The Children of Red Peak - Cult Horror and Character Development Abound!
In 2005 a cult commits mass suicide leaving only 5 child survivors remaining. In 2020, three of them attend the funeral of the fourth who had committed suicide. Each of them have a lot of trauma from living in a religious cult and being sole survivors and each have gone about their lives in different ways. David spends his life helping other cult victims, Deacon sings his trauma with his rock band, Angela is a police officer, and Beth is a Psychologist. But soon Beth suggests the group head back to the scene of the mass suicide and their previous home; Red Peak and things quickly fall apart.
Jumping back and forth between the early ‘200s when the cult was existing and the kids and their families joined, and modern day 2020 – DiLouie does a great job of keeping the story flowing. It’s a long mystery that’s hard to unravel with a very surprising ending.
It’s a complex and interesting look at a cult through children’s eyes as they see it is a peaceful and fun community, and the reality of it being rigid and controlling. As adults, they’ve all retained their memories except for those final minutes – none of them seem to remember what exactly happened except for everyone dying and a pillar of fire shooting into the sky. As adults, none of them are really dealing with their trauma well, even though they all think they are. Both Beth and David are counsellor types yet are unable to truly confront their own fears and emotions.
It’s a detailed look at religion itself and the strength and weaknesses of believers. And while usually in a cult, the real horror is the humans, in this story that’s not completely the case. There’s a lot to be analyzed and digested in this story, themes of faith, sacrifice, questions about the meaning of life, and questions about God and organized religion.
There’s also a great study here of mental illness and life-long trauma. DiLouie handles everything with delicate hands and I applaud him for that.
This is a slow burn horror with chapters and chapters of character development as we tiptoe closer and closer to our final answer. It’s worth the wait.
Releasing on November 17th, The Children of Red Peak is a must-read for cult-horror fans.
Thank you to Orbit for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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