I couldn’t get into the story just as I thought. Not disappointed but need more depth, I think. I can't remember when was the last time when I read a book in which the whole plot was 100% equal to what was written in the blurb and nothing more. There was no surprise there, no resolution to any of the plot threads and the whole story was blatantly predictable and painfully dull.

Arthur and Wendy or in love and have $100,000 unfortunately they’re also in a cave thanks to their fellow gang member Lynch, who started shooting at the towns people during a bank robbery it is the wild west and the gang cannot leave the cave because the sheriff in his posse are outside waiting. As far as the group knows there is only one way out and someone from the gang is guarding that entrance so when a man and black shows up and says he can get the outlaws out of the cave unbeknownst to the sheriff they’re intrigued or at least some of them are when they hear what the man has to say. Arthur, his girlfriend Wendy and two other gang members want no part of what The evil man has to offer, but three do. Despite author in his group finding the own way out there still held responsible for the deal the other members made unfortunately some of them won’t live long enough to regret there ex partner‘s decision and some of them live long enough to regret it and even pass it on to the future ancestors. If you think making a deal with the Devil is a gloomy prospect the you’ve never heard about the terrible decision it is to make a deal with a demon. 100 years later it is time to pay up only author and Nancy are dead but not those who are named after them. Author just celebrated his 22nd birthday when he gets a call from an American name Wendy with a story to tell something she thought was just family lore until recently. I don’t want to get too much away just know there is an evil priest a duplicitous sheriff serial killer much more and don’t think people are making deals with demons and the devils not going to make a cameo because he certainly does. I was so into this book and found it entertaining and a great horror story I have been really lucky lately especially with books from wicked House publishing they seem to have some really awesome authors and so no surprise this book is from there and I was so into it but then it got to the end and I was like OK so that happened… That sucks but then something else happens in the ends and I guess the ending is left up to the reader? If the question is whether I recommend this book or not I would have to say definitely yes especially because the epilogue was such a nice touch no man ever deserved it more. I want to thank wicked house publishing and net galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Seven outlaws in a cave face an impossible choice, leaving the survivors with their descendants being chased by none other than a demon. The story starts out strong, but ultimately gets in its own way due to a very out of place obsession. I believe it was meant to be a romance but it was so poorly done that the man quite simply was creepy and obsessive. Who witnesses a brutal murder only to focus on the butt of the supposed love interest? Without that dragging the plot down at several inopportune times, gives readers the ick and removing them from the overall story, this book could easily have been at least 4 stars. Unfortunately, the author really got in their own way here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

Note: I received a free unpublished proof of this book, for a limited time, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

Oh, where do I start with this one.

I liked the concept of this book. It had a lot of promising ideas and used classic tropes that can be done in a lot of ways: Deals with demons! Historical fiction mixed with the modern day! Old West outlaws! Caves! Angels! Satanic cults! Uni students going to Tesco! Chasing a serial killer! However, the way it all came together was somewhat ineffective.

I am not going to explain the whole plot here; just give some of my observations on what I thought was good and what I thought could be improved.

I liked that this book really leaned into the “horror” side of things at certain points, because that is how the book sells itself. However, the tone of the book is so inconsistent that it’s a bit jarring to read. The book starts out feeling like a proper Creepypasta I’d hear on a channel like Creepy Ghost Stories, then turns into a Dan-Brown-type romp: British edition.

The events of the books, after a short time, start to blend into one another. The characters are simply running from place to place as more violence ensues. There are certainly stories that do great things with this formula, but this is not one of them. It simply doesn’t have enough compelling characters, witty one-liners, or intriguing set pieces to give itself a unique identity as a story. It feels like the author watched a bunch of “Supernatural” episodes and “Indiana Jones” films and wanted to write something similar, not realizing that these franchises’ success rested on their iconic leads rather than sheer action volume. You can see this in the leads of this story. The main character is a young man who wants to be an author, enjoys drinking and partying with friends, and is kind of nerdy and awkward around girls. Ok, fair. Low characterization is fine for this type of story. The other main viewpoint characters are a girl, a serial killer, and a priest; none of whom have any defining traits or characteristics beyond those features. I wish we had learned a little bit more about these characters, if only to get us more invested in the stakes of the story. I also agree with other reviewers that the romance sub-plot felt awkward and cringeworthy.

The plot points feel well-researched on some points, as the author has done a little bit of research on demon lore. While it strays from the Bible a lot, most demon media does that so I’m not going to do a deep dive into that. That’s fine. However, some parts of the story feel very low-effort. Vodou is portrayed in a very Hollywood-type way and while I do not know much about African Traditional Religions, I do not think that the stuff in the book is even loosely based on actual religious practices. There is no explanation for why an American cowboy-era outlaw ended up moving to Wales. While the demon mythos is based on the same post-Bible stuff that nearly all of it is, we get almost no answers on some key points—what’s with the baby thing? What’s with the eating thing? It just doesn’t hold together. While I’m not expecting extensive worldbuilding from one short book, the main ideas that are relevant to the plot should make more sense, particularly as the book is very much trying to establish a system with rules, however simple. If this were a more “soft-magic” book from the beginning, I would let this slide. I also thought that the portrayal of British uni/young professional life was pretty on-point. The characters’ more mundane lives reminded me of the stuff that my friends and I did for the past four years and that genuinely brought a smile to my face.

Lastly, the plot pieces do not hold together very well. Most horror stories go one of a few ways. There are plots where the characters’ mistakes and flaws lead to something horrible happening to them. There are plots where the characters don’t do anything wrong and are simply overpowered by something more powerful than themselves that they can’t fight or, sometimes, even understand, and something horrible happens to them. There are variations on both of these where we don’t know what happens to the characters, which is usually accomplished by literally or metaphorically disappearing them out of the action somehow, or leaving us on a cliffhanger that could lead to a number of results. In this book, we know that one of two things could happen, and are never told which one it is, when either one would be very bad, could be explained in two lines, and would still leave us with some uncertainty on what would actually happen next to the characters. It feels less like an eerie open-ended story and more like a random cliffhanger that won’t be resolved in any sort of sequel. At least media like “The American” and “The Constant Gardener” give us a pretty strong hint of what happens at the end, and in Night Film the consequences of either of the two outcomes are pretty obvious and final.

Overall, this book felt very much like a first novel, and I’m pretty sure it is. I think that Rees definitely has potential as a horror author and could write something pretty good with a bit more editing, research, and planning. The book has proper spelling and grammar, is very readable, and tells a pretty interesting story in general; it just didn’t really grab me and I think there are other authors who have done the same thing in a more memorable way. Nevertheless, I’m interested in what this author writes next, as I think he has some genuinely interesting ideas regarding plot, horror, and average young British folks at dance clubs being dragged into extraordinary situations.

Thank u netgalley for letting me.read this book

* Horror
* demons
* murder
* religion
* Medium to fast Paced
* Engrossing

At the beginning I found it hard to get into a bit but when I got to about 8-10 chapters in I was hooked, I enjoyed the story and pacing becoming engrossed and gripped till the end.

3.5 stars

I received this book as an arc and it took me 3 weeks to finish it.

The beginning was really good set in 1898 and following a group of outlaws after they robbed a bank. Then we skip 100 years into the future, 1998. We go back in time at a couple points to hear more of the original story.

In the 1998 story there are a lot of people to follow. So many that I lost track of who was who and what they were doing. Most of those people aren't important later in the book but there were so many in a short amount of time.

Arthur is our biggest main character and I wasn't a huge fan of him. I guess that's why the story dragged on for me. He meets a woman named Nancy and almost immediately falls in love with her. I'll be honest, the 'romance' sub plot was totally unnecessary. The way he acted with her was like a schoolboy who has never been around a pretty girl. Some of the thoughts he had about her seemed thrown in at the absolute worst times possible. He found his mom's dead body and was more concerned with looking at Nancy's ass.

He's being hunted by a demon and he just wants to kiss Nancy. Uh, hello dude more important stuff going on. Like staying alive! He just goes along with anything she tells him.

I just had a really hard time with this story. The writing is fine but the story was kind of all over the place. For a 'horror' novel, it honestly wasn't scary, unsettling or unnerving like I expected. The only parts that made me uncomfortable were the random bits of sexual acts going on. I love horror books but this just missed the mark for me.

The ending was really good and had a great twist, but the story didn't start picking up till about 80% through the book.

This book starts out great. There are 7 outlaws who are trapped in a cave when a strange definitely-not-an-evil-guy magically shows up. He offers them a choice - if they kill a baby (which he happens to have with him), then they'll find a way out of the cave. 3 choose to do so while the other 4 go to the back of the cave to avoid watching. Shockingly, in a shocking turn of events, the definitely-not-an-evil-guy turns out to be an evil guy and gruesomely murders the 3 guys and goes after the remaining 4.

The story then jumps forward 100 years to the descendants of the outlaws who are being chased by the same bad guy, who turns out to be Mammon, the demon of greed.

The story alternates between the past and present. The chapters set in the past were the stronger ones. I enjoyed seeing how the characters handled being chased by Mammon and within the world of demons chasing you, it felt believable.

I didn't enjoy the present as much. As other reviewers have said, the book did not need the romantic plot. I could not get past Arthur being hung up on Nancy. First, he sees his mother and uncle horribly murdered and all he can think about is Nancy's butt and how much he wants to kiss Nancy and how great her body looks. Also, sir, you do not just decide to kiss a woman for the first time in her sleep, expecting her to wake up and be into it. Please take note any men reading this review - DO NOT DO THAT. It is creepy, not romantic. If you think she's into you, ask. Maybe lean in for a kiss WHILE SHE'S AWAKE. DO NOT KISS HER WHILE SHE'S ASLEEP. Also, the author comments on how Nancy was sleeping in her bra - it was a throwaway line that bugged me since women don't sleep in bras. Maybe sports bras, but from the way Arthur was salivating while he watched her sleep in her underwear (again, creepy, not romantic), it didn't feel like a sports bra.

The "romantic" parts took away from what could otherwise be an interesting story. Mammon's followers are going after all descendants of the escaped outlaws. Some of the followers are very not right in the head. There's a serial killer in the mix, who is contacted by an angel, Raphael, to fight against Mammon. The ending was really good and the author did a great job of resolving the story. The story would have been so much better if we just had these parts without the icky "romance".

The story had a lot of potential but ultimately fell short.

Thank you to the author, Wicked House Publishing, and NetGalley for this advance review copy.

A huge thank you to Wicked House Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. That said, this was really hard to read and even harder to finish. But finish it I did, curious to see where it would all end up. It's entertaining, though not easy to read, with a convoluted plot and a very confusing cast. These (serious) faults aside, it might satisfy a craving for a kind of horror that thrives on sheer variety of themes, a smart (though unoriginal) use of standard horror tropes, and a very dry, simple, writing style that won't raise any eyebrows for long. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Thank you Wicked House Publishing for giving me this book through NetGalley! All opinions are my own.

If you want an entertaining horror read, you have found it! Sins of the Father is a fast read, contains a medium amount of gore while also having a clear storyline and an intriguing premise. It also contains some fascinating details regarding different beliefs - mainly Catholicism, but also minor Voodoo and reflections about religious beliefs and mythology in general.

There are some details about this book that might annoy readers who are looking for a more serious and thought provoking novel though. In the beginning we are introduced to a vast character gallery only to have it quickly reduced to just a few, and solutions are a bit too easy. There's not much depth to any of the characters, and at times the realism of their actions and reactions just shines with it's absence. The romantic subplot is atrocious, and the story would have been much better without it. I mean, at several times Artur experiences some traumatic event, and he is just standing there noticing the color of her eyes for the first time or other details like that. If it weren't for his unrealistic pining over his friend at the most weird moments, I'd probably have ended up giving this book one more star than I did.

Even with its faults though, I do feel this was an entertaining book. Not all books need to be written to challenge your perspective or to make you think. There need to be books out there that is written purely for entertainment. This is such a book - perfect when you just wanna wrap yourself up in a cozy blanket, enjoy a hot cup of tea and relax as you read. Give your brain a rest for a bit.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wicked House Publishing for an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this book! It has been a fun 2 days…

The synopsis of this book is what drew me in the most. Arthur Burris has just had one hell of a night with his pals for his birthday. Little did Arthur know that his entire life was about to change, for one hundred years of safety had just come to an end. The next day, unbeknownst to him, a hunter was ready to pounce on its perfect prey.

This book contains time jumps, gore filled scenes, serial killers, overzealous cult member activity, and a love plot. I absolutely loved the time jumps and the gory scenes. Call me crazy, but sometimes it’s just what I need for entertainment. This book was many things, but for me above all it was entertaining. A quick and fun read that had me hooked right away. I read this in less than 2 days.

I enjoyed the time jump from the late 1800’s to the late 1900’s, as well and the religious information since I grew up Catholic. This is a story with religious information in it and if that is something that you might not like then I would probably skip this book. Although to me it wasn’t overbearing in that regard.

One thing that I really did not like about this book was the romantic plot between the two main characters. I thought that maybe in the middle of the novel there would be a good reason for it, but by the end of the book I found it useless. For once I wish I could read a book where the two main characters are not drawn to each other romantically. I felt like this book could have benefited without it, and possibly been stronger without it. It is possible for two members of the opposite sex to care for one another without involving romantic feelings or lust.

In the end I felt like this book was lacking something. It was missing a few elements that could have tied it together a bit more. Towards the end I felt like I had missed interactions between some of the characters. Like when you fall asleep in the middle of an episode or movie and all of sudden two random characters are together or split. The plot of this book happens within two weeks. Had this novel been longer it might have been a bit better in that regard and the characters more fleshed out.

The plot of “Sins of the Father” was a lot of fun and I liked the writing style a lot more than other books with this genre type. It didn’t feel super cheap or unfulfilling. What I liked is that this was not exactly a “happy ending” novel. I mean, how many horror novels or movies end up that way? The grammatical errors were also very limited and hopefully they get fixed, overall it doesn’t affect the book because they were minor errors. I am giving this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

This book is good for the most part. It has several different feelings.... chilling, mysterious and twists what you don't see coming.

Arthur's life is going good, and he is hoping that his manuscript will sell. His father dies in a car accident and that changes everything. When this happens the demon lord is unleashed and a pair of thieves who escape gruesome fate.

In the novel, there is even a serial killer that is trying to keep all safe.

Fast paced, quick read and great Horror novel. some of the gore scenes are something else along the way. Everything is great in the book and writing is great.
Great Read, Fast Read and great writing. Will read more from this author.

4.5 star rating.

Thanks Net Galley for letting me read and review.

SINS OF THE FATHER: A HORROR NOVEL by Gareth J. Rees
When you make a deal with the devil, no matter how long it takes he always collects.

SUMMARY
Arthur Burris is an ordinary twenty-something, out on the town with friends, drunkenly celebrating another birthday. But this birthday is special in more ways than one. A century ago his namesake made a deal with the devil and the devil’s coming to collect.
A mysterious American Nancy Mullins, Raphael, the angelic voice in her head, and the notorious “Playing Card Killer” are all about to crash into Arthur’s life with bloody results. To stop the devil and save his own life, Arthur will have to find a way to break an ancient deal in a hurry.

THOUGHTS
SINS OF THE FATHER has all the elements to make a good horror novel including new mythology about demons and their dealmaking ways, time jumps, murder, and mayhem, not to mention a murderous cult led by the local vicar. Unfortunately, SINS OF THE FATHER has all of the elements but not the execution to pull it all together. There are times when SINS OF THE FATHER felt like it was not one book but several with very little to connect them from one to the other. The problem is not due to a lack of writing ability. Rather the problem lies in the substantial gaps in plot development, story structure, and character narration resulting in a novel that is disjointed, tonally inconsistent, and ultimately unsatisfying reading experience. A slightly longer novel with more emphasis on character and plot development could have resulted in a much stronger and more entertaining read.

RECOMMENDATION
Roundly awarded 3 stars (up from 2.5), SINS OF THE FATHER: A HORROR NOVEL by Gareth J. Rees kicks off with a promising start but fails to deliver. Special thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for granting access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Pub Date: Dec. 22, 2023

#SinsoftheFatherAHorrorNovel #NetGalley

This is a really good story of good versus evil and demons getting what they feel is owed to them from a bloodline that got away a hundred years ago.

Arthur's life seems to be going alright. Good friends, a manuscript he's hoping to sell, and a family he loves. All of that's going to change one day when his father dies in a car accident. That event unleashes a demon lord who's waited a century to get revenge on the bloodline of a pair of thieves who escaped a gruesome fate.

This novel is quick paced, frightening, and tells the story with some pretty bloody and gory scenes along the way. This demon lord has followers and they are hunting members of this bloodline and killing them without mercy or hesitation in honour of their god. Things, obviously, get messy when that happens.

In the meantime, Arthur meets a woman who is connected to him and she is being led to him for protection. A being calling itself an angel seems to be on their side, helping them escape the demon lord and his followers.

There's even a serial killer who is going to play an important role in keeping them safe.

For the most part, everything works great in this book. It's chilling, mysterious, and has a few great twists at the end that you won't see coming.

The romance angle that went nowhere seemed to be unnecessary (just my opinion) and the serial killers motivations going from sadistic murderer to willing sacrificial lamb was an abrupt turn for that character.

But, overall, this is a fantastic horror novel with a detailed plot, brisk pacing, and I highly recommend it.