This is book three of The Brother’s Curse Saga and takes place some twenty years after events of the first two. The town of Lakeview Falls was closed after those evil events of 2025 and all the killing that took place there, with the government having agreed to never allow it to be reopened ever again. Now an enthusiastic Mayor of the town of Sunrise Caper, California, has pushed for the town to be reopened, so he can build his dream town and move all of his residents there for a better life. Mayor Benjamin Cocks is funding everything for his residents for the first five years, from housing, schooling, and all the amenities his residents could need. He has renamed all the streets, taking away the former road names that were all a bit graphic and off putting. He has spent his own money on building everything as well as funding it all, along with his skilful fiancé Abigale, who is an excellent realtor. Crystal Pheiffer’s son Christopher, who was fathered by one of the sons of the demon Mastema, Jason Warwick, is now at college with his cousin Carlos Mills. Jason had fallen in love with Crystal and lost his immortality, and he died to help save Crystal and his unborn son. Christopher (19) has been raised far away from Lakeview Falls, with the only man he ever knew as his father, John, and his younger siblings, JJ (17) and Catalina (4), with their mother Crystal. Unfortunately John has been in a coma for a month and although he suddenly wakes up one day, he is dead shortly after. The possible reasons for his sudden death, go back twenty years to the events of her birthday on thirty first of October, 2025.
Christopher has been asking his mother questions about his past and who his actual father was, which she is reluctant to tell him, having tried to put the events of two decades ago behind her. She and her friends lost lots of friends and family during the massacre that happened and moved far away afterwards. Christopher seems to be acting out and doesn’t even turn up to John’s funeral and it all coincides with the gift of a ring he received at his dorm room. Someone clearly knows who he truly is and has sent it deliberately, as it has part of the crystal that was in the necklace Crystal was given by her aunt all those years ago and who Jason’s father Mastema was after, to enable him and his soldier demons to be released from the stone! Now Christopher has turned demonic and when Carlos asks him to accompany him as he pledges at a fraternity house, he commits his first mass massacre, but not his first murder whilst at the college! Not much is seen of him after that, but his mother and friends find out about Lakeview Falls beign reopened and realise that is where he is heading and they need to stop him, by getting the ring off him. Crystal hopes she can get her son back, like she did when he was a child and Cain brought the stone to her house and Christopher touched it by accident. People from past events join with Crystal and her friends, whilst Harley and Cain are joined by his great grandma Madame Magdaline Pierre, and all make their way to Lakeview Falls, hoping to stop Christopher before everyone in the town is at risk from him.
Mayor Cocks benefactor and supporter in reopening the town is Congressman Forte, of Washington, D.C., who has his own links to the past of the town and has kept it all hidden from Benjamin. All the stories of the town and what happened to it twenty years ago and in the decades before, have been removed from the web and from most news articles. Some absolutely graphic scenes of murder and mayhem follow, as Christopher makes it to town and even though Crystal tries to warn the mayor of the danger everyone in the town is in, he ignores it all, not willing to allow his plan to be ruined for any reason! Nobody is safe, not even Christopher’s mother, birth father, or even his brother JJ. He has become so much stronger than the demons they have faced in the past and it seems like it could be impossible to stop him. The ancient Madam Pierre puts most of her trust in Cain, to do what he should have done all those years ago, but there are a couple of demons they hadn’t know about, who have had years to make their plans for the town and the ready made sacrifices they have as a ready food source for their evil. Some very graphic killings scenes and more in the story, which is a bit longer than it probably needed to be, with a few twists at the end which bring a few surprises about those responsible for the ring and the town beign reopened, when it was known to be so dangerous! You have to wait and see who might survive, as many get into silly and dangerous situations. The end of the saga is as gruesome as the start and not for the light of heart, as the consequences of the past continue to create havoc and death in the cursed town.
I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.