Holy cow! or should I say Unholy moly! This is a gut wrenching story that swept me away from the start. A man of the cloth with a dark past is nervously navigating his way home in a rain storm. He's always been uneasy driving in the rain but this downpour is worse than usual. He calls his wife, hoping that it will help calm his nerves. Hearing her voice, and his children in the background is just what he needs. Suddenly the playful voices of his children turn to shrieks of terror. He is utterly helpless to do anything but listen to the brutal murders of his family. Their loss and his grief turn him into a shell of his former self and he locks himself away from anyone wanting to offer sympathy or help.
This is a step away from Hunter Shea's usual light hearted creature feature horror. although he has done it before with the equally serious novel Creature which I highly recommended to you a while back. Raul's grief is palpable and my heart was heavy with his pain. Felix, the former best friend with the criminal past and fierce loyal streak helped propel the story towards it's shocking climax. As the murders go unsolved by the police, Felix sets out to bring the killers to his own brand of justice, but what he uncovers is more horrifying than I could have imagined.

I received an advance copy for review. ( )

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First, a disclaimer of sorts, I am a BIG Hunter Shea fan. His books covering various cryptozoological subjects are sublime in the category. That's why I was so excited to read "Faithless" which ventures far away from that topic.

I wasn't disappointed and neither will be Shea's legion of Hellion fans.

"Faithless" starts with one of the most gut-wrenching beginnings of any book I've read this year as Episcopalian priest Raul Figeruroa's wife and children are violently murdered as he's talking with them on the phone while driving back from a trip. Raul's helplessness and guilt carry over long past their funerals and the unsuccessful attempt by the police to solve the killings. Raul determines that the only way he can deal with these feelings is to leave his home and move to the unoccupied farm of his deceased aunt, Ida, far from the city, his church, and the death of his family.

Determined to drink and drug himself into a never-ending stupor, Raul goes about doing just that over the next few months as he falls deeper into despondency and depression. Not only that, but during these periods of incoherency, Raul is sure that he's hearing the voices of his wife and children. Is the house haunted or is he slowly losing his mind? Possibly, the only thing that keeps him from completely going over the edge is the appearance of a feral cat, Bruiser, who "adopts" Raul. That, and a surprise visit from his old friend Felix, who's determined not only to save Raul but find the killers.

Author Shea does a great job describing Raul's despair and hopelessness as he's unable to process the loss of his family, not to mention the supernatural overtones of Ida's farmhouse. Once Felix arrives on the scene, the plot really takes off in a different direction filled with a variety of surprises and plot twists that will keep even the most inveterate mystery/thriller readers guessing to the end.

Highly recommended! ( )

Beginning with a life-shattering event, the horror within these pages involves the destructive nature of grief in a starring role, as well as some more expected facets, even as those aspects lead in unexpected directions. Bleak and brutal but with an essential thread of hope, this book mixes religion into horror in a way that hasn't been done to death. ( )