What Hell May Come - A Dark Version of The Chosen One Trope
Beginning with the societal move to the right during the 1980’s the idea began to emerge that powerful and secretive Satan-worshipers were corrupting society in what was dubbed “the Satanic Panic”. With members in high positions of authority they practiced their faith through your standard evil acts of; divination, human sacrifices, child abuse, illegal drugs etc. The belief was that these cults grew their numbers by seducing young people into the fold, using their weapon of pop culture. Every fun thing from horror movies to heavy metal was accused of being a gateway to drag the souls of impressionable youths right to Hell. Of course, this was largely nonsense and to this day no solid evidence has ever been produced that any of this actually happened. Even when those accused were taken through the longest court case in American history (see the McMartin preschool case). But author Rex Hurst proposes the idea, what if this were all real; powerful Satan worshipers, seemingly innocent but secretly evil entertainment; all of it. This makes for an interesting premise for his book What Hell May Come.
In 1980’s upstate New York, Jon St. Fond is a kid at the bottom rung of the social ladder at school and dumped on by his family at home. The only solace he has is the Dungeons and Dragons campaign he and his few friends are embroiled in. Before long Jon and his friends are introduced to a new darker game, while at the same time he begins to suspect something is not normal about his family. Slowly he discovers that his parents are members of an international network of Satanists. Guided by his father, Jon learns of his potential birthright which could see him gain untold power should he have the will to claim it.
Let me just say from the start, those who read for fun or comfort will find little of either here. What Hell May Come is a bleak and often hard to read book, and given the nature of the story it is absolutely warranted. While the premise sets itself up for something tongue-in-cheek, Hurst’s tone is deathly serious. This is ultimately a story of a young man slowly being drawn into a dark world to fulfill a destiny and in the end, he loses everything because of it. With each element of the occult he is introduced to we as the reader feel him loose a little bit more of himself until nothing is left. Fittingly, our main character Jon begins his seduction to the dark side with the game seen as public enemy #1 of the anti-devil crowd Dungeons & Dragons. Rolling a d20 to control his rogue elf battling Kobolds gives way to a more dangerous game of Dark Dungeons (a clever reference to the infamous Chick Tract of the era). This is a clear demonstration of the research Hurst put into this story. As someone who is a history fiend and a researcher into the paranormal, I liked the little nuggets he used to add legitimacy to the book.
My sole issue with this book is I wish Rex Hurst played more with the time-frame. While makes perfect sense to set this story in the 1980’s while the Satanic Panic was at its peak, Hurst does little to play around with this idea. I do not mean he has to hit us over the head with Teddy Ruxpin wielding a Freddy glove while jamming to Cyndi Lauper, but playing a bit with cultural gold mine which was the Decade of Excess would be nice. It would make sense within the context of the narrative to drop other pop culture elements which were seen as being in league with the devil. With hits like Stranger Things and It making ‘80s-themed horror cool to the masses, this is a gravy train to hop on.
As someone who remembers being a kid in church watching a video entitled the Pagan Invasion about the dangers of these supposed Satan worshipers, What Hell May Come did bring me some nostalgia. This is the kind of story where you know deep down there can be no happy ending, but the ending you are bound to get will be worth it. Rex Hurst took an interesting concept and ran hard with it crafting a haunting book that is well worth a read.
Check out the author at Rexhurst.com
Visit Crystal Lake Publishing at: https://www.crystallakepub.com
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