Little Heaven

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The religious retreat seems like any other such encampment created by a bunch of Bible-thumpers led by a charismatic Reverend Jones-type huckster; mostly decent if naive and easily led folks seeking an escape from the sins of Babylon (in this case, appropriately, San Francisco, the city from which they fled). The follies of their misplaced faith are explored, yet they’re not made to be as bad as their leader. One of them, Minerva, plans to kill another, a British black man named Ebeneezer, to fulfill a wish for revenge.

The commune of Amos and his followers is a thinly disguised Jonestown but Amos shows none of the charisma required to bring something like that together. I’m not sure if reading it during the holiday season was the best decision, but if you’re looking for something that will make your skin crawl, this is the right book for you. When the three mercenaries show up at Little Heaven, it doesn't take long for them to realize that the name of the place is incredibly misleading. Micah Shughrue, Minerva Atwater, and Ebenzer Elkins are three eccentric mercenaries hired by Ellen Bellhaven for a deceptively simple task; check in on her nephew Nathan.I've been asked to set this up by The Powers That Be, and I'm more than happy to, although I can't really say much about myself seeing as Nick Cutter doesn't exactly exist—he's a pen name. I think it simply comes back to the fact that too much of the novel felt like "filler", and there were parts that just bored me completely.

It says more than a little bit that it’s hard to know what Cutter’s most horrific creation is: the shapeshifting, surreal horrors in the woods, or the disturbed villains we keep seeing…or even our heroes themselves, whose lives of violence and brutality are part of their lives. Rating 7: This book scared the living daylights out of me, but the ending was a bit too nihilistic for my tastes. And while this is usually a good thing in the stories I read, it almost went a little bit too far for me. If there is usually nothing wrong with a plot-driven story (as opposed to one that is character-driven), I have to agree with you on your need to establish some link with the characters, and care for them: when this element is missing, the enjoyment of a book suffers.Full of downtrodden inhabitants, who appear unhealthy and emaciated, and children who are demonstrating pretty cruel behaviour, Little Heaven tells the story of a settlement that might actually be a little closer to Hell than Heaven. I wanted to like Little Heaven so much, not only because it sounded so intriguing but also because I am a fan of Cutter’s The Troop.