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…

*** Synopsis copied from amazon. ca

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Genre: Adult | Fiction | Horror | Occult Horror

3.5 out of 5 stars!

First and foremost Todd’s writing is impeccable, truly a talented writer. Not only does Devil’s Creek story run smoothly but it is incredible detailed. I’m talking about the type of detail you can smell, taste and touch with your own mind. Now, that may not always be the best when reading a horror novel since some scenes can get a bit gory but when an author can be so descriptive that it pulls me in and completely immersing me into the story, that’s when they have my attention! This being said as much as I was living for Todd’s writing style there was some things about the story I didn’t enjoy as much. Let’s start off with my pros and I will move into my cons while doing my best to hold off from any spoilers.

The story started off with an exciting, fast pace scene immersing you into Jacob, all of his evil and the torcher he was putting his 6 children through. Right than I thought I am in for a total treat! This lasted a chapter or two and the story there after slowed right down while jumping ahead in time where the “Stauford Six” are now adults. I didn’t mind this at first I thought this was the perfect time to really dive into the characters, get to know the history of what happened and to see the trauma affect the past had on each of the six children individually. I also enjoyed getting to see the family dynamics, how a couple of them had moved on to bigger better things while some of them were holding onto the past really not making anything of themselves and surprisingly a couple of them even stood out as outcasts from their very own brothers and sisters. This showed so true to life how each personal will be affected so extremely different after a life altering event.

This is where the story started to let me down. I don’t mind a slow burn read, especially when it is packed full of so much detailed goodness like this but I do enjoy some good pick up scenes to help break up the slower parts. This was not the case for Devil’s Creek, the slow pacing kept on and just when it felt like it was going to pick up, it slowed right back down. Of course I was willing to push on because Devil’s Creek has been so raved about in the community I follow through all bookish platforms. I felt there was definitely going to be a huge wow factor coming. In the end the wow factor didn’t hit for me. What I’m trying to say is you have a good idea based on the synopsis alone that the “Stauford Six” (all children of Jacob Masters) went through a lot of agony and torture with their father, coming out of it truly damaged. As a reader you are prepared for what you may hear from that side of the story based on the synopsis alone. What I was not prepared for when the evil returned to the story was it honestly was not going to be scary at all and more sexually suggestive, gross with all ages and not just subject to the main characters or a handful of people but the whole town was effected by this possession. Although to be honest, I think it was more the age thing that got me. I just wanted more scary and gruesome from the read, not as much gross.

Although there are parts of this story I didn’t enjoy as much. It was written really well and I know a lot of people loved every corner of this read. Of course I would say if the synopsis intrigues you and you have seen all of the other amazing, raving reviews out there that it is definitely worth picking up. As mentioned above, Todd’s writing is freaking amazing and I will be looking into more of his work and keeping an eye out for what he releases in the future.

Publisher:  Silver Shamrock Publishing

Release Date: June 15, 2020

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And of course thank you all for reading

Your HALLELUJA Book Worm

-Nichole

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You can check out my video review here:

Check out my Author Spotlight with Todd here: