2019
Was kinda disappointed in this one. I enjoyed the ending though.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews