Kurtain Motel
Kurtain Motel
Sin Series Book 1
By A.I. Nasser
The Sexton’s musings (spoilers are likely):
Very interesting my little Ghoulies. This is the first of three books in this series. You get a hint of what is happening but really you are left with a whole load of questions that need answers. We learn that our antagonist is a creature called a soul collector, who seek out the most sinful of us to either collect on or possess through the confession of our sins (at least that is my current understanding). I’m thinking that it is exactly what it sounds like it is but you never know. What occurs at the motel, I feel, is probably just a taste of what can happen. Tara and her son Jimmy seem to be soul collector hunters. There is still a significant amount of mystery surrounding them at the conclusion of this first instalment. I like them as characters and already would not like to see them meet their end. However it does seem that what occurred at the motel could have had a different outcome had they somehow acted differently. In other words, you get the impression that they made a cockup of the situation.
Like most stories involving a group of individuals with dark hidden secrets, or not so dark secrets, there is always that one individual that causes trouble. I like to call these people “grave robbers” because they are always taking things that do not belong to them…such as others lives. They are the panicky, and weak link of the group. Often times attempting to take control or make a power grab of some sort. We all remember the religious zealot in Stephen King’s The Mist or the inept business man in Stephen King’s The Langoliers a novella in Four Past Midnight. There’s always one of these people in these scenarios. And you always wish them dead. Let us not beat around the bush on this Ghoulies….we as readers looking in from the outside hate these individuals and want them taken out. They always have their purpose of course, but we still want to see them dead and usually we get our wish.
Our grave robber in this story is Jason Collick. A man with many deaths on his hands, the most direct being his business partner whom he murdered out of jealousy and greed. The moment his OCD ass was introduced I knew he was going to be a problem. While many of the guests have some kind of proverbial skeleton in the closet, some are worse than others and I have to say that Mr. Collick has so many skeletons that he needs one the closets of the Kardashian’s to keep them all contained; However, believe it or not he was not the character that I despised the most. This would be Diana. The bitch is a worthless, bullying, self-important shithead. It’s laughable that she thinks she is actually going to be playing a part that is Oscar worthy when all she’s ever done is play the bimbo in comedy films and lie to her boyfriend about the abortion she got. Shame shame, you self-important twat. Quite frankly it was very satisfying to read her death, the perpetrator unfortunately is under the influence of the soul collector but, it’s still very satisfying.
Honestly most of these individuals got what they deserved with one exception…Gina. I feel very badly for Gina. Her sin is not one that I feel she should be being punished for. The description of her sin is hinted at and not blatantly told but from my understanding she had an incestuous relationship with her father as a child. Something that is not her fault. This is a very lonely woman, despite being an extremely successful business owner. She eats her depression. I love when she tells Diana off. I wish she would have smacked or punched her honestly. Diana is a bully. I hate bullies, and love to see them put in their place. The other bully in this poor woman’s life is her own mother, who in my humble opinion should have been the one at the motel, not her daughter. She’s gonna drive her dead daughters company into the ground because she’s a completely inept moron.
I know that there was some criticism from other reviewers that this story feels incomplete and that not all the guest’s sins were explored. But we have to remember that this is the first of three books in this series. Nowhere does it state that they can be read separately. As for the sins…sometimes that kind of shit is better kept private.
A well written, and interesting story. It’s actually brilliant to keep things hanging...draws you in and has you needing to consume the second installment. Well at least it has me wanting to consume it… just like the need for something sweet after a particularly savory meal.
