James Nicoll Reviews

Rin Chupeco’s 2022 The Sacrifice is a stand-alone horror novel.

Although Alon is content to call the island of Kisapmata home, he is quite aware of its peculiarities. Some might call them a curse. Others see them as a consequence of hosting the Diwata, a living god.

Alon’s attachment to the island is unusual. Other Filipinos prefer to respect the island from a distance. Thus Alon alone is present to see the island invaded by entities potentially more horrific than that which calls the island home:

Hollywood producers.

The crew that immediately begins upgrading the local infrastructure to support extensive filming is not ignorant of the island’s colorful history. Rather, that history is what drew them to the island. The Curse of the Godseye will reveal to doting audiences the island’s history of murder, cults, and murder-cults. In the process they hope to rebuild the ailing career of reality star Reuben Hemslock.

At least as early as Magellan’s voyage, outsiders have been intrigued by the island, by the god said to sleep there, and by the treasure disloyal Magellan crewman Oliviero Cortes supposedly hid there. While the details of these stories vary, one theme has been constant: the innocent are spared while the guilty are tormented and killed by the Diwata. Gory stuff, just the thing to appeal to bored audiences.

Alon explains to the visitors that they should not be on the island. His repeated admonition that ​“you shouldn’t be here” proves too subtle for the Hollywood crew, whose next paycheck depends on obeying orders to remain exactly where they are. Having no better option available, Alon accepts employment as a consultant. The visitors still ignore his consistent advice to leave, but now at least he gets paid for delivering it.

The interlopers begin to have disturbing visions. These are just the initial steps; the entity on the island is sorting out the innocent from the guilty. Violence follows, then the deaths begin. Sensible people, on discovering legends are fact, would likely flee at this juncture.

Unless, of course, provoking the Diwata wasn’t an ignorant misstep but the entire point of the project.

~oOo~

Dog safety note: the dog does not die. 

Remember this classic?

A challenge for any horror author, particularly one writing in a setting that includes horror fiction, is to explain why characters do not leg it the first time it becomes clear there is a reason Murder Death Kill Island, Slain Cheerleader Camp, and the Condominium Complex of the Living Dead have been given such names. One can only resort to ​“the characters are all oblivious idiots” so many times.

Blatant arrogance is often a sufficient explanation — see, for example, The Haunting—but while there is no lack of that in The Sacrifice, that’s not the true driver. Rather, good old greed is. Dangle sufficient gain (and in these stressful times, the amount judged sufficient could be quite low) and people who know better will gamble on being the lucky ones to survive. Too bad for them that being the sort of person who thinks ​“maybe the other guys I don’t like will be the ones to die” makes them perfect victim material.

The novel and Alon aren’t coy about where the plot will head. Refusing to leave the island signs the death warrant for a number of characters. However, there’s more to the story than that, as the tale explores why this particular set of characters made the choices they did. Everyone learns valuable lessons. Some of them even survive learning said lessons.

Also, there is an adorable dog.

The Sacrifice is available here (Amazon US), here (Amazon Canada), here (Amazon UK), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Book Depository), and here (Chapters-Indigo).