The Acolyte by Nick Cutter (2015)
This is the second Nick Cutter book I have read (haven’t decided if I want to read The Deep) and I would have to say it’s about as good as The Troop, even though they are very different stories. Cutter is a good writer, the pacing was quick, no really slow spots and he doesn’t shy away or dance around race and religion and the bigotry of a strict religious environment which he was creating. The characters were fine, Murtag was straight forward, one-dimensional even when his world started to unravel however, for the rest of the characters it certainly did feel like there were gaps that could have been filled in. Angela Doe could have been developed more and as twisted as they were, I would be interested in reading more about The Quints. This was a short book, just shy of 300 pages, so I can see why there wasn’t more depth to the supporting characters. Other people have made comparisons of this book to 1984 (I haven’t read) but to me it totally reminded me of the great 2002 movie Equilibrium. Take Cutter’s Acolytes and faith crimes and replace them with Clerics and sense crimes in the movie, both the book and movie have their Prophet. Overall, a good book, not gripping and kind of hollow but a quick easy read.
Dawning Creates 