A Stalled Ox

Rating:

About the Author:
(Taken from Amazon)

Dean Moses was born in England in February of 1991; however, he never truly felt at home, so at the age of nineteen he moved to New York City, where he hoped to fulfill two of his longtime dreams, marry the love of his life and become an author. For the past five years, he has written for newspapers, including the New York Amsterdam News and the Spring Creek Sun, as well as transcribed for the New York Times’ Lens Blog. He has also written a serial story for the website JukePop Serials. He currently resides in Queens with his wife and two cats.




Blurb:

An isolated religious cult has reportedly been consuming meat while the rest of the planet has been forced to live a life without it. Presuming this sect has resorted to cannibalism, two agents from an organization known simply as The Agency are dispatched to investigate. Will they find evidence of humans eating one another? Or is something even stranger taking place?

Review:

Something even stranger is definitely taking place.

This is a quick and short read, but it's packed full of intrigue and very messed up characters.  Although there are multiple characters taking over the POV throughout the short novel, I'd consider Howard to be the main character.  He's the only one who's followed until the end of the action. 

So, Howard is an agent who ensures dangerous people are kept in check.  He's meant to only gather information and then a group of special forces goes in to clean up... but Howard has trouble sticking to his role in the larger picture.  It's not easy for him to stand and watch people be treated poorly - he constantly has to act, and there are voices in his mind urges him to do so.  His story is meant to be tragic, but I found it hard not to cheer him on as he delved into a cult, trying to figure out exactly what the self-proclaimed god was really up to.

The other characters are just as flawed and intriguing as he is.  And all of their stories come together to show a larger picture.

If you're a fan of dark and weird, I highly recommend this story.

For more information on this novel and the author, visit Amazon.