Wasn't planning on going to Kentucky anyway. [Devil's Creek by Todd Keisling]

About fifteen miles west of Stauford, Kentucky lies Devil’s Creek. According to local legend, there used to be a church out there, home to the Lord’s Church of Holy Voices—a death cult where Jacob Masters preached the gospel of a nameless god. And like most legends, there’s truth buried among the roots and bones. In 1983, the church burned to the ground following a mass suicide. Among the survivors were Jacob’s six children and their grandparents, who banded together to defy their former minister. Dubbed the “Stauford Six,” these children grew up amid scrutiny and ridicule, but their infamy has faded over the last thirty years. Now their ordeal is all but forgotten, and Jacob Masters is nothing more than a scary story told around campfires. For Jack Tremly, one of the Six, memories of that fateful night have fueled a successful art career—and a lifetime of nightmares. When his grandmother Imogene dies, Jack returns to Stauford to settle her estate. What he finds waiting for him are secrets Imogene kept in his youth, secrets about his father and the church. Secrets that can no longer stay buried. The roots of Jacob’s buried god run deep, and within the heart of Devil’s Creek, something is beginning to stir…

I was honestly very pleasantly surprised with Todd Keisling's Devil Creek. What starts with a glimpse at the end of a religious cult in the Kentucky backwoods turns into its horrifying revival years later. The plot, the pacing, and the characters were fantastically done. Casually contrasting the otherworldly horrors and fanaticisms of the local populace was the presence of the Klan. Regular denouncements were a fun tidbit added, even if their presence and threat was accepted and subdued. 

What soured my read was the sexual element. Yes, sexual abuse was alluded to and not outright depicted, a practice that should be the norm. But the would-be consensual elements got to be much for me. The horror of a sexually abusive and transgressive cult in rural Kentucky was conveyed well enough to start with, but repeated explicit depictions of sexual acts did nothing to further the plot or emphasis the established horrible nature of the antagonists. There were a few depictions too many for me. 

The ambiguously hopeful ending was fine enough, but I would've loved to see more of the aftermath depicted. How do you move on, proceed in life when you're tied to the burning of a whole town? We saw the survivors just leave town and move away as the embers died down. They're not being questioned by anyone as they make their way through? Did they have their documents on them? Will they assume false identities? Not that the story demanded that level of closure, but it would have been appreciated. Unless there are plans for a sequel? In any case, 4 stars from me.

Devil's Creek was published June 2020.