The Energumen

The Energumen by G. K. Fotou is a captivating, fast-moving, psychological thriller with strong hints of the supernatural and a story filled with memorable and carefully crafted characters. Trina Langford is a young woman who has had her fair share of suffering in a world that brims with betrayal and evil. She is betrayed by her boyfriend who goes with the housekeeper, drugged and coarced into committing an unspeakable act. With little time to process neither the housekeeper's betrayal nor Eddy's cruelty, a powerful, ancient evil is unleashed and directed towards her. As she becomes painfully aware of the dangers surrounding her, she discovers a deadly secret guarded by a cable of devil worshippers armed with guns and curses. Trina must run, but to where and how far can she run and who can she trust?

This novel is by turns tense and wildly entertaining. Fotou weaves mystery through every page, starting from the encounter between a shady priest and the prioress that opens the narrative in Portugal. Readers are presented with some kind of premonition, a sense that something evil is being worked on as they study three characters — two religious persons and a lady who is tortured — ''Her suffering was evident; the haggard lines, the sunken cheeks of one whose weight loss was neither slow nor intended; the fine sweat beading her brow.'' From this moment on, the tension builds up in the story and there is no moment it slows down. Fotou creates characters that are genuinely flawed yet lovable, from the female protagonist caught up in a web of deceit, murder, and unspeakable evil to members of a dangerous cabal. The prose is beautiful and the writing is hugely descriptive. The first-narrative voice gives the story an energy that makes it transporting. Powerfully eerie and atmospheric, The Energumen perfectly melds elements of a good psychological thriller and the supernatural; it is the story of a protagonist who must survive against the odds. It is as suspenseful as it can be.