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The Wakening by JG Faherty

 

Title: The Wakening

Author: JG Faherty

Genre: Horror

Published: January 25, 2022 by Flame Tree Press

Thank you to Flame Tree Press and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.

A team of paranormal investigators, a priest and a defrocked priest with a dark secret join forces to combat of a vengeful ancient demon, and the evil spreading throughout a small New York town. Goodreads

 My Thoughts: This is the exorcism story that I have been searching for since reading The Exorcist. This story does rely on classic exorcism cliches, but adds elements to make it something all it's own. This possession was turned up to 11 since this was no lower level demon, but Asmodeus the right hand man to the devil himself. There are other paranormal and preternatural elements in the story as well making this a real page turner. Every chapter had frightening scenes and the pace was very fast. The characters assembled to fight Asmodeus and all very flawed, fleshed out, interesting characters to follow.

The trigger warnings for this book are animal death, suicide, pedophilia, and religious blasphemy. So if you can handle reading about these topics I would highly recommend this book. Especially if you have been searching for a great exorcism book like I have.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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