The Devoted

by Eric Shapiro

It’s the last day in the life of the suicide cult.

Nine members. One house. Twelve more hours. Then the knives will come out and the ritual will start and the blood...is expected to pour...

But young Matthew is having second thoughts. Of everyone there, The Leader trusts young Matthew the most.

But the problem is, young Matthew doesn’t trust The Leader back.

And as the seconds and the minutes and the hours tick by, young Matthew thinks of staging a revolt.

***

THE DEVOTED stands tall among horror action stories and epic tales of cults as a novel dealing in themes of love and friendship, as well as a coming of age story steeped in mental illness and psychological suspense. A mashup weaving elements of the thriller, horror, crime, and mystery genres, THE DEVOTED’s dark heart also beats with romance, depicting a collective of soulful characters who’ve left behind their urban city life for a house in the country that might be the last place they ever dwell.

Editorial reviews

“Eric Shapiro knows that sometimes the worst horrors are the ones we make for ourselves. His book is riveting from the very first, his writing crisp, witty, and stylish. There’s real wisdom here, and compassion. Mr. Shapiro? Do us a favor. Keep on drumming!” --Jack Ketchum

“The Devoted takes you to the edge of what you think you know and then whispers that you’re already in this book. That you have been all along.” —Stephen Graham Jones

“Eric Shapiro’s The Devoted is a disturbing and frighteningly immersive portrait of life inside the last days of a collapsing cult. This fast-paced kaleidoscope of narrative styles swings swiftly from seduction to self-immolating shock to a bloody, beautiful end.” —Jeremy Robert Johnson

Genres: Fiction

231 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Eric Shapiro is a writer, filmmaker, and journalist. He wrote the screenplay for Macho, the forthcoming Randy Savage biopic now in co-production with Kenan Thompson’s Artists for Artists, Paul Coy Allen’s Midas Entertainment, and Range Media Partners.

His novella It’s Only Temporary was named one of Nightmare Magazine’s “100 Best Horror Novels of All Time,” and he has won both a Fade In Award for screenwriting and a California Journalism Award. As a filmmaker, his work has won awards at Fantasia and Shriekfest, earned the endorsement of PETA, and screened at Fantastic Fest. His feature films Horrorbuku, Intrusive, and Rule of 3 are slated to appear as special episodes in the upcoming revival of USA’s Up All Night on Kings of Horror.

He is also co-owner and editor of The Milpitas Beat, winner of Golden Quill and John Swett Awards.

Reviews

[James Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember when you were a kid and you awoke in the middle of the night with an urgent need to go to the bathroom? Remember how your little kid imagination feared The Thing Under the Bed? How you worried that if you were to put your feet on the ground in order to make the trip to the bathroom The Thing might reach out a slimy gnarled hand, grab you by the ankles, and drag you under with it, where it would no doubt proceed to gnaw on your still alive, writhing body while your screams went unheard by your parents sleeping in the other room?

So you waited until your need to go was so urgent that you feared you might wet the bed. Only then, after a few preparatory breaths, you threw back the covers and leaped onto the floor--just beyond what you hoped was the limit of The Thing's reach--and dashed for the bathroom as fast as you could go, flipping on lights all the way.

That's exactly how you'll feel when you connect with the protagonist of Eric Shaprio's The Devoted. Matthew, second in command of a Jim Jones style cult that is intent on committing mass suicide, arises on what is supposed to be the last day of his life. He is at first serene and, he thinks, prepared for the end. But as the hours tick by and the end time approaches, doubt begins to creep into his mind. Soon he begins to suspect that the leader of the cult to which he has devoted several years of his life hasn't been completely honest with him or the other followers. It is then that Matthew decides to perform some surreptitious investigating of just how honest his leader is.

And that's where his world starts to fall apart. He finds himself faced with a decision: does he stay and end his life along with the others? Or does he grab the woman he loves and dash, saving both their lives.

If The Devoted were a film, it would be one in which you find yourself talking to the screen, attempting to urge the character to hurry up and get out of there or close the drawer before he sees you! And it is that element of the story that makes it the entertainment that it is. It's also unique among the first batch of Ravenous Shadows titles in that it is written in an epistolary style, a series of journal entries, interviews, and news clippings, similar to Dracula or Carrie. As a result, we not only get to travel along with Matthew as he makes his discoveries, but we also get to see inside the mind of the cult leader as he descends into madness. More, we get to see the outside world's perception of the cult and its leader through the eyes of others who have escaped it.

Like the other titles in the Ravenous Shadows line, you'll not want to put this one down once you begin. There's no boring stuff. Therefore, you'll want to make sure you went to the bathroom before you curl up in bed with The Devoted.

[David Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a story that sneaks up on you and before you know it, you feel as if you have joined a cult. It was addictive, turning each page waiting for the shoe to drop. It was a very suspenseful wild ride with a satisfying shocking ending. It was a smooth reading experience one page flowed to the next with just enough to tempt you to read just one more page. I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are so many ways a novel about a cult can go wrong and fall into cliched portraits of blind Mansonesque followers going on wild killing sprees at the behest of their charismatic leader. Thankfully The Devoted never stumbles into this territory, and instead focuses on the memories and thoughts of individual cult members as they experience what is to be their last day on earth before committing mass suicide. Shapiro slowly unwinds the history of the cult --their love for their follow members, their histories, how they became to be apart of the group, and day-to-day minutiae that make up their lives--and builts close to near unbearable suspense as the proposed hour of their collective deaths approach. The Devoted is a unique physiological study into the mind set and dangers of the hive mind, and one of the best recent examples of the "literary" horror movement which has been emerging within the past several years.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to read this prior to publication, here's what I had to say...

Eric Shapiro is a twisted indvidual who probably pays hookers with Monopoly money for sexual favours whilst gorging on Japanese tentacle porn...he's a dangerous man whose creative output guarantees him a place in literary history.

With The Devoted Shapiro certainly brings The Gush...and provides a fuck-me-fantastic opening shot for Ravenous Shadow, the eBook only range from New York Times best selling author & editor John Skipp.

I have already ordered another title from thos range, and I'm sure the others will follow as money and time permits.