Devil's Creek by Todd KeislingMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Okay I went into this really excited but unfortunately it kind of ... fizzled.
Mostly, the story just seemed a good excuse to:
1. Trash talk religion
2. Make people do weird kinky things
The story follows Jack, who is returning to his hometown after his Grandmother's death. Back when he was a kid, he was part of a cult led by Jacob Masters, who fathered six children specifically so he could later sacrifice them. Jack was one of those kids, so now he has to face his past, particularly since it seems, after 30 years, Jacob may longer be satisfied with staying dead.
So it begins with exactly what went down with the demise of the cult and Jacob's death. Jacob is a religious nut who realised God is not above but actually beneath, and he demands blood, suffering and general depravity. To start, I kind of found it hard to believe that this religious nut hears a 'god' from below and doesn't even think about the possibility it's the devil? How did the dude with the horns and pitchfork not even turn up beyond the title? That surprised me a lot. I found it a little unbelievable that this pastor who was so devoted to God suddenly had his switch flipped by a voice from below. Then again, what do I know about religion? *shrugs*
Soon enough it jumps to present day, 30 years later, where the 'Stauford Six' are just trying to live ordinary lives. Jack is the only one who ever moved away - he went off to become a highly successful artist, thanks to the disturbing artwork inspired by his nightmares. Way to capitalise, buddy. Anyhoo, now he's back in town and we're following as he reunites with a few of his siblings and suddenly discovers that his loving grandma was into some weird stuff before she died.
It was all a little too detailed for me. We get to know half the town in greater detail than was really necessary, and it slowed everything down so much. I got King vibes from the storytelling, but it never drew me in like King's work does. Instead we get to know all of these people that just end up meaning very little to the story. Plus all the backstory with the idol got kinda dull after a while.
The violence is graphic yet sporadic, so you can get this really terrifying, gruesome scene, then the next is an info dump of history that's mostly boring. Also, it's so sexualised. I'll spoiler-tag the details, but safe to say some kinky stuff goes down. (view spoiler) It also starts really strong and creepy but then it ends up being more of the same so it gets a bit repetitive, to be honest. It's like it wants to get creative but just misses the mark.
I enjoyed the lore and the building of the story behind this evil, but all the rituals made it a little too confusing for me and at the end of it I'm still not entirely sure I understand it. I feel like so much detail went into it when it was actually more simple? It got a little bit wild and I think a lot of it was kind of wasted.
I think the takeaway message is that people can do crazy stuff when they think they're doing God's will. It definitely takes a nice solid swipe at the devout, but in doing so it divides the town into 'evil religious nuts' or 'outcasts with no faith'. I think I really needed that middle ground to become properly invested.
I never really felt a lot for the characters, and I think that's because we jumped between so many of them. The substance was certainly there but I just didn't stay with them long enough to really get too invested.
Finally, the whole thing just took so long to play out that, by the end, I was just bored. It started strong but then put so much effort into creating substance and fleshing out details; normally this is something I would appreciate but it just felt pointless and wasted on this story. I think the amount of violence and depravity in this story called for less effort in the storytelling. Alternatively, I would have appreciated fewer, more effective incidents of violence. Basically, the balance was off.
Overall it was an enteraining story that I think just took itself too seriously. I didn't hate it, but I think there's a fair bit of room for improvement.
With thanks to Netgalley for a copy.
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