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    The Acolyte
    The Acolyte
    The Acolyte
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Acolyte

    Written by Nick Cutter

    Narrated by Jonathan Yen

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Jonah Murtag is an Acolyte on the New Bethlehem police force. His job is to eradicate all heretical religious faiths, their practitioners, and artifacts. Murtag's got problems-one of his partners is a zealot, and he's in love with the other one. Trouble at work, trouble at home. Murtag realizes that you can rob a citizenry of almost anything, but you can't take away its faith. When a string of bombings paralyzes the city, religious fanatics are initially suspected, but startling clues point to a far more ominous perpetrator. If Murtag doesn't get things sorted out, the Divine Council will dispatch the Quints, AKA Heaven's Own Bagmen. The clock is ticking towards doomsday for the Chosen of New Bethlehem. And Jonah Murtag's got another problem, the biggest and most worrisome: he isn't a believer anymore.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJun 9, 2015
    ISBN9781494580568
    The Acolyte
    Author

    Nick Cutter

    Nick Cutter is the author of the critically acclaimed national bestseller The Troop (which is currently being developed for film with producer James Wan), The Deep, Little Heaven, and The Handyman Method, cowritten with Andrew F. Sullivan. Nick Cutter is the pseudonym for Craig Davidson, whose much-lauded literary fiction includes Rust and Bone, The Saturday Night Ghost Club, and, most recently, the short story collection Cascade. His story “Medium Tough” was selected by author Jennifer Egan for The Best American Short Stories 2014. He lives in Toronto, Canada.

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    Reviews for The Acolyte

    3.5/5

    82 ratings4 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Amazing storytelling. Reminded me of what this world can come to… although fiction. It deserves 5 stars.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      I loved The Troop and The Deep. I’m a big fan of cult and dystopian society stories so I had high hopes for this one.

      It was very slow in the beginning. It didn’t really pick up until the last few chapters. The premise was there but I felt very bored throughout. There were a few times where I had to rewind and listen again because I zoned out.
    • 2/5
      I swore I was done with Nick Cutter after The Deep, but a friend of mine kept going on and on about this book and how it wasn't like Cutter's first two books, and he described it as "dangerous" and "amazing". So, four days ago, I relented and bought it.

      I must admit, the opening was shocking, horrible, and every bit as dangerous as my friend had stated. Hmm, I thought, this really isn't like the other two books. Maybe I really will enjoy this one. So, I settled in for the long haul.

      There were things--as in all the Cutter books--that were brilliant. The set up and basic concept of this book are phenomenal. The same could be said for both The Troop and The Deep.

      Unfortunately, for me, there were things--as in all the Cutter books--that rang so totally false and against all the rules of logic that they kept yanking me out of the story. The same could be said for both The Troop and The Deep.

      For example, when the first bomb goes off, Murtag and a fellow Acolyte, Doe (who are the law in this scenario), having survived the devastating blast, and as officers of the law, decide the smartest thing to do is...run? But they don't run far. So, why? It really had no impact on the rest of the plot. They both came right back on the force and kept plodding. Hell, Murtag was almost immediately put into a position of dangerous authority when he helped carry out a covert mission shortly afterward (a mission, I might add, where others were shot to avoid the information leaking).

      Cutter also goes to great lengths to point out that in this new world, science is essentially shunned. There are no modern forensic crime solving techniques anymore, nor life-saving drugs. Yet, there are computers, cell phones and video games. That makes no sense.

      And my final concern with the novel is that the protagonist, through probably 80-90% of the novel, really doesn't do anything. Things all happen around him and he's pulled from situation to situation, with no control or fight in him. And, though he should die at least a couple of times, he's always, inexplicably, let go. His only real decisions in the novel (aside from the end) are to stupidly run from a bomb blast crime scene, and to take in some birds and animals and a homeless girl--all for no apparent reason and again, with no impact to the plot.

      I felt like much of this novel was written on the fly, with no real planning.

      The author states that the novel came from a dark place, and I do believe that. He touches on themes that are insanely relevant right now. Blind faith in religion. Bias against religions other than your own. Outright hate of that which you don't understand. Church corruption.

      As usual, I believe Cutter had the opportunity to create something great, a classic of the genre and a novel that speaks intelligently of our times. But instead, it's basically Logan's Run with a religious slant.

      Once again. A novel I desperately wanted to love. But didn't. I will say, however, it's likely the best book of Cutter's I've read.
    • 3/5
      A dystopian future in which Judeo-Christianity is the One True Faith and all other non-confirming faiths are illegal. Anyone caught breaking that law is subject to anything from The Cure (a lobotomy) to execution.The Acolyte was an extremely dark reading experience. Multiple times I had to skip over scenes that were just too graphic. And it definitely had too much animal violence, which Cutter's novels seem prone to. I think, maybe, if he'd toned down the violence a smidgen the story (or message?) would've had more of an opportunity to shine. Behind all the bloody shock and awe was a scary vision indeed.3 stars