Little Heaven

July 4, 2016
Cutter (The Deep) portrays three very damaged people trying to do good in this disturbing tale, which is elevated by illustrations by Adam Gorham. When Micah Shughrue wakes up to find his daughter missing, he’s terrified that a darkness from his past has come to claim her, so he enlists his former colleagues Minerva Atwater and Ebenezer Elkins to go back to the place that nearly broke them 15 years before: Little Heaven, a religious compound in the wilds of New Mexico that’s run by the slimy Rev. Amos Flesher. Flash back from 1980 to 1965, when the trio of mercenaries take a job to find Nate, a young boy who has been taken to Little Heaven. Just getting there is fraught with danger: dead birds fall from the sky, and the three investigators are chased by nightmarish creatures. Micah, Minerva, and Eb want to help the children at Little Heaven, but at what cost? Micah and his associates (calling them friends would be a stretch) are easy to root for, and horror fans yearning for the days of over-the-top stomach-churning gorefests will be darkly delighted.

A trio of mercenaries is reunited for a deceptively simple task--to check on a young man they've heard is being held against his will in Little Heaven. The remote settlement in the wilds of the New Mexico desert harbors horror beyond even their imaginations. Corey Brill's narration embraces every aspect of this story--the gritty Western elements, the shudder-inducing menace, and the surprisingly redemptive camaraderie. His calm narration amplifies the gory details of the narrative, and he illuminates each character's motives and emotional depth with subtle vocal shading and inflection. Though not for the faint of heart, Brill's hushed descriptions cast a spell that lingers long after the story has drawn to a close. B.E.K. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine