Thank you @NetGalley and RedHook Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.⁣
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝟭𝟭/𝟭𝟳/𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟬! ⁣
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𝗠𝘆 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀⁣
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A toxic cult once lived on the Red Peak mountain. Its sudden end has always been shrouded in mystery for everyone besides the five children that survived. David, Deacon, Angela, Beth, and Emily have each found different ways to cope in their adulthood but have different memories of that fateful night. A somber event causes them to reunite around the same time of the fifteenth anniversary of the cult's fall. It's time to understand what happened to their families at Red Peak, no matter the cost. ⁣
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𝗠𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄⁣
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I began reading this book expecting a typical thriller cult plot. I did not expect it to be like no other cult book I've ever read, in the best way.⁣
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First of all Craig DiLouie is not afraid of playing around with toxic Christianity, a guilty pleasure topic of mine. However, he does it in a respectful way and he gets a lot of kudos from me on that because I've seen a few other authors less courteous with the topic. The theme surrounding The Binding of Isaac is not lost by any means on the reader and tastefully done. ⁣
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There are a lot of flashbacks throughout these pages but they served as important glimpses into the life these children grew up in. I felt like it didn't take away but rather served as an important plot device to propel the reader forward in the ultimate insanity of the final conclusion. I did not expect that ending whatsoever, but it was awesome. It made sense knowing the character's background and coping mechanisms, and made this tile one of my new go-to recommendations for psychological cult thrillers. ⁣

This book had me at a cult. All things to do with cults hold a near magnetic fascination for me. And in that respect it certainly didn’t disappoint. The cult here is front and center and remains the most prominent feature of the novel. A peace loving Christian commune that evolves/devolves into a terrifying doomsday cult and results with its members self mutilating, dying and…disappearing. Yes, just vanishing. Dubbed The Medford Mystery after the cult’s second and most lethal location, it remains unsolved for 15 years. Meanwhile, it’s only survivors, five kids, had what seemed like sufficient amounts of therapy and managed to have pretty normal lives. Surprisingly normal, considering that they were teenagers and almost teenagers while witnessing these tragedies and the scarring on one’s psyche from such things must be considerable. Each of the five has developed their own coping techniques, drinking, music, denial, etc. One became a cult deprogrammer, one a shrink. And one killed herself just as the fifteen year anniversary of the tragedy approaches. It is her funeral and subsequent reunion of the now adult survivors that triggers a variety of unresolved emotions and it seems that the only way to get the answers they need is to do the very thing they’ve been so deliberately avoiding all this time and go back to the source. And so there you have it, the children of the Red Peak, young people indelibly emotionally crippled by a terrible tragedy, confronting their demons. Quite literally. So first off, while undeniably horrific, this is much more along the lines of dark psychological drama/thriller and very much a character driven one at that. As such, the characters are crucially important, but not all created equally. Some are most compelling, some less so. Deacon, the musician, is over the top emo, though he’d hate that, because he thinks of himself as more along the lines of punk goth. With his Latin and Greek profundities inked body and his unrealized romantic longings and his black clothing, he is goth, all right, but kind of emo mopey about it. Though his greatest tragedy seems to be no talent for song writing, from early years to now his song lyrics are just crap, very basic, very flat. If they hadn’t been included, my imagination would have provided him with much nicer writer tracks. Beth, the shrink, and Deacon’s love interest for all these years, is a tightly controlled mess of a person, with neatly organized life and career and wine for whenever the control threatens to slip away. There’s David, the soul of the novel, really, the youngest of the bunch, who went on to have a productive life as a family man and a talk therapist for cult members, not quite a deprogrammer, but an exit consultant. And his sister, the gorgeous cop, the eldest and therefore most cynical and most brave. And there was Emily, the suicide. So that’s the main cast of characters, variously unevenly likeable, but all admirable in their own way having been able to actively build a life overcoming such a devastating event. The thing of it is, though, the trick they all seemed to have employed, is putting their past aside, either deliberately of subconsciously, forgetting or forcing themselves not to think about it, which is arguably the best way to deal with this sort of thing. Though not according to the therapy ideology, which demands it all analyzed and processed. Well, some processes are deadly. And what if the thing they all agreed on had to be hallucinated by their disturbed minds was in fact real? Did the bodies levitate and disappear? Follow them to the Red Peak and find out. Frankly, the ending was something of a letdown for me, I expected more than vagueness provided and more from the characters, but it worked and I can (intellectually if not emotionally) understand how it did. But the book itself was really good, so well written, so excellently atmospherically dark, so engaging. Terrific introduction to a new (to me) author. Fans of dark supernatural tinged fiction ought to enjoy this. Fans of fiction about cults…it’s a must. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

2020- After years of outrunning the past, David Young finds himself confronting it once again while attending the funeral of his childhood friend Emily. 15 years prior The Family of the Living Spirit, a religious commune led by Revered Jeremiah Peale, committed mass suicide. None of the bodies were ever found resulting in what was deemed the "Medford Mystery. Only five children: Emily, Deacon, Beth, David, and his older sister Angela survived each one repressing the memories of that final night. Before her suicide, Emily wrote each of them a letter; a message that will lead them back to Red Peak to find the answers that they seek.

The Children of Red Peak is a cult horror novel involving the four remaining survivors of a mass suicide. The novel alternates between the past and present, with each of the remaining survivors recalling memories of their childhood and how the trauma has impacted their present lives. Although the reader knows that something tragic and unexplained occurred at Red Peak, many of the revisited memories tell stories of friendship, love, and hope. As with many cult horror stories however; things quickly change when "God" tells his messenger what they must to do in order to reach “Heaven”. I use these terms lightly based on the beliefs of the cult members and their desired outcome as the rest of the world ends. The novel contains violent and graphic content involving acts of self-mutilation, torture, and murder. Each of the survivors will have to face the past, question their beliefs both religious and about what really occurred that night, and be forced with a decision. I have read other novels by this author and although this was not my favorite it was an interesting and somewhat strange take on cult horror with an ending that left me with a few questions of my own.

2 Stars

"...In all endings there is a beginning."- The Children of Red Peak.

REVIEW: Thank you to NetGalley, Redhook Books, and Craig DiLouie for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This book follows a group of adults who as children survived a cult's last days at an isolated mountain called Red Peak. Throughout their lives, their experience at Red Peak has caused them significant trauma and has never left them. However, when one of the adults in their group commits suicide, they reunite and decide to share their stories and memories of their time in the cult. The group knows that the final answers to all their questions can only be found by going back to Red Peak, but they are afraid of what they might have to sacrifice.

I was super excited to read this book because I love books about cults or religious groups. Overall, I thought the story was okay. The story is told through two different timelines: one in present day, and one when the characters were children and in the cult. I much preferred the timeline that showed the characters in the cult. I wasn't able to really connect with any of the characters and was not invested in their present day-to-day life.

Part of this story was a little confusing to me. Sometimes the text would randomly switch between two different character's point-of-view and I would have to reread the section to try to figure out who it was. Also, the story occasionally shifted between the past and the present without a clear indicator of this, and also who's perspective we were reading from. I thought the overall plot was fantastic, and there was so much to work with. I, unfortunately, just think it wasn't executed as well as it could have been.

SYNOPSIS: David Young, Deacon Price, and Beth Harris live with a dark secret. As children, they survived a religious group's horrific last days at the isolated mountain Red Peak. Years later, the trauma of what they experienced never feels far behind.

When a fellow survivor commits suicide, they finally reunite and share their stories. Long-repressed memories surface, defying understanding, and belief. Why did their families go down such a dark road? What really happened on that final night?
The answers lie buried at Red Peak. But truth has a price, and escaping a second time may demand the ultimate sacrifice.

RELEASE DATE: November 17, 2020

Really interesting read about a group of adults who lived with a cult during childhood. After one of their number commits suicide, they join together one last time to try to figure out what really happened during the tragic and bizarre even that ended the cult. Great characters and a surprising plot.

I don’t know exactly how to describe this little gem, but I loved it. Any book about cults I am all in for, but this was just a little bit more. A bit of an insight to religious zealots, making you wonder if they are onto something lol. Not going to give anything away, but thoroughly enjoyed!