In 1973, a commune of almost twenty-five people-mostly women and children-disappeared overnight from the small town of West Burma, WI. What happened to the hippie Children of Demeter has remained a mystery until this day, which is what draws Sarah Bisset, a sociologist on sabbatical, to the place. With her personal life in ruins Sarah is more than happy to lose herself in the secrets of the isolated farmhouse, but soon those revelations have her questioning her own identity, and even her sanity. Is she prepared to navigate the labyrinth of lies and cover ups to expose the truth concealed inside Demeter House despite the consequences? "Knight creates a palpable suspense throughout the deep and many-layered mystery, and her characters leap off the pages: Sara, especially, is fully fleshed out, haunted by both her past and her present. Readers of eerie horror will find much to enjoy."-Publishers Weekly "In her second novel, Knight takes on a vengeful goddess, the disappearance of a hippy commune, haunted land, and the ghosts of the past in an intoxicating tale of terror, betrayal, and rebirth. Be prepared to stay up far too late reading. I did."-Patricia Lillie, author of The Cuckoo Girls "A chilling look into cults, feminine magic and sacrifice. Fast paced with fresh ideas, Knight's tale takes the reader in unexpected and creepy directions." -Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Whispers in the Dark "Weird, and beautiful, and scary as hell. EV Knight takes the reader down into a place of genuine darkness. Brava!" -Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of Ink and V-Wars "I'm a sucker for stories about mysterious cults and small towns harboring dark secrets, and EV Knight raises the bar with her mesmerizing novel, Children of Demeter. This is a confident, and beautifully written, novel that sucks you in as the chilling truth behind the Demeter cult is masterfully revealed. Expect to stay up long after the lights have gone out devouring this dark mystery. That's where EV Knight wants you, and where her monsters lie in wait." -Brian Kirk, author of We Are Monsters and Will Haunt You
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I love a good cult story, but I don't find many cult-based horror books that actually feel like horror. A lot of the ones I've read seemed to tread more along the thriller line — which is perfectly acceptable, don't get me wrong... but sometimes, I want more, and I can safely say that Children of Demeter delivered.Children of Demeter follows a woman who's grieving her husband, though not in the way you might think: his death led to the reveal of his infidelity, and thus, Sarah is left grieving her marriage on multiple levels. Desperate to get away, she buys an old house without visiting it first, and finds out that it was the site of a bizarre, hippie-esque cult in the 70s. Things seem innocent at first, but Sarah quickly learns that this home has a way of getting inside her mind, and shit hits the fan pretty quickly after that.First of all, I really enjoyed Sarah immensely as a protagonist. She's incredibly head-strong, constantly putting her nose where it doesn't belong and determined not to let anyone stop her from finding out the truth. Not only that, but the setting is so atmospheric and the reveals are perfectly paced to make this a quick, engaging read that never gets stale.I enjoyed Children of Demeter very much and I finally experienced for myself how incredible E.V. Knight's writing talent is. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future!Thank you so much to Erin Al-Mehairi & the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!———twitter booktok bookstagram blog
