i really liked tom as a character, he really was a good character. I liked the plot and I enjoyed the rest of the characters.

I couldn’t put this book down. The story captured my attention from the start and kept me entertained all the way through. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Having read several books by this author, I found this one a bit disappointing, never managing to become engrossed. It was a decent read, just not as good as his previous work.

The twists in this one I didn't see coming at all. This story about who to trust and what to do was pretty good. I do have to say that it was well paced and the characters were very compelling. However, the story itself was just a little off. It felt like it was missing something. I think that if this is a topic you think that you would enjoy to check it out.

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced copy of The Old Religion by Martyn Waites. The disappearance of an outsider in a small, insular Cornish village and the fracturing of the group of kidnappers gets the attention of the local bartender. Tom Killgannon is also an outsider, and he's got to choose between protecting his own secrets and finding out what's terrifying all of his neighbors. The danger is greater than he anticipates, but he can handle anything.

Would I recommend The Old Religion to others? Yes. Will I be reading the rest of the series? No.

Here's the thing: I love magic, and cults, and village conspiracies. This book got my interest with those, and with the bone-chilling cover, right away. I was all in. However, The Old Religion reads more like a spy novel than a thriller or horror piece. It just wasn't for me. If you like tough guys with a heart of gold, it just might be for you. This is a book for boys.

I loved the vibes of this book. The dark tones, the mingling old religion, the isolated village life. I was intrigued from the beginning even though I wasn't sure what the main story was about at first. The characters were all flawed and dark a bit, making the whole book just seem atmospheric. It wasn't as focused on the old religion as I hoped, but more focused on these dark personas that seem to be leaching of this old quiet town.

As I said, I wasn't sure what the main goal of the book was. It starts with the disappearance of a student, that came to visit with his friends for surfing and some other fun. The girl who helped to snatch him, has some doubts about her actions and wants to go to the authorities. Well that doesn't really work for the people up top. She gets herself in trouble, and after escaping she runs into Tom, who's our MC. He wants to help this scared young girl, but she ends up stealing something very important from him and disappearing. We follow a bit about her journey, as well Tom's private investigation in her, while getting her nose into the people who kidnapped the young student. This quiet, half empty village isn't as quiet as it seems, and Tom gets into deep.

This book reminded me of one movie, where what seems a modern village has some older beliefs and they are more sinister than what's normal these days. It's creepy, and atmospheric, and in the end very disturbed.

Martyn Waites has crafted an engrossing page turner of a read in The Old Religion. Well worth the read!

Oh folks,. Aren’t they terrifying? So much so there’s literally a subgenre created for their very specific blend of terror. And so you know the premise. A city person moves to a small town. Small town turns out to be hosting some evil. The person battles the evil. Pretty straight forward scenario, success of which usually depends on the execution. In this case the execution held up. Martyn Waites is a seasoned (albeit it under a pseudonym) author and his writing reflects years of experience with plotting and characters, albeit thematically this is something of a departure for him…a fusion of mystery and supernatural. And a politically themed fusion, no less. A tale distinctly utilizing the singular sort of a terror in itself…Brexit. Specifically, this story is set is a small farming community, a sort of place that has predominantly voted for the very thing that ends up screwing them over. Now the disappearance of the EU agricultural subsidies is devastating their small town and the folk is turning to alternative solutions…the old ways. And since we’re already established that the folk in question isn’t all that bright about the choices they are making, this one is bound to be a doozy. And that’s the situation our protagonist, a man scarred by a violent past and trying to start over, finds himself in. Contending with locals that go from their usual (not overly welcoming to strangers) mode to the downright homicidal one. A good, if not especially original, story, well written, atmospheric. Waites did a good job of describing the darkness and desperation slowly descending on a small community, the sort of collective madness that overtakes it. And, more importantly, since Waites seems to be specializing in series, he created an interesting compelling likeable protagonist to carry this and future installments. To be fair, the supernatural element is pretty underutilized. The evil here is predominantly (wo)manmade. It’s funny, because just the other day I read Tudor’s Other People, a thriller that didn’t advertise a supernatural angle, but featured it pretty heavily. This was more of the opposite. The spooky frights in this book are primarily of the explicable dark psychological variety. All the same, though, it had that creepy Wicker Man thing going on, something somehow perfectly suited to the English countryside in a way that’s diametrically opposed to other English countryside things like, say, Downton Abbey. All in all an enjoyable entertaining read. One, as much as I love standalones, I can objectively agree can easily merit a continuation. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This book was painfully slow. The character development was painfully slow. The story wasn't a build up...it was PAINFULLY slow. I wanted to like this book so much. There was potential with the characters and the cross overs but it just fell so short for me. I ended up skimming quite a bit towards the end because I just couldn't take reading all this completely non important run on story about each character. I really really don't like leaving harsh or negative reviews but unfortunately this book was just not for me.

You have ex undercover cop Tom who loses his jacket that has all of his personal items to Lila who is running from a community of bad people in a crazy ass village that is united because of this one person who believes in 'the old religion'. It was just far-fetched and yessss this is a book and that is the whole point of escaping into a read. I am not unappreciative of the aspect of the beliefs in the book but the mystery and thriller theme of it all was nonexistent to me. This was just a little too perplexing in the SERIOUSLY? and OH COME ON! kind of way, Not a read for me unfortunately

An engrossing and very contemporary (post-Brexit) horror-mystery, THE OLD RELIGION is set in a tiny seaside village in Cornwall, St. Petroc. Almost abandoned, the remaining villagers try to struggle on. If only the local Council will agree to site a proposed Marina there, employment and income will improve. But other sites are in competition--so locals determine to weight their chances--with a solid return to the Old Ways.


The two best aspects of the novel for me were the application of pagan beliefs to this undeniably 21st-century problem; and the multiple layered mysteries throughout, so compelling that my attention never wavered.