Little Heaven Hardcover – 10 Jan. 2017

Bought this for a friend as a present and they absolutely loved it and thoroughly enjoyed it

“Daddy awaits for those who stray from the path in the forests of remote New Mexico”‘Little Heaven’ is the fourth horror novel Craig Davidson has written under his pseudonym ‘Nick Cutter’, with two further thrillers and short stories written under the Davidson banner. The critically acclaimed 2012 film ‘Rust and Bone’ is also based upon his shorter form work. Cutter came to prominence to the horror world when his terrific debut ‘The Troop’ won the inaugural 2014 ‘James Herbert Award’. This competition had one of the strongest horror shortlists of modern times memorably featuring MR Carey’s ‘The Girl With All The Gifts’, Andrew Michael Hurley’s ‘The Loney’, Josh Malerman’s ‘Bird Box’, Frances Hardinge’s YA smash hit ‘Cuckoo Song’ and a certain Kim Newman. All of these are real heavyweights in the world of modern horror.Although I haven’t read the work of Craig Davidson, I did enjoy all three of Cutter’s previous books tremendously. Each novel has its own unique brand of horror, with ‘Little Heaven’ returning ever so slightly to the yucky type of body horror explored in ‘The Troop’.In recent promo interviews Cutter has spoken of his love for Stephen King and how ‘Little Heaven’ has a structure deliberately similar to the King masterpiece ‘It’ and after reading the new work it is easy to spot the comparisons. Both have story structures told years apart, 15 in ‘Little Heaven’, with the novel flitting from 1965 to 1980. However, it doesn’t flirt backwards and forwards from the time periods as frequently as in ‘It’ with the majority spent in the sixties. Like the King novel a huge supernatural event occurs in the earlier period which casts a huge shadow on the events in 1980 and the story’s horrific conclusion.‘Little Heaven’ was a terrific tale which I enjoyed immensely zipping through this darkest of dark novels in three days as I was pulled, with the characters, deeper into Cutter’s vision of what a ‘Heart of Darkness’ truly is. As I read the Kindle version it was hard to gage the size of the book, but I have a feeling it had serious girth. As I said the majority of the story takes place in the 1965 era than in 1980 and the supernatural element, with monsters, are introduced in the opening few pages. I read in a recent online interview that Cutter felt there was a certain amount of ‘cross-pollination’ between both his supernatural and non-supernatural novels. I’m sure that’s true, but if you DON’T like supernatural horror then I would not bother with this book. Monsters populate a decent chunk of it, and as it heads into the gruelling final third there are creatures absolutely everywhere. Even if it’s as beautifully written as this book, if you don’t like supernatural/monster novels you are unlikely to enjoy this. I also got the feeling Nick has a lot of fun writing this book.In 1965 two mercenaries, who between them have killed many people, fight to near death with a bounty hunter seeking revenge for an as yet unknown crime. All badly wounded, but still alive, in an effort to avoid the law, the three form an uneasy truce. This results in a partnership which takes them to a remote part of New Mexico to find the nephew of Ellen, who believes her brother-in-law has absconded with the child to join a potentially dangerous religious cult. So Minny, Shug, Eb and with Ellen tagging along head off to the village of Grinder’s Switch and the religious survivalist compound which lurks even further from this remote beaten track. They discover a group of downtrodden fanatics who are led by ‘Prophet’ Reverend Amos Flesher. Everybody looks unhealthy, their kids seem to be very cruel, nobody is particularly Christian like and something unnatural moves in the forest at night. A world of pain is about to begin. And what pain….The 1980 story thread is much shorter, but picks up Minny, Shug and Eb once again heading to the Black Mountain Wilderness after Shug’s daughter is kidnapped by forces unknown. Of course, all three characters have been changed by their ordeal from fifteen years earlier, we don’t as yet know how. But we all know the piper needs to be paid.This novel has so many great things going for it and clever touches I’m not sure where to start. It’s pulsating all the way through and the three mercenaries are terrifically well drawn characters, who all carry their own ghosts, independent of what nastiness lurks in the forest. The back-stories were seamlessly interwoven into the plot as we’re taken back to the Korean War and a horrific episode where a little boy is eaten alive by a snake. Even though two of the three are vicious killers, you still root for them all the way. Every top drawer horror novels need great villains and this most definitely separates ‘Little Heaven’ from the horror pack, as it has both a supernatural villain and a very human one. Reverend Amos has more than a little bit of Jim Jones in him, but what a character, sleazing all over the pulpit. Following a voice, whom be believes to be God, instructing him to build his compound and church in the shadow of a mountain that just doesn’t feel right. Even the smaller characters, both villains and Christian suckers, are believably drawn as their false prophet’s vision draws them deeper into the pulsating ancient evil which lurks in the forest.Like ‘The Troop’ and ‘The Deep’ (underwater granted) this latest novel has a memorable outdoor setting, ominous from the moment the mercenaries arrive and with the forest brooding with menace. It’s a brilliant place to set a horror novel, as you realise pretty early on there is nowhere to run, and the evil knows this better than anyone as it bides its time. Even though the supernatural element is introduced to the novel at the very early stages it doesn’t kill the suspense as the duel time sequences only add to the unrelenting tension. A minor quibble perhaps, but I felt as it headed towards the conclusion, there could have been more time spent in the present period of 1980, and the longish final sequence in 1965 shortened a bit.I don’t want to spoil the supernatural element by saying too much about what it is. Cutter plays around with the old Pied Piper story and even the horror classic ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ is given an appreciative nod. There’s a lot of pain in this novel, and if I ever hear the phrase “Shall we begin?” I’ll always think of a couple of sequences from this terrifically horrible little novel. I would wholeheartedly recommend this pulsating page-turner to fans of supernatural horror and Nick Cutter is fast becoming one of those authors where the appearance of a new novel is a real treat. ‘Little Heaven’ is released in hardback in January of 2017.

Excellent read

Little Heaven is, no doubt about it a HORROR story. There are of course, other themes explored within its pages, but understand, if you read this book, it will be scary.While I usually don't compare authors styles, it is very difficult to not compare Nick Cutter's style to that of Stephen King. Little Heaven builds in suspense and horror slowly. I felt like I was just going along in the story and then realized; I'm in the middle of something eerie and terrible. Kind of like an "uh-oh now I'm in trouble" feeling. The terror slowly creeps up on you in this story.Author Nick Cutter takes no prisoners, leaving no fear button un-pushed. The horrifying action is right there in your face. Graphic language, gory depictions of absolute terror. Cutter does an outstanding job of instilling fear, dread and horror in the reader.The characters in Little Heaven are well developed, flaws and all. Some may see the story as bad guys vs worse guys. Some may see it as a story of redemption. Some may see it as a story of karmic balance. Compelling arguments can be made for any of these viewpoints. I leave that to the reader. Personally, I see it as all of the above.I will admit to have a few bad dreams during my time in Little Heaven, Chalk that up to perhaps my habit of reading in bed until my eyes cross and I can't stay awake any longer. But that doesn't happen often, which I think speaks to how well written the story is.Horror fans, Little Heaven by Nick Cutter is well worth your time. Enjoy (or tremble)!Mike

This is the second of this author’s novels that I’ve read (the first being his excellent book, The Deep) and once again I’m impressed. Nick Cutter has been compared to Stephen King, not least by the great man himself, and it’s not hard to see why; a definite King vibe runs through this novel, from the general scepticism of religious fanaticism, to the mounting air of menace that builds and builds to nerve-shredding heights. But equally, some of King’s faults can be found here, not least the text’s length and the corresponding suspicion that it would have been a better book had some prose been cut.The plot revolves around a bunch of gunslingers – the book description calls them mercenaries, but really, they’re more like gangsters – are employed by a woman to accompany her to a remote religious community. She’s concerned that her nephew has been taken there against his will by his deadbeat dad and she wants their help should she need to bust him out. Seeing this as an easy gig, the mercenaries/gangsters agree and go along for the ride. This being a horror novel of course, things don’t turn out so easy.Nick Cutter is a great writer, a brilliant wordsmith, and undoubtedly this novel is a great read. The author really imbues the religious community with a sense of the sinister and one just knows that this isn’t going to be some paradise. He also imbues a real sense of terror to the characters’ first encounter with the supernatural element of the story. That scene I suggest you read during daylight hours, or at least with the light on.This leads me to my first criticism of Little Heaven. Now to be fair, this might be because horror isn’t my preferred gene. My first choice of read is crime/thriller, horror coming a distant second. So, this might be a tad unfair of me. But I kept finding the supernatural/horror elements getting in the way. The author does such a good job of portraying the religious cult, it’s charismatic and crazy leader, that I kind of wanted him to write a book about a Jim Jones/Jonestown death cult, a study in a madman leading his followers to disaster. But of course, that’s not the focus of the novel – though it does form a strand of the story – and the horror is what the author is all about.To be fair to Nick Cutter, the supernatural elements are all handled effectively. As I indicate above, many scenes are really scary, the sort of thing that may well give you nightmares. If horror is your thing, if you’re a fan of Stephen King, then this is a book you should read. Until the end that is. And that leads to my second criticism. The ending.Now I must stop you here because I can’t discuss this without delivering a major spoiler. No, seriously, MAJOR SPOILER COMING! Seriously people! Stop. Reading. Now. SPOILER ALERT!Ok. Can’t say I didn’t warn you. The main threat to the characters in this novel are ancient demons. The main demon, the big baddie, lives in people it kind of captures. Like a parasite, it feeds on their souls until there is nothing left. So far, so horror affair. But these demons can be killed, right? With just weapons. And throughout the book, the mercenary/gunmen kill demons. That’s Ok, too. Now at the very end, one of the gunmen’s daughter is captured by the main demon. He travels into its lair with his buddies and he has a bomb secreted with him. He makes a deal with the demon: let my daughter go and you can have me. The demon says ok and lets the daughter go. The gunman tells his buddies to take his little girl away. As she escapes, he blows up the tunnel, trapping himself and the demon. So, the demon can have him but can’t escape and prey on anyone else. But why? Why not run off with his daughter and blow up the tunnel, trapping the demon alone? There is literally no sense in this ending. The demon is unable to move fast, it’s like a little slug thing. He could have killed it, trapped it, anything. The only sense in this ending is to hold it open for a potential sequel (and indeed, the other mercenaries/gunmen discuss going back for him at the end). Other than that, it makes no sense whatsoever. And that annoys me.All in all, this is a good book. A little too long, would rather there was more on the cult (but to be fair, that reflects my own reading tastes). My biggest complaint is the ending, which to me at least, made little sense. But if you like Stephen King, you could do a lot worse than read this.