I first read Apostle Rising when it was first released in 2011, having come to know Richard Godwin through his eminently disturbing short stories. If you love dark fiction, written with intelligence and insight, you'll love the writing of Richard Godwin. His first novel, Apostle Rising, scared the life out of me . . .
Blurb
Detective Chief Inspector Frank Castle never caught the Woodlands Killer and it almost destroyed him. Now years later, mauled by the press, and traumatised by nightmares, he is faced with a copycat killer with detailed inside knowledge of the original case. He and his partner DI Jacki Stone enter a deadly labyrinth, and at its centre is the man Castle believes was responsible for the first killings. He's running a sinister cult and playing dark mind games with the police. The investigation has a shattering effect on the lives of Castle and Stone. The killer is crucifying politicians, and he keeps raising the stakes and slipping through their hands. Dark coded ritualistic killings are being carried out on high profile figures and the body count is rising. Castle employs a brilliant psychologist to help him solve the case, and he begins to dig into the killer's psyche. But some psychopaths are cleverer than others. 'Apostle Rising' is an extremely powerful Noir Crime story that contains a unique twist, timed to perfection by the author. It is a dark, layered narrative with detailed psychological profiling, and a chilling dimension of horror.
Review
A simply stunning debut novel. Richard Godwin gives us a darkly poetic, deeply visceral tale of religious fanaticsm, political intrigue, and fractured minds on both sides of the law. For nearly four hundred pages each short chapter is as the thrust of the knife the killer is using to hack up a slew of victims, leaving Detective Inspector Frank Castle flailing in his wake. Always one step behind, Castle struggles to keep a grip of his own fragmenting sense of reality as the killer ploughs relentlessly on.
An intelligent, disturbing, beautifully written debut novel from a writer plying his craft from within the darkest reaches of the human psyche.
Apostle Rising is availble from the UK:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Apostle-Rising-Richard-Godwin/dp/0956711308/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1334266664&sr=1-1
and from the US:
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Apostle-Rising-Richard-Godwin-ebook/dp/B0091XMX3Y/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=richard+godwin&qid=1554658230&s=gateway&sr=8-7
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/Apostle-Rising-Richard-Godwin/dp/0956711308/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1554658230&sr=8-7
Richard Godwin's website is well worth a look: https://www.richardgodwin.net/
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