Death Cult Review
Author: Janelle Schiecke
Rating: 8.5 GREAT
What’s it About?
Having just graduated from college, Jason and Eddie are ready to let loose and embark on a cross-country road trip in the summer of 1984. After some killer partying at a rock music festival in Nevada, they head out into the desert with girls and adventure on their minds. Their situation takes a dark turn, however, when they lose direction and find themselves at the entrance of a ghost town in the bowels of the sprawling desert. The residents turn out to be . . . a little off.
Meanwhile, Carrie has just found herself in the depths of a murky lair. Quick reflexes aid in her concealment, but she soon discovers the utter horrors that lurk within the dark recesses. Survival ultimately depends on her strength and cunning.
Novella Review
This is my first novella review so please bear with me. My fear was that novellas weren’t going to be as engaging due to not having the length needed to develop everything properly. I was so wrong. Death Cult by Janelle Schiecke was not only engaging but focused, thrilling, morbid, despicable, gory, scary, depraved, disgusting, brutal, and most importantly, fun as hell!
“Then he heard the whimper. They always whimpered…every last one of them. It came before the screams.”
Death Cult hit me with a heavy dose of nostalgia right from the start. I was brought back to a time watching 80’s horror movies under the cover of darkness when I was far too young. After reading the prologue, I hadn’t even met all of the characters yet and already felt sorry for them. That’s how powerful of a tone author, Janelle Schiecke has set. When we meet Jason and Eddie they’re fun and relatable which made my anxiety over the impeding chaos infinitely worse. I really admire that in such a short amount of time the author provides enough for me to care about each character for slightly different reasons. Nobody should ever have to even be exposed to a situation this horrific. Let alone be a victim of it. I found myself rooting so hard for each one of these poor souls. As likable as they were, they did make some very boneheaded decisions. I could see some readers rolling their eyes at a few things. I personally think it’s part of the charm. Familiar tropes are here but I’m happy to say they are handled perfectly. Death Cult knows exactly what it is and I love it for that.
The writing elevates all aspects of this book. It’s amazing to me how quickly I got invested in the story. Schiecke goes from 0 to 100 in an instant. Just knowing this made every quiet moment more intense. The author sprinkles in little bits of the familiar outside world in contrast to the horrors unfolding. I felt mostly sadness but a little hope slowly trickled in. It was a brilliant way to make each situation more compelling. It’s a polished and tight narrative that never lets up. Schiecke knows what’ll make you cringe. She knows what’ll make you recoil in disgust, double check your deadbolt, or reconsider your vacation to Nevada. The author knows the audience so well and competently caters to us all. Ultra dark tone? check. Relatable characters? check. Middle of nowhere? check. The 1980’s? check. I found myself verbally yelling “Nope! Turn the car around and go home! THE END!” That’s all within the first 10 pages. To evoke that kind of response from myself was a signal that I was in for a ride. It turns out, it was a great one. I really enjoyed my time and absolutely recommend Death Cult if you know what your getting into. You’ve been warned. The Dark Veil Society has been on a roll with me. Now all I can think about is Janelle Schiecke’s next book called, The Clatter Man.