Original Version
Rereleased Version
First published back in April of 2012, US author William Holloway’s ‘The Immortal Body’ formed the first instalment of his ‘The Singularity Cycle’ trilogy. In October of 2015 the novel was rereleased through Horrific Tales Publishing.
DLS Synopsis:
Brother Thaddeus Johnson was a healer. However not in the normal sense of the term. He wasn’t a doctor, or a medical practitioner, or anything like that. Far from it. Nor was he really what you would class as a spiritual healer. How could he be if in his heart he had no faith? In fact, he was a junkie who faked the power of God through his healing hands. But somehow the healing actually worked. And over the years he had made a name, and a living, through his unique ability.
However when he returned back to Atlanta Georgia to help the needy parishioners of Reverend Ezekiel Hill’s flock, something had gone wrong. Brother Thaddeus felt it the moment he placed his hands on the first parishioner. Twenty-six-year-old mother of two Yolanda Carver suffered from hellish migraines. She was the first to take to the stage and have Thaddeus place his healing hands on her. But something felt instantly different. Something dark, and repellent seemed to flow through Thaddeus and into the young parishioner. When she took her place back next to her husband Rodney afterwards, he was no longer able to see the woman he loved in her. He no longer recognised his wife.
The same happened with the next parishioner to take to the stage. Frank Wilson struggled with chest pain. But after Thaddeus applied his healing hands on the father of three, the healer once again felt the darkness wash through him. That same intense gut-wrenching sickness. And Frank seemed to change with it.
The third and final parishioner was a young girl named Rashelle Lewis, whose reaction brought the service to an abrupt and horrific end. Once Thaddeus placed his hands on the young girl, the nightmarish darkness washed over the healer once again, and with that the girl turned on the Revered; plunging a hairpin through his thick glasses and directly into his eye. With that, the young cripple girl who hadn’t walked a day in her life, got up and ran out of the Sanctuary, straight into the traffic outside, throwing herself under the wheels of a truck.
But the nightmare wasn’t over yet. In fact, it had only just begun.
Following the traumatic events in Brother Zeke’s Sanctuary, a series of horrific events start occurring. Upon returning to their family home, Rodney Carver finds his young children and their grandmother brutally murdered; their body parts ritualistically arranged in an ungodly sculpture as if in pure defiance to the natural world itself.
Elsewhere, psychic medium Sarah Lynn Beauchamp has begun another séance, whereupon the deceased which she was trying to speak with suddenly appear and slaughter everyone in attendance, leaving her left alive, but reeling from the blood-curdling onslaught she had witnessed.
And for eight-five-year-old SAS veteran turned county coroner, Dr Crawford Menard, things are looking equally as grim. Flashbacks from a mission in Peenemunde, during his time fighting in WWII, have been flooding back into his waking mind. A mission which, until now, he had no recollection of. A mission which placed him into a nightmarish scene of abysmal horror – as if plucked straight out of hell itself.
And somehow Detective John Mitchell has to pull all these chaotic pieces together and confront the madness that appears to be sweeping across America. Together with FBI agent Eugene Feldman, they will come face-to-face with abominations beyond their worst nightmares. And they must confront horrors that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of their world.
You cannot unsee what has been seen. Darkness – real Darkness – is old. It is wise, it is patient, and above all, it is merciless…
DLS Review:
Holy-fucking-mother-of-god this is one unholy beast of a twisted book. I’m still reeling from the sheer undiluted ungodly horror of it all. It’s like ‘The Damnation Game’ (1985) era Barker that’s been dragged through the darkest pits of hell to be spat back out onto the unsuspecting turf of America.
Jesus Christ am I going to have nightmares tonight. If you thought ‘Lucky’s Girl’ (2014) plummeted into some messed-up realms of cosmic horror then hold on to your seat because things are about to get a whole lot grimmer.
This is the first instalment into Holloway’s ‘Singularity Cycle’ trilogy – and my God does it get the ball rolling with some hellish delights. With a very noticeable nod towards the otherworldly cosmic horrors of H.P. Lovecraft, Holloway has embarked upon a story so wrapped up in nightmarish visions and a soul-devouring corruption of the fabric of our world, that it’s hard not to physically shudder at the abominations being unleashed in these pages. I kid you not – this is some pretty damn horrifying shit you have here.
From very early on in this first book Holloway throws down the gauntlet with just how grim this story is going to get. Here the reader is treated to the beginnings of some creepy-ass chaos which just keeps on getting worse. Escalation of the otherworldly mayhem is the name of the game here. In fact, all through the book Holloway unleashes scene after scene of terrifying horror that’s designed to reach into your gut and yank on your delicate insides.
Knitting these dark visions together is a complex and utterly captivating narrative that seamlessly pulls the madness together into a tight and incredibly well-crafted tale. Truly terrifying horror stories like what Holloway offers up here are few and far between. We’re talking tales of such calibre, that they actually get inside your head and mess with you. Why we choose to embark upon such journeys is something that you’ve got to ponder after reading a tale like this.
However, one thing’s for sure, William Holloway can write, and he can do it with such a flair for the abhorrent that it feels like the grim filth and cold, dead darkness of the book is seeping into you.
The book is the epitome of madness. It contains page after page of terrifying horror, scene after scene revelling in blasphemous creations, perverse corruptions, and a mind-boggling distortion of our natural world. In fact, an almost palpable darkness seems to wrap itself around the very core of the story. Not only does it permeate every word you read, but it seems to slither up into you and spread its sickness inside of you.
Madness awaits you in these pages. Read with caution.
The novel runs for a total of 330 pages.
DLS Synopsis:
Brother Thaddeus Johnson was a healer. However not in the normal sense of the term. He wasn’t a doctor, or a medical practitioner, or anything like that. Far from it. Nor was he really what you would class as a spiritual healer. How could he be if in his heart he had no faith? In fact, he was a junkie who faked the power of God through his healing hands. But somehow the healing actually worked. And over the years he had made a name, and a living, through his unique ability.
However when he returned back to Atlanta Georgia to help the needy parishioners of Reverend Ezekiel Hill’s flock, something had gone wrong. Brother Thaddeus felt it the moment he placed his hands on the first parishioner. Twenty-six-year-old mother of two Yolanda Carver suffered from hellish migraines. She was the first to take to the stage and have Thaddeus place his healing hands on her. But something felt instantly different. Something dark, and repellent seemed to flow through Thaddeus and into the young parishioner. When she took her place back next to her husband Rodney afterwards, he was no longer able to see the woman he loved in her. He no longer recognised his wife.
The same happened with the next parishioner to take to the stage. Frank Wilson struggled with chest pain. But after Thaddeus applied his healing hands on the father of three, the healer once again felt the darkness wash through him. That same intense gut-wrenching sickness. And Frank seemed to change with it.
The third and final parishioner was a young girl named Rashelle Lewis, whose reaction brought the service to an abrupt and horrific end. Once Thaddeus placed his hands on the young girl, the nightmarish darkness washed over the healer once again, and with that the girl turned on the Revered; plunging a hairpin through his thick glasses and directly into his eye. With that, the young cripple girl who hadn’t walked a day in her life, got up and ran out of the Sanctuary, straight into the traffic outside, throwing herself under the wheels of a truck.
But the nightmare wasn’t over yet. In fact, it had only just begun.
Following the traumatic events in Brother Zeke’s Sanctuary, a series of horrific events start occurring. Upon returning to their family home, Rodney Carver finds his young children and their grandmother brutally murdered; their body parts ritualistically arranged in an ungodly sculpture as if in pure defiance to the natural world itself.
Elsewhere, psychic medium Sarah Lynn Beauchamp has begun another séance, whereupon the deceased which she was trying to speak with suddenly appear and slaughter everyone in attendance, leaving her left alive, but reeling from the blood-curdling onslaught she had witnessed.
And for eight-five-year-old SAS veteran turned county coroner, Dr Crawford Menard, things are looking equally as grim. Flashbacks from a mission in Peenemunde, during his time fighting in WWII, have been flooding back into his waking mind. A mission which, until now, he had no recollection of. A mission which placed him into a nightmarish scene of abysmal horror – as if plucked straight out of hell itself.
And somehow Detective John Mitchell has to pull all these chaotic pieces together and confront the madness that appears to be sweeping across America. Together with FBI agent Eugene Feldman, they will come face-to-face with abominations beyond their worst nightmares. And they must confront horrors that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of their world.
You cannot unsee what has been seen. Darkness – real Darkness – is old. It is wise, it is patient, and above all, it is merciless…
DLS Review:
Holy-fucking-mother-of-god this is one unholy beast of a twisted book. I’m still reeling from the sheer undiluted ungodly horror of it all. It’s like ‘The Damnation Game’ (1985) era Barker that’s been dragged through the darkest pits of hell to be spat back out onto the unsuspecting turf of America.
Jesus Christ am I going to have nightmares tonight. If you thought ‘Lucky’s Girl’ (2014) plummeted into some messed-up realms of cosmic horror then hold on to your seat because things are about to get a whole lot grimmer.
This is the first instalment into Holloway’s ‘Singularity Cycle’ trilogy – and my God does it get the ball rolling with some hellish delights. With a very noticeable nod towards the otherworldly cosmic horrors of H.P. Lovecraft, Holloway has embarked upon a story so wrapped up in nightmarish visions and a soul-devouring corruption of the fabric of our world, that it’s hard not to physically shudder at the abominations being unleashed in these pages. I kid you not – this is some pretty damn horrifying shit you have here.
From very early on in this first book Holloway throws down the gauntlet with just how grim this story is going to get. Here the reader is treated to the beginnings of some creepy-ass chaos which just keeps on getting worse. Escalation of the otherworldly mayhem is the name of the game here. In fact, all through the book Holloway unleashes scene after scene of terrifying horror that’s designed to reach into your gut and yank on your delicate insides.
Knitting these dark visions together is a complex and utterly captivating narrative that seamlessly pulls the madness together into a tight and incredibly well-crafted tale. Truly terrifying horror stories like what Holloway offers up here are few and far between. We’re talking tales of such calibre, that they actually get inside your head and mess with you. Why we choose to embark upon such journeys is something that you’ve got to ponder after reading a tale like this.
However, one thing’s for sure, William Holloway can write, and he can do it with such a flair for the abhorrent that it feels like the grim filth and cold, dead darkness of the book is seeping into you.
The book is the epitome of madness. It contains page after page of terrifying horror, scene after scene revelling in blasphemous creations, perverse corruptions, and a mind-boggling distortion of our natural world. In fact, an almost palpable darkness seems to wrap itself around the very core of the story. Not only does it permeate every word you read, but it seems to slither up into you and spread its sickness inside of you.
Madness awaits you in these pages. Read with caution.
The novel runs for a total of 330 pages.
© DLS Reviews
Other ‘Singularity Cycle’ instalments:
- ‘The Immortal Body’ (2012)
- ‘Song Of The Death God’ (2017)
