Thaumaturgist

By: Matt Duchossoy

Narrated by: Blake Brown

Length: 4 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Following a flawlessly executed heist, a gang of masked thieves believe the worst of the danger is behind them. The police have shut down the main routes out of the city, forcing them to take an alternative route to the unmarked landing strip and the waiting contact. Unfortunately, the hills to which they’re headed are home to unfathomable horrors.

After a car wreck, Samuel, Jez, Marie, Freyja, and Boon abandon the vehicle to seek shelter from the law in the surrounding woods. They stumble across a remote property home to a peculiar family and swiftly make themselves at home. Tensions rise as inexplicable, seemingly supernatural events occur, and an impossibly tall, dark figure is spotted peering through windows and stalking the surrounding property.

An ancient evil. An unyielding, intelligent creature. The odds are stacked against them. Will anyone survive to reap the rewards of their labor?

Thaumaturgist is fast-paced graphic horror that explores themes of trust, family, and retribution, from the author of INCEL.

©2023 Matt Duchossoy (P)2024 Matt Duchossoy

Unexpected

You know what’s great about reading? Learning new words. My kid is always asking me how I know all these big words and my response is always the same. Reading. Books. Today’s word of the day is thaumaturgist. A thaumaturgist is one who practices magic or sorcery. A miracle worker. A term often synonymous with necromancer.

Now that the vocabulary lesson is over, let’s talk about the story. A group of criminals pull off the perfect bank heist, only to fuck up and wreck during their getaway. They realize they are going to have to improvise from this point on so they grab as much loot as they can and hoof it into the woods hoping to find a place to hide out until they can get in touch with their contact and get their escape back on track. They end up at the front door of an isolated cabin and trick the woman living there into letting them in. Things go south for that woman and her daughter pretty quickly. Her four visitors are not good people. Once the occupants of the house are handled, the criminals figure all that’s left for them to do is to wait for extraction in relative comfort. Boy are they mistaken. Their host’s patriarch has been watching them and isn’t about to let them get away unscathed. There is so much more going on in that isolated home than anyone could have guessed.

Let’s talk about the audiobook for a moment. As I often do, I read along on my kindle as I listened to the audiobook. This was my first experience listening to a Blake Brown narration and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I did have to speed it up a bit, but reading speed is a personal preference. I speed up all my audiobooks. The recorded speed does match the story well and adds to the rising tensions. I would happily listen to Brown read to me again.

Because I am familiar with this author’s writing, I knew it would not end the way I expected. I also knew things would get way worse for everyone involved before any resolution. There are scenes and imagery that will live on in my brain forever. I really like the way Duchossoy tempers his extreme horror with bizarro elements and general weirdness. The cover art gives you an idea of what the thaumaturgist looks like and Duchossoy’s words fill in all the blanks. He has a way of making you sympathize with the baddies and then reminding you why you shouldn’t.

I was gifted an Audible code by the author. All views expressed here are my own. I am a long time fan of Duchossoy’s work. I’ve loved every book of his that I’ve read and Thaumaturgist is no exception. Now go read it!