Genre: Horror
Format: eBook (ARC)
Pages: 140
Rating: ★★★★
Synopsis:
From the creator of Hellboy, Father Gaetano's Puppet Catechism by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden is an illustrated novella that brings Twilight Zone originality to the written page
In the aftermath of a critical World War II battle, Father Gaetano is assigned as the sole priest at the Church of San Domenico in the small, seaside Sicilian village of Tringale. The previous pastor has died and there is a shortage of clergy at the moment, so until another can be spared, the young priest must say all of the masses himself.
Mass is not Father Gaetano's only responsibility, however. The war has created many orphans, and thus the San Domenico rectory has been converted into an orphanage which is also his domain. The children are a joy to him, but they have lost so much, and many have begun to question their faith and their God, and his attempts to teach them catechism are in vain . . . until he finds an old puppet theatre and an ornate box of puppets in the basement. Handcrafted by the building's former caretaker, now absent, the puppets seem the perfect tool to get the children to pay attention to their lessons. But after dark the puppets emerge from that ornate box, without their strings. While the children have been questioning their faith, the puppets believe Father Gaetano's Bible stories completely. But there is such a thing as too much faith. And the children's lives will never be the same again.
Review:
"Some of them are angry at
God", Sebastiano whispered to the puppet. "He took their families and
their houses, like he did mine. But I know He still loves me, that He did not
mean to hurt me."
As the end of World War II is on the horizon, many lives have been lost for all time leaving behind many children without families. The San Domenico rectory has been transformed into an orphanage for young boys. Imagine how the boys are feeling after losing everything they have known, having to adjust to a new way of life among strangers and the unknown. They begin to question why they should have faith in a God they feel have abandoned them.
Father Gaetano is trying his best to
restore the boys' faith and give them hope. He realizes that the boys are not
very receptive so in the hope of engaging them he begins to use an old puppet
theatre and puppets that were stored in the basement.
As for the puppets, they have much
more sinister ideas and plans.
This is a novella that some may find
creepy and there are some that may not. If you are of the mind that puppets are
terrifying, then this will send shivers down your spine, give you the chills,
and have you checking in corners for something that may be lurking there.
I hate puppets!! I refuse to even
watch movies with puppets, so this creeped me completely and those little
a-holes can just go back inside their box and stay there. Lock it and throw
away the key!
With that being said, I did enjoy the story and for obvious reasons, this is horror after all, and it
succeeded at giving me the chills!
I also really appreciated the
illustrations by Mike Mignola, even though...PUPPETS!
Thank you so much Bad Hand Books for the complimentary copy! Much appreciated!
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/
Amazon Author Links:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mike-Mignola/author
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Christopher-Golden/author
Author Website Links:
https://www.artofmikemignola.com/
https://www.christophergolden.com/
About the author
Mike Mignola is best known as the multiple award-winning creator, writer, and artist of "B.P.R.D." and "Hellboy", but has fostered several other projects like "The Amazing Screw-On Head" and "Baltimore" with Christopher Golden. Although he began working as a professional cartoonist in the early 1980s, drawing 'a little bit of everything for just about everybody' - including characters like Batman and Wolverine - he was also a production designer on the Disney film "Atlantis: The Lost Empire". Mignola also acted as a visual consultant to Guillermo del Toro on "Blade 2" and the film versions of Hellboy, which were broadly adapted by del Toro from the original comic series. Mike Mignola currently lives in southern California with his wife, daughter, and cat.
About the author
CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling author of such novels as Ararat, Red Hands, Snowblind, Wildwood Road, The Boys Are Back in Town, The Ferryman, Strangewood, and Of Saints and Shadows. Golden co-created (with Mike Mignola) the comic book universe known as The Outerverse, featuring such characters as Baltimore, Joe Golem, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Hex Life, Seize the Night, and The New Dead, among others, and has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, a BBC radio play, and the online animated series Ghosts of Albion (with Amber Benson). A frequent speaker at conferences, schools, and libraries, Golden is also co-host of the podcast Defenders Dialogue, and the founder of the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. The winner of the Bram Stoker Award for best novel in 2017 for Ararat, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories, winning twice. He has also been nominated multiple times for the Shirley Jackson Award, sharing a win in 2020 with James A. Moore for the anthology The Twisted Book of Shadows.
Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His original novels have been published in more than fourteen languages in countries around the world.
