LAST DAYs by Adam Nevill_Review

Review of Last Days by Adam Nevill

I thought I knew what to expect from this fine author after reading “Apartment 16,” but Mr. Nevill in “Last Days” takes his horror writing to an entirely new level. “Last Days” is the hallmark of a mature author, entirely building a world which seems so much like our own, yet endures inevitably in its own microcosm within our apparent consensus reality.

We all in the 21^st century have had so much exposure to cults, including the infamous Jim Jones’ Temple in Guyana, and the Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s “Moonies.” Yet none of us, I don’t think, have experienced anything like the cult described here, the brainchild of Sister Katherine, who magnetized followers with money and status and psychic abilities, first to a residence in London, then to a small “farm” in rural France; and finally, to Arizona, in an isolated desert compound where it all came to a head, in a bloody, terrific, unaccountable massacre. But lest you consider that this is simply another mass suicide such as that of Jim Jones’ devotees, think again: Sister Katherine and her Inner Circle called out something from the depths, something otherworldly and very inhuman; and just possibly, those entities were not sent back.

Independent-and very poor-filmmaker Kyle Freeman is contracted by a secretive executive to film a documentary of the cult and its history, he sees big money rolling in and solving all his debts. But what seems too good to be true, so often is not true, and Kyle and his cameraman will discover what’s hidden underneath the surface history of Sister Katherine’s “Temple of the Last Days.”