The Unholy

By Paul DeBlassie III

Publisher: Sunstone Press (October, 2013)
Category: New Age Fiction/Metaphysical Thriller, Paranormal Thriller
Available in: Print & ebook,  203 Pages

Rating 3 stars

The Unholy is centered on a young woman named Claire. At the tender age of five, Claire is orphaned after her mother’s mysterious and violent death. Claire remembers vividly the details of that night in the Aztlan desert. Now twenty five, the age her mother was when she died, Claire becomes mired an ages long war between “Good” and “Evil”. The forces of “Evil”, represented by the corrupt Archbishop, hide behind their religious piety to mask their demonic dealings. Time is running out on the Archbishop’s promises, however. Claire has to face her heritage and tortured memories of the night her mother died.

Paul takes us on a romp through the mysticism of the native southwest as Claire struggles with her legacy as a medicine woman. Along the way he gives us a glimpse of the dangers of corruption in the guise of religious fervor. The twists at the end come rapid fire.

At first, I struggled with this book. I am not entirely sure why except to say that I was bogged down in some repetition and the usage of native terminology. Even for those unfamiliar with the terms this may prove only a minor problem as Paul repeatedly translates the words immediately after using them. Once the tension got rolling towards the end of the first quarter of the book, I was hooked on finding out what will happen to Claire. Following her internal struggles and external hardships, especially her conflicted personal interactions, kept me turning the page. I feel a little cheated by the ending, which I will not spoil for the next reader. While it tied up the loose ends, it did so at an alarming speed that left me wanting more detail.

Technical Review: I noticed few typographical errors but some of the sentences are very wordy. I found myself more than once pausing in the middle of near paragraph length sentences. The majority of these looked like they could have been split up to provide quick jabs of information instead of a big roundhouse kick.

For these reasons I give The Unholy 3 stars. A worthy read if you like mysticism and are not offended by the portrayal of corruption in big religion.