Revelation

De: Carter Wilson

Narrado por: Timothy McKean

When Harden Campbell wakes cold and beaten in a dirt-floor cell, he finds only three other things in the room with him: the mutilated body of his good friend, an ancient typewriter, and a stack of blank paper, the top sheet of which has a single typed sentence: "Tell me a story." He knows the message is from Coyote, his brilliant, megalomaniacal roommate whose lust for power and reverence has recently revealed him for the true sociopath he is. Now, as the founder of a new religion with disturbing roots - Revelation - Coyote's most evil side has emerged.

From the moment Harden sees that stack of paper, he knows his one chance of escape is through his own words, and only his ability to successfully recount the dark story of what happened over the past year at Wyland University will determine whether he lives to see the woman he loves once again - or is silenced forever. This will be the most difficult story Harden has ever written, and each word must be chosen with the utmost care. Because Coyote will be reading each and every one of them.

©2016 Carter Wilson (P)2017 Cherry Hill Publishing, LLC

Reseñas de la Crítica

"An enthralling thriller...Wilson infuses his terrifying plot with intricate twists and turns, all totally credible." ( Publishers Weekly)

"This is a sledgehammer of a novel, slamming away at the foundations of modern cult religions until nothing is left but rubble to be carted away...a powerful story...an intense experience for those who can take it." ( Booklist)

How to Build a Cult Following 101

Any additional comments?

At a small New York college, two roommates set out to create a religious cult as a social experiment. Soon, however, things take a malevolent turn when the burgeoning Church’s chosen messiah turns out to be a socio-pathological lunatic. Waking to find himself trapped in a sort of dungeon cell like that of John of Patmos, with only a typewriter, a spider, and the rotting corpse of his former roommate for companionship, Harden Campbell sets to work writing his book of Revelation.
Set over a quarter century ago, Carter Wilson’s novel, Revelation, was only published last year, but it could easily have been set in contemporary times. The story toggles between third-person point of view and first as some of the examination of the action puts us in the position of observer, while other chapters are from the perspective of a manuscript being written by the captive, Harden.
There are three main characters, our part-time narrator, Harden; his roommate turned tormenter, Coyote; and Coyote’s girlfriend, Emma. The story takes us from Harden’s first meeting with Coyote all the way to a contrived conclusion in which the triangle of Harden, Coyote, and Emma come together to realize Coyote’s penultimate coup de grace, unless a miracle or Deus ex Machina intervenes.
My review is based on the audio version, which I received in exchange for my honest review, and to be honest, I’m not sure how I felt about the choice of narrator, Timothy McKean. It’s not that he did a bad job. On the contrary, he helped give life to the characters and added a sense of reality to the tension, and in the end that’s really all one can ask of a voice actor. But there is a slight Keanu Reeves-like immaturity to the quality of his tone. Another coming-of-age/college-experience story that wasn’t also about a murderous messianic sadist would probably be right in his wheelhouse.
As for the story, I have to confess, I have a particular fondness for thrillers which twist the conventions of religion into something distorted and horrifying. The best parts of this story for me were, in fact, the aspects showing how a charismatic sociopath could easily convince enough vulnerable and weak-willed neophytes to follow his promises of lasting happiness and self-improvement. From my perspective, Jim Jones, L. Ron Hubbard, Joseph Smith, and Paul of Tarsus are all just variations of a theme representing a template from which Wylie “Coyote” Martin was drawn.
Revelation is a successful thriller the same way that the first season of The Following was a success. We believe that a sociopath with access to vulnerable minds and a fortune in expendable cash could create the illusion that he has a message about the purpose of life. But why wouldn’t we believe that? After all, Joel Osteen and Tony Robbins are real people, and we’ve seen what they have done with the starter recipe. All we have to then do is toss in a little Charles Manson and some Kellyanne Conway. Voila!

Not bad, but not for me.

The premise of the story is intriguing. How would one create a new religion from scratch? What kind of person would be motivated to try it? What kind of people would follow it? How can you write such a story without pissing off Scientologists? Not a bad concept, but
I took a nearly instant dislike to the book's protagonist. And the book's antagonist. I had too many moments where a character made a decision that threw me right out of the story and I found myself questioning why anyone would be. that. dumb. The story had a certain amount of redemption for the protagonist at the end for me, but overall the story was pretty frustrating for me to listen to, and that's not why I like to read.

I received this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Amazing thriller

The best thriller I've read in awhile. Wow on the plot twists. Very well written, loved it.

A wonderful job by the narrator. Great performance.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

I didn't care much for this one.

Carter Wilson is such a great author who knows how to move a story along. However, I didn't really care much for the premise behind this particular book of his.

Well-written and twisty

Any additional comments?

Hmmm... what an interesting book! I can certainly understand why other reviewers would give this story a five-star rating. Carter Wilson certainly has a talent for wordcraft, making the story quite enjoyable to read (hear). As someone who lacks the talent for writing descriptively, but who also lacks the patience for reading contemporary literary fiction, I particularly enjoyed Revelation -- which gave me social commentary and an introspective protagonist, wrapped in a suspense/thriller plot.
The only reason why I didn't give this book a full five stars is because I thought the author was a wee bit too crafty with the plot twists. By the time we got to the end of the book, after the final twists had been revealed, I NEEDED the protagonist to explain what the heck happened since page 1 (and I'm glad that he did!). I felt like someone told me a joke and I didn't 'get' the punchline so I needed to have the joke explained to me. While I enjoy thrillers immensely, I don't like feeling stupid. I think that if the author had dropped just a few more breadcrumbs throughout the story regarding the protagonist, I would have enjoyed the crafty twists better. I would have felt like I was in the passenger seat on the same journey as the protagonist, rather than half-dozing in the back seat (thus missing the view/significance of key milestones along the path). A poor analogy - see? I told you that I lacked the talent for wordcraft! - but that's what it felt like to me. The author gave us entry into the protagonist's thoughts and emotions and actions....but held back on some critical stuff until the very end. I'm sure he did this deliberately, though, so I won't say that this is a flaw in the book. I would have liked the book even more if he had given me just a wee bit more in terms of a breadcrumb trail during the story, that's all.
The narration was very well done - great work by Timothy McKean! I think his vocal style was very authentic to the personality and actions of the main character. I'm also glad that he didn't do vocal backflips trying to voice the female characters (which would have disrupted the flow of the narration for me).
I provided my opinion in exchange for a complimentary copy of the audiobook from the author, narrator, or publisher.