The Cult by Abby Davies

Author: Abby Davies 

Title: The Cult 

Publisher: Harper Collins 

Published:  2021

Pages: 368

Genre: Crime Thriller 

     a sinister decades-old cult and a modern-day missing children mystery, brilliantly woven together' Jackie Kabler, author of The Perfect Couple A hidden community... Thirty years ago, in the English countryside, a commune was set up. Led by Uncle Saviour, it was supposed to be a place of love, peace and harmony. But what started out as paradise turned into hell. A shocking abduction... Now, two young children have vanished from their home in the middle of the night. Their parents are frantic, the police are at a loss. A twisting case... DI Ottoline is leading the search - her only clue a mask found in the woods. Could the key lie in events that took place decades ago, when a dream of a new way of life became something far more sinister?

     So recently I've been delving heavily into nonfiction books, trying to expand my knowledge on numerous topics and subjects. But I knew it was only a matter of time before I escaped back into the beloved world of fiction. We all at times needs to escape into a made-up world and get lost in it the trial and tribulations of their characters. So when I came across a copy of The Cult it seem to be the perfect bridge between the real-world books I had been reading and that need for something pulled from the air. Now this was an author that I had yet to spend any time with. But the synopsis sounded so intriguing that how was I ever going to turn down a chance to get to discover her work. After all, there is little more sinister than a cult is there not. And with all these recent documentaries have taught us nothing more than that they are never up to any good. So we are left to bare witness to when the walls come crashing down and someone is as always and inevitably going to end up getting hurt or killed. 

     Davis has crafted a group of bold and intriguing characters, with each one serving to tell us about a different aspect of her tale. In the present, we are looking over the should of Di Ottoline and her team. She is one of those fierce people who despite all is trying to hold her worlds together and fight for what is right. She is the sort of person who views the world with her eyes wide open. Not one to shy away from the ills of the world and clearly whip-smart. She can give us all we hope for in a lead detective and we are not really left questioning her choices or scratching our heads. Then we slip back into the past Looking for clues into the events of the present. Here we come to meet a young girl named Love. As one might imagine she is our entry into the world of cults as envisaged by this author. Love is someone who clearly has the blinks of a child. She sees the world as she is told to and is more than willing to take the teachings at face value. But as the reader, we can see long before her that this world is not some glorious utopian. We are left praying that Love does not fall victim to the wickedness of Uncle Saviour. And I must confess Davies uses this to blisteringly amazing effect in this narrative. You want to jump in and intervene in this tale but we are left on the outside. Unable to have an effect and left in perpetual impotence in all these matters. 

     This is one of those books that uses the shifting of time to great use. Each time we are given just enough more to keep us slightly ahead of our leads. As if here we are given a corner piece of this puzzle another slot into place to reveal a face but never quite enough to fully complete the picture until she is good and ready. What this means is that Davies shows us how she can slowly turn the screws on us building layers of tension to maximum effect. The other thing we get within these pages is a hefty dollop of real-world horror thrown in. It doesn't take much of a leap for you to work out what happens in pretty much every cult in our world. So you can imagine where parts of this story are going to go. It makes for some uneasy reading but then I would argue that is the point. The author wants us to go through these feelings and experiences along with her characters to understand why this whole story is playing out. For me, Davies seems to have expertly crafted a tale that walks the line of a fictional thriller with just the right amount of real-world touches to send a chill up the back of your neck.

     Abby Davies has shown me just how a good thriller about a cult should be written. Each tap of the keyboard goes into building a world of people running to their own twisted beat. Of desires and corruption run rampant and how these echoes can lead to a present that doesn't bear thinking about. This was a book that I kept picking up a binge-reading at every opportunity I could.  Not only can I whole heart recommend this book to you But I also look forward to the next time I can pick up one of her books and see what the next offering will bring