Revelation by Carter Wilson
- tarascates
- Jan 20, 2017
- 2 min read
When Harden Campbell wakes cold and beaten in a dirt-floor cell, he finds only three other things in the room with him: the mutilated body of his good friend, an ancient typewriter, and a stack of blank paper, the top sheet of which has a single, typed sentence.
Tell me a story.
He knows the message is from Coyote, his brilliant, megalomaniacal roommate whose lust for power and reverence has recently revealed him for the true sociopath he is. Now, as the founder of a new religion with disturbing roots―Revelation―Coyote's most evil side has emerged.
From the moment Harden sees that stack of paper, he knows his one chance of escape is through his own words, and only his ability to successfully recount the dark story of what happened over the past year at Wyland University will determine whether he lives to see the woman he loves once again―or is silenced forever.
This will be the most difficult story Harden has ever written, and each word must be chosen with the utmost care. Because Coyote will be reading each and every one of them.
I like that this is essentially a book within a book since the main character is being forced to write his story under duress.
It’s an entertaining psychological suspense that can make you feel a bit uncomfortable in its realism but you want to stick it out through the last page. The book reminds us that too often someone with a magnetic yet psychopathic personality comes along whose only purpose seems to be to find and manipulate others; a fundamental theory of this story told through alternating timelines.
Carter Wilson does a good job in his character development which also caused a bit of an issue for me. Harden, the main character is really not likable because he’s a gullible wimp who would be the perfect kind of prey for a psychopath. You just want to slap him at times which is kind of a problem since he’s the main character who is telling the story but that just goes to Wilson’s cred that he can write a character this good.
The book is graphically detailed to the point it will elicit reactions of shock and anger as it grips your attention and creates a need to see if happy endings can exist in a world where psychopaths go on a spree.
I would definitely recommend this book but not for the squeamish.
Thank you to Netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for allowing me to review this book.
*synopsis and pic from amazon.com