SACRIFICE is a sequel to John Everson’s COVENANT. It definitely shows the author stretching his narrative muscles and taking on more challenging techniques. But beyond that, it is a disappointment.
Joe Kieran, the newspaper reporter and main protagonist from COVENANT, is aimlessly driving across country alone. But he’s not really alone. Imprisoned in his consciousness is the devious demon Malachai. Joe previously rescued the small, East Coast town of Terrel from its blood covenant with Malachai by discovering the demon’s secret and evoking its name. Now, Malachai is indentured to Joe, but the demon is hardly a wish-granting genie. While it is obliged to follow Joe’s bidding, it takes advantage of any devious loophole it can find.
Joe eventually picks up a teenaged girl hitchhiker named Alex. And as they grow to know each other, Alex reveals that she has the ability to see and converse with ghosts. It’s a trait that resulted in the violent death of her parents and put her on the road. But Alex can also see Malachai. And after a while, the demon reveals that he fully intended for Alex and Joe to meet.
Meanwhile, a woman named Ariana is on something of a personal, cross-country mission. She seeks out men, usually in bars, propositions them and takes them back to her hotel room. But while her intentions are erotic, she ends up killing the men in a ritualistic ceremony. We soon learn that Ariana is carrying out her murders in order to free a race of sadistic spirits known as the Curburide. With each sacrifice, the portal between our world and that of the Curburide grows wider.
The narrative switches back and forth between Ariana and Joe/Alex. With Alex’s help and Malachai’s caustic clues, Joe learns about the Curburide and Ariana’s aim to release them into our world. So he sets out to foil the attempt, and their paths lead to a climatic, but abrupt meeting back in Terrel.
Horror novels often ask us to accept a lot on faith, and this is no exception. We are supposed to be frightened of the Curburide, but after a bit, they come off as an excuse for lots of sex and violence. But the real difficulties here are not so much with the concept of the Curburide as with Everson’s characterizations. Malachai is not quite the smart-mouth brat he was in COVENANT, but his teasing attitude is still more irritating than frightening. But what’s even more difficult to accept is a secondary character who escapes Ariana’s seduction beats her nearly to death, and then becomes her accomplice in the quest to free the Curburide.
Then, too, most of the shock in the novel comes from the sexual gymnastics and resulting graphic stabbings and disembowelments than from the Curburide themselves or any other supernatural entities. And it all gets real old real fast.
On the plus side, Everson demonstrates genuine skill as he alternates the action between the two main characters and settings. And his locales are presented with convincing details and ambience. He is an imaginative author, but SACRIFICE feels more like a slasher gore-fest than an actual horror story. —Alan Cranis
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• COVENANT by John Everson
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