Witch’s Lair by Lincoln Farish

Don’t be scared… fight the monsters with the Poor Brothers of Gethsemane, AKA the Inquisitors…

Also, enter to win one of 3 autographed copies of one of the Inquisitor series via a Rafflecopter giveaway.

Title:  Witch’s Lair
Author:  Lincoln Farish
Series: Inquisitor Series Book 03
Publish Date:  February 14, 2016
Genre:  Horror
Source: Provided by the author

Publisher’s Description: Even in this modern era there is magic, but it taints, corrupts, turning saints into power-mad monsters. It can not be stopped but it can be contained, sometimes. That is what the Poor Brothers of Gethsemane, AKA the Inquisitors, do. They fight monsters in the shadows, they contain the madness. Thaddeus the mighty and wicked warlock is gone, but not by the hands of The Inquisitors. Another, perhaps even more powerful magi is scheming, and the Brethren must stop him or her. But first they must make sure no one returns from the fight tainted, the dead are buried, and figure out how to find a ghost of a magi who can summon a Gut Ripper in the middle of a firefight and then disappear.

Sebastian is still tormented by the ghost of his murdered wife, still trying to honor his promise to her, but now there is another woman entering his mind, and his dreams have gotten even more disturbing.

The Master Hammer warned Sebastian he was walking a dark path when he agreed to be Malachi’s apprentice. That dark path will take them from the deserts of Arizona, to the rotting inner core of Portland, to the Cascade Mountains, and deep under the earth.

Yes, Sebastian has fellow Inquisitors ready to assist, some friends since his earliest days in the Brethren, others newly met.

Possible spoilers beyond this point.

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“But that’s life. One adventure, one test, one option after another. We have free will and what we choose determines the kind of person we are, what kind of life we have. It’s the difficulties we overcome that give our life meaning and value. The greater the obstacle, the more you can grow to rise above it.”

First things first; this is horror.  There aren’t any possessed demon dolls this time around, for which I was grateful <shudder>. There is a lot of death and gross monsters, just in case you may be queasy. There is no happily ever after fluff; however, the protagonist does stay in one piece.  There is no romance.  There is a lot of battle depiction and plenty of gun and ammo description; so, if that’s your thing, you’ll enjoy those scenes.  There isn’t a cliffhanger, per se.  The overall story isn’t finished, so there is a hook at the end of the book; but the ending is exciting and it can lead your imagination to run wild until the next book is released.

Usually, I break my review down into what I did like and what I didn’t.  I can’t really find anything to not like about this story.  Yes, it is gross in some places with all the blood, guts and fluids flying everywhere; but, when you have witches fighting the Poor Brothers, you’ll have that.

Again, like in my other reviews of this series, the thing I like most about Sebastian is his humility.  All signs point to him being a really “big deal;” but, from the point of view in his head, he is just a regular brother.  He makes mistakes, he does what he can with what he knows.  He tries to protect those in his charge. He works as a team member and he faces sorrow when he loses a soldier.  The author writes this story so I didn’t get too attached to the brothers that are killed, which I appreciate.  Don’t get me wrong, the characters are written with depth, they have history, they have friends and family; but, the story doesn’t dwell on the loss of characters that are not necessary to forward the story.

I guess if you really make me try and find something I don’t like I could tell you that I seriously flinched with how much emotional and physical pain the brothers are put through.  They have to be seriously tough to fight these bad guys.  I imagine that it’s quite similar to what soldiers go through in real life.

I swear to you that you’ll like this series if you like what I’ve reported.  The story is very tight and it’s another one of those “one-sit” wonders.  Don’t think you are going to be doing anything after opening the cover of this book, unless you count turning pages.

Our reviews in this series…

• Junior Inquisitor, Book 01
• Soulless Monk, Book 02

Other reviews of the series…

• Goodreads
• Amazon

If you like this book…

…you might try:

• Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey
• Eric Carter series by Stephen Blackmoore
• Soren Chase series by Rob Blackwell