The Unholy by Paul DeblassieMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I received a copy of the book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Claire Sanchez is the daughter of a medicine woman who had witnessed her mother's murder when she was five years old. She grew up to be a natural therapist at the Ecclesia Dei run Mental Hospital. Among her patients is a woman named Elizabeth. She used to be a friend of the woman who raised Claire, Francesca, until she had to be confined to the hospital.
The Ecclesia Dei church is headed by Archbishop Anarch who is very good at encouraging the richer church members to pay large tithes to the church in exchange for their salvation. The Archbishop is ambitious and is hoping to head the entire church someday. However, the Archbishop is not as holy as he seems and his past is not as clean as it should be.
Anarch is evil and he has powers that threaten to destroy Claire and those she loves. But Claire has the blood of the most powerful medicine women in her veins and she has powers too although she needs to accept her heritage in order to use them.
The Unholy is a paranormal psychological thriller set in a place called Aztlan where the houses are made of adobe and medicine women exist. Written by a psychologist, the novel does tend to delve into the psyche of the characters. It is a tale of good vs. evil and it did manage to keep my attention enough so that I read through the whole book.
The story is somewhat okay albeit a trifle drawn out in the middle. Personally, I got irritated by how often the word "adobe" would show up on a page -- adobe house this, adobe walls that -- it got irritating after a while. But then it's probably just me.
The book is an okay enough read provided you do not focus too much on connecting the dots.
View all my reviews
