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In the center of the room was a short table. On it rested a
small cauldron, much like the one they found in Sasha
Winston's duffle. Next to the cauldron sat a bell, a small
stick with a crystal attached to the end of it, a small broom,
and an athame.
"Stand next to me, child," said Victoria, taking Chennelle's
hand and guiding her. "First Barbara will take the athame
and will walk around us creating the circle of power. We
must all stay iinside of the circle or the energy will be
broken."
Chennelle say Barbara pick up the dagger and walk around
everyone holding it out as though slicing through the air to
make a circle. Then she muttered something Chennelle
couldn't quite hear in four places around the circle before
replacing the athame on the table...
Victoria spoke again in a whisper. "That is our altar. She
will light the black candle to banish evil and to bring us
protection and then the red to bring us strength in the
coming days. That one is especially for you and Erica to
help you trap this killer..."
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They followed Victoria to a doorway. She opened it and gestured for them to descend the dimly lit stars. Chennelle's unease from the meeting they'd had with Amber earlier had returned.
"Detective Kendall, Detective Barnes, welcome to both of you, said Barbara in grandiose style. She was wearing an emerald green robe which set off her dark auburn hair. "We first wanted to ask the Goddess for assistance to keep us safe and to aid you in capturing this villain."
Chennelle thought villain was a rather soft term for someone who so brutally tortured and killed these womken...
"As you may have guessed, our coven consists of thirteen, but now that we've lost two members, we were hoping the two of you would stand in for them."
Chennelle's mouth dropped open. She looked toward Barnes and found hers to be open as well. This was not what they'd expected to be doing tonight.
"But we aren't Wiccans," said Chennelle. "Isn't that kind of against the rules or something?"
Some of the women giggled. Barbara put on a broad smile. "Hardly, Detective. May I call you by your first names?"
"Sure, I'm Chennelle and this is Erica."
"That makes it a little more intimate," said Barbara. "We welcome all who are willing, but if you are comfortable with it we'll understand. However, it does make the circle stronger if we have thirteen...
~~~
Purged: Circle City
Mystery Series
By M. E. May
I moved this review onto my adult blog once I got into it. Exposing children to as much violence as they are today bothers me...just as this book bothered me. In fact at page 150 I almost stopped reading. I decided to continue, however, and was happy I did. I had briefly heard the word "purge" on television regarding a movie and was concerned if there was a connection... The two movies out there are unforgivably horrendous. In fact, doing an internet search for this book brought up nothing but info about those movies... Undoubtedly this book might well be lost in the maze of similar titles!
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Soon it will be seven days, he thought, brightening
his mood. After seven days, Doug could bring
justice upon another sinner. Grandmother had
often said the avenging angels needed to come
and purge the world of the sinful. Sinners were
becoming more abundant.
Ag age forty-seven, he heard the voice of god
tell him this was his calling. This was why god
had given him to this woman to train him up in
the word and why he must suffer at her hands.
He would continue to cleanse and purge as long
as his Master needed him. This was his destiny.
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This story, also, is horrendous, but the second half lightens the burden on readers as some visions of light begin coming through until, by the somewhat surprising ending, there was reason to commend the author for merging such divergent points of view into what most people would call a horror movie...
It was 1973 when I saw the first "supernatural horror" movie, The Exorcist. That was my first and last experience of watching this type of religious horror movie... But that has not stopped many, many more from being created. It seems the world has a need to select the "du jour religion" to use, then some other religious group turns against them and begins to explain violence on other people because they do not believe what the first group believes.
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Her heart beat harder at his pledge
to save her soul, no matter the cost.
"Why would your god want to bring
justice down on me, or to save my
soul? I've done nothing to harm
anyone."
"Because you are wicked. You and
the other witches worship the devil.
You must repent or be punished."
Her head throbbed again and her
breathing became shallow with fear.
Now Sasha understood. This
religious fanatic had no understanding
of her religion. Worse than that, this
man used religion to give him an excuse
to harm others. She knew enough about
Christianity to realize he didn't even
understand his own religion.
"I not a witch, and I don't even believe
in the devil."
"Do not lie to me! I saw you dancing
around the fires of Hell tonight,
changing and thanking some goddess."
...confess, witch, or you'll be put to
death with your own evil instrument."
~~~ |
In this case, a Christian church has spoken out against a group of women who are Wiccans--calling them witches... Sound familiar? Church leaders have attempted in various ways to prevent the Wiccans from conducting religious activities, refusing to differentiate between Wiccans and witches...
The first murder occurred after a young man had seen the Wiccan ceremony held by a local group. He had waited until everybody had left but the one who had led the activities and was cleaning up after. He had attacked her and taken her to another location where he had tortured her, with her own athame [knife], forcing her to admit her sins and turning to the one true god, which was his...of course... He then burned "forgiven" or "unforgiven" on their chest! But killed them anyway...
Chennelle Kendall was assigned to the case and she immediately asked for Erica Barnes to help--quite a dynamic duo for a tough case that was quickly going nowhere... Except more of the Wicca members were murdered...
Readers will know the individual who considers himself an avenging angel for god. This is somewhat of a traditional tale of abuse by a parent, or, this time, a grandmother. Using religion to justify punishment of a child, who has no guilt except having been born, has also become an ordinary story line that has certainly run its course in my opinion...
The second half of the book brings in a new character that totally transforms the direction of the case and, without saying more, the beliefs of some of the people in that town. The ending is more than satisfactory given the first half, while I continued to feel the serial killer by virtue of parental abuse has been played over and over, even if you can't really say that the killing becomes boring--rather that readers generally come to know what to expect and gains little sympathy for the, supposedly, true victim which is the child who was terribly abused by his grandmother.
A sub-plot regarding a female cop and her family is a good tie-in for readers that deals with a domestic abuse situation. This fits in well in a cop procedural where the female gained support from other officers to fight back against an alcoholic husband and father. But also spotlights the access of guns by children...
Purged is the fourth book in The Circle City Mystery Series. I have not read any of the rest so do not know how this particular book relates to earlier stories. When the individual who is doing the crime is immediately identified, there is little real mystery for me. Pitting one religion against another to result in violence is not my preference, but the author carried this sensitive issue well, adding little tidbits such as a mixed-religion marriage, to soften the overall effect. I hope I've given you sufficient info to help you decide. The author is award-winning so you can be assured that the book is well written. Do check it out, at least, won't you?
GABixlerReviews
M. E. May (Michele) lives in the far Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, with her husband, Paul, and white Husky, Iris. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the fourth of five children to working class parents. Both of her parents were avid readers who loved mystery, fantasy and romance. They often encouraged her to read as well. Her son, Brian, and daughter, Marie, and four wonderful grandsons, Kodey, Kaleb, Kameron, and Gustin all live in central Indiana. M. E. attended Indiana University-Kokomo studying Social and Behavioral Sciences. This sparked her interest in the psychology of humans and the curiosity to ask why they commit such heinous crimes upon one another.
At age 50, she finally realized what she wanted to be when she grew up -- an author. She always knew she had it in her, but was never quite sure how to fit writing in with raising children and working full-time. In 2008, her wonderful husband found out about her dream of becoming an author. He suggested she take a year off to get started. The children were grown and have been on their own for several years now, so why not?
Michele is a member of several organizations, such as Mystery Writers of America (including the local chapter MWA Midwest); Sisters in Crime (Chicagoland and Speed City in Indianapolis) and is currently Vice President and Program Chair of the Chicagoland group; Chicago Writers of America and their affiliate InPrint.
She is currently writing a series of novels involving the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, which she calls the Circle City Mystery Series. The first novel, Perfidy, explores the depths of human perception and to what lengths a person will go in seeking revenge. Perfidy was honored on February 2, 2013, by colleagues at the Love is Murder Conference in Chicago, when Michele received the 2013 Lovey Award for Best First Novel. The second novel, Inconspicuous, was nominated for the 2014 Lovey Award for Best Suspense. The third novel in the series, Ensconced, was released March 7, 2014, and the fourth, Purged, will be released on November 20, 2014. Michele was also privileged to have her short story, "Uncle Vito and the Cheerleader" accepted for the Speed City Sisters in Crime anthology, Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks, which was released in October 2013.
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