Slow start, but pretty good book. There always seemed to be a distance between the characters and the reader. It's a fairly good, disturbing story.

This was a bit long for my attention span. It took me awhile to get through it but I love the southern drama and creepy vibe.

Devil’s Creek feels heat-soaked, humid, dark, and bloody. Reading this novel, I felt like I was dropped right into small town Kentucky. The characters felt familiar and unique at the same time, and you really felt for them as they dealt with a dark and evil cult.

This was a beast of a horror novel, fantastic read, I would absolutely recommend! There are a lot of brilliant reviews of this book, and they are all completely right. I can very much see this book turned into a film. It has such a perfect mix of occult, cult and horror that will keep you reading until the end!

Did not finish this. It was too religious for my tastes, and the writing style was difficult to read. My focus kept wandering, and I even preferred to stare at the wall instead of trying to read this. I'm sure others enjoyed it, but it didn't suit my tastes personally. Perhaps I was not in the right head space for it, or maybe I was not the right age when I attempted to read it. I may eventually try again, but for now, it will be shelved away. Thank you for sharing it with me.

read 3/11/2022 Loved this setting, story, and tribute to Lovecraft. The creepy cult and characters were believable. I recommend this to weird fiction and cult fans. It is a big book but so worth the read.

I am so glad that I finally got around to reading to this book. When I requested it, I knew it sounded right up my alley. Love a cult. Am working my way into reading more horror but have always enjoyed the dark and spooky. The characters were well-rounded. I feel like we got a lot of different representations of characters dealing/coping with their trauma. Because they had very traumatic childhoods! I thought that it was well-written overall. Because it has been so long since it was published, the audiobook was available which was how I chose to consume this book. Didn't totally jive with the audiobook narrator but still had an enjoyable time with this book.

I thought this was on track to be a five star read but the end didn't quite live up to the rest of the book. However, this is still one of the best horror books I've read in a while. The opening few chapters were so incredibly impactful. This book is not for the faint hearted. It is truly gross in places and there is a lot of sexual content (some involving incest), but the plot was utterly engrossing and I looked forward to getting back to the story each time I had to put it down.

I could not get into this book. I struggled all the way through and just wound up bored and disappointed.

First time reading Todd Keisling, and that is too bad. This was a great book, with great characters, great story, and great pacing. Can't wait to read more from Todd Keisling. #DevilsCreek #NetGalley

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Lots of information and background. Well researched in all aspects of the disaster. Chernobyl is a piece of history that fascinates me. Most people don’t understand how much worse it all could’ve been. The author does a great job of describing this as well. The story didn’t stop with after the disaster it carried on giving you more information of after the disaster.

Devil’s Creek is one of those huge, ambitious horror novels that either grips you and pulls you in or one that you never really connect with so you plow through the chapters, taking a long time to get through each page and finally there is a sense of relief when you finally finish it. I was in the latter category in this case, and I know that most of the fault is with me and not with the story.

Devil’s Creek has everything that is good in a horror novel. It starts with a final ritual from a defunct cult, the six children survivors being known as the Stauford Six. These six grow up and go their separate ways, to become preachers, artists, meth cookers, police officers, and radio station owners. It seems like all of them have a dark cloud over them that they cannot outrun, and this shapes the way they conduct themselves as adults. And this is because the dark cloud has never left. Jacob Masters, the leader of the Devil’s Creek cult is poised to make his triumphant return to wreak havoc on the town and to claim the Stauford Six back to the glory of God.

The novel unfolds in a slow and steady way. Todd Keisling says that he made this as a novel that has a town terror, where the entire town is in peril, like ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King, where an infection quickly sweeps through, and nobody in town is safe. He also says the length is mandatory to the way he wants to tell the story, so Devil’s Creek being such a huge book is done with purpose. He explores the entire town and lives of many characters. This detailing made the story move so slow for me until closer to the end. I know that there are glimpses of the future ending throughout, but it was not enough to get me hooked on the story and excited to see what was going to happen next.

I did enjoy this novel, but I did not connect to the story until the last one hundred pages, so the first three hundred took me forever to read. I feel like this is more my taste as a reader than Todd Keisling’s writing. He does a great job with realizing his vision and the story does unfold and becomes a solid horror novel. Even though I did not attach to this novel like I thought I would, I do see all of the merit and will be recommending it to some readers in my life who might call me crazy for not loving it.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely stunning horror novel. Truly terrifying in parts and absolutely riveting. 5 huge stars. Will definitely read Todd Keisling again!

This was my first dabble into the work of Bram Stoker Award nominee Todd Keisling, in what was one of the most compelling horror novels I’ve read in a while.

I know we hear this quite a lot but Keisling doesn’t feel like a Stephen King or Dean Koontz, these ideas are all his own.

Devil’s Creek is the tale of a small town that fell under the spell of an occultist priest who sacrificed a number of the townsfolk many years ago. Fast-forward and the children of the damned could be the key to an unspeakable evil returning to the town of Stauford.

Keisling paints the picture of a town rotten to its devilish core and when they are once again preyed upon by evil we follow a select group who must try to save themselves and the rest of the town from destruction and damnation.

It may sound melodramatic but the stakes are raised from the first few pages and when it all hits the fan Keisling really goes for it with some truly twisted imagery that recalls some of the most gnarly work of James Herbert.

After not knowing about this author’s work Devil’s Creek has me eager to discover more.

Devil’s Creek by Todd Keisling is available now in paperback and digital book formats.

I’m a big sucker for small town horror and cult themed stories. After reading The Lost Village I needed a similar trope to get the buzz. The promising synopsis got me into reading this book. Let me tell you what this story has:

✅ atmospheric, creepy small town
✅ cults!!
✅ unreliable characters - a lot of them. But instead of confusing, they kept the story going well while pointing at each other.
✅ interesting chapter endings that kept me wanting intrigued
✅ chilling moments

Basically any horror/dark thriller reader would love this book. It has some bumps or plot holes, but overall its good.

Small town horror, cults, a mysterious dark story and a shattered group of friends. This book was intriguing, although the characters were a bit eh at times, intriguing overall.

Todd Keisling birthed one hell of a story here. Like Carrie White on prom night, Devils Creek is full of blood, vengeance and questionable religion.

—-

Home to a cult that ended in mass suicide 30 years ago is Devils Creek, found just outside Stauford, Kentucky. The leader of the Cult, Jacob Masters, fathered all 6 of the children who survived dubbed the “Stauford Six.”

One of these survivors, Jack Tremly, returns to Stauford to settle his grandmother Imogenes estate after she passes, and in the process uncovers the secrets she kept about his father and the church when he was young. What gets uprooted is far worse than he could have imagined, and as the roots begin to stir, Jack finds himself in a battle with an old god; a god that runs deep underneath the soured soil of Devils Creek.

—-

𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘳, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦’𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘦’𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘳𝘶𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦


Devils Creek is a book with its own heartbeat, It’s pulse palpable beneath the towns roots, coming to life as you flip thru the pages. The people are rich in character and the descriptions are vivid.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I’m so glad Todd got to keep it the way he wanted, not having to shorten it up. The pacing was perfect. I felt this really helped the reader connect with the characters. I loved the small town feel, the occult themes and I really enjoyed the gory parts. What didn’t I enjoy? Well, I would have to say not much 😊.

I give Devils Creek an unholy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💫

I will read anything if it has the premise of a cult in it. I really enjoyed the writing in the first half and I really felt for the kids because the town was so ugly but the last half really lost me.

I read to finish but I really didn’t know what I was reading

I’ll preface this review by saying that I appreciate that the book is really well written and is heavily inspired by Stephen King in style and content, and as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy King’s writing style (heresy, I know), I was never going to be the hugest fan. That being said, I read all 400+ pages so clearly something about it worked for me! This book is an epic and well worth the love it's getting, the 3 stars are representative of my personal enjoyment of it.

I’d venture that this book was about 100 pages than it needed to be to comfortably convey the story, I’m too impatient to truly enjoy the pace at which the author revealed the mysteries of Devil’s Creek.

It all begins with six children being rescued from becoming sacrificial lambs to an old god living under a cultist church. They spend their lives trying to recover from the trauma of their messed up childhoods, but eventually events lead them back to their creepy priest father and the old god that still wants his sacrifice.

The author doesn’t balk at the nastier and gorier sides of horror – including plenty of assaults on children, incest and gross zombie worm puke. The first two are handled with appropriate delicacy so it doesn’t feel like they’re glorifying the acts or downplaying how horrific they actually are, but they hit hard and made me a little queasy in places.

For fans of Stephen King, this book is going to blow your socks off. For horror fans who don’t worship at the altar of King, it’ll at the very least make you nod your head in respect.


TW: Incest, sexual assault, child abuse, torture.

Keisling's cult horror novel takes a hard look into small town religion and culture. The book starts with a disturbing and vivid introduction to the small Kentucky town that becomes notorious for a grisly murder suicide event. Six children are saved from sacrificial alter and grow up under the watchful eyes of the town. Jack Tremly, one of the six. vowed to leave the town and never return, which is exactly what he did until the death of his grandmother. Now, he must return home and the evil that's waiting.

Jack is a brave protagonist, motivated to uncover a secret hinted to him after his grandmother's death. He teams up with a few of his fellow survivors and delve into the mysterious happenings of the cult that nearly took their lives. Small town bigotry is exposed. Alliances are tested, and all while the devil from their past starts to rise from the grave. The supernatural mixes with horror as the tension rises throughout the book. There were moments when I felt the plot could have moved a little quicker, but overall, the stakes were high and the horror palpable. This was a great read!