I was completely spun by Cutter's previous novel, THE TROOP, with its dense character study and wilderness gothic aesthetic. THE ACOLYTE, less so. Some of this is just personal proclivity -- I don't react as strongly to religiously-inflected dystopia than I do to the bildugsroman. My religious upbringing was relatively mild -- the comedian Eddie Izzard has a whole bit about how milquetoast the Anglican church is -- so I don't have the burning and majesty of a real brimstone trauma back there in my youth. (My husband, now, he'd react to this like wow.)

Which is not to say that THE ACOLYTE is just for people whose taste in horror runs religious. Even though the basic set up left me cold, Cutter writes beautifully. His ability to convey character through careful detail is weapons-grade, and he is no slouch in the creating atmosphere department either. So, an enjoyable horror, but not the kind that left marks. Like, I'm still not over the turtle in THE TROOP, but nothing in THE ACOLYTE hit me as hard,

The quality of the writing is excellent in this book, but I much prefer Nick Cutter's "The Troop." I did not like "The Deep" very much, although that book was well-written. This one was also a good quality, just not my favourite.

Felt a little derivative but still an enjoyable read.