[Review]: The Heavens Rise by Christopher Rice

Title: The Heavens Rise
Author: Christopher Rice
Genre: Horror
Release Date: October 15, 2013

I received this book from Simon & Schuster, in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: It’s been a decade since the Delongpre family vanished near Bayou Rabineaux, and still no one can explain the events of that dark and sweltering night. No one except Niquette Delongpre, the survivor who ran away from the mangled stretch of guardrail on Highway 22 where the impossible occurred…and kept on running. Who left behind her best friends, Ben and Anthem, to save them from her new found capacity for destruction…and who alone knows the source of her very bizarre—and very deadly—abilities: an isolated strip of swampland called Elysium.

An accomplished surgeon, Niquette’s father dreamed of transforming the dense acreage surrounded by murky waters into a palatial compound befitting the name his beloved wife gave to it, Elysium: “the final resting place for the heroic and virtuous.” Then, ten years ago, construction workers dug into a long-hidden well, one that snaked down into the deep, black waters of the Louisiana swamp and stirred something that had been there for centuries—a microscopic parasite that perverts the mind and corrupts the body.

Niquette is living proof that things done can’t be undone. Nothing will put her family back together again. And nothing can save her. But as Niquette, Ben, and Anthem uncover the truth of a devastating parasite that has the potential to alter the future of humankind, Niquette grasps the most chilling truths of all: someone else has been infected too. And unlike her, this man is not content to live in the shadows. He is intent to use his new found powers for one reason only: revenge.

Thoughts: This was my first time reading Christopher Rice and it was pretty amazing. I was hooked from page one and had a hard time putting it down from there. I was transfixed with both New Orleans and the characters. I loved that it jumps between characters, plus including parts of Niquette's journal.  The Heavens Rise is dark and so eerily creepy. At times it will have you on the edge of your seat.  This one will definitely make on to my top books of 2013.  If you are a fan of Anne Rice or Stephen King you won't want to miss out on Christopher Rice's latest novel.

Score: 4 Stars

Author Website: http://www.christopherricebooks.com/

Book Tour Dates

Events marked with a star denote a joint event with Anne Rice.

*MINNEAPOLIS, MN  - 10/14
*NEW YORK, NY - 10/16
*SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - 10/17
PHILADELPHIA, PA - 10/19
*LEXINGTON, KY - 10/21
FORT WALTON BEACH, FL - 10/22
DECATUR, GA - 10/23
*NEW ORLEANS, LA - 10/25
COVINGTON, LA - 10/26
*NEW ORLEANS, LA - 10/27
*DALLAS, TX  - 10/29
*LOS ANGELES, CA - 11/2
*SAN FRANCISCO, CA - 11/5
TORONTO, CANADA - 11/13
*TEMPE, AZ - 11/14