Every night thousands of terreiros (spirit rituals) take place throughout Brazil. Maggie Dalton takes a torturous path and risks her soul.
When Maggie Dalton finds a slaughtered black cockerel on her car, Tonia, her maid, warns, "Someone means you harm." Jon Dalton's affair with a Brazilian woman is skewing Maggie's soul. She broods on the occult. Beneath the surface of Rio de Janeiro's good life runs the cult of spiritism, brought over 450 years ago by captive slaves from Est Africa.
Far from her Michigan home, Maggie learns of that Brazil when she seeks her answers from the priestess who rules the underground. Only Tonia realizes where Maggie is headed. She is terrified, yet conscience compels her to follow. Tonia tracks her north to Salvador, Bahia, cradle of Brazilian spiritism. There, she does battle for Maggie's soul. The knife turns. The knife always turns.
Excerpt
Maggie wept because the priest was making her walk miles and years before he might permit her to stop and rest. A scarlet Saint George swam by; blue and green snakes slithered down the walls; the blood of Sebastian poured from wounds cloven like grins.
Professional Reviews
Startling Truth
Lucille Bellucci has caught the contrast of the misery and wealth of Brazil with a touch equal of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's works on Colombia. Bellucci cleverly writes of two struggling "gringos" caught up in the luxury and misery of daily life that characterizes Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, Bahia.
Movie Magic
It is riveting. The plot is intense; its seat-gripping quality skilfully leads the reader through scenes in which Americans ill-prepared for life in exotic Brazil struggle to realign their misplaced values.
A Glimpse Into the Shadowy Side of Brazilian Life
I was fascinated by the characters and the events in this book, and learned much about the layers of its social structure and its underground religion. Bellucci has written an exciting page-turner.
Pray for the light. Pray that you last that long. The Long Hour Before Light is a classic collection of Horror tales, re-mastered by Champagne Book Group
Happy Halloween. A volume of Horrible Haunts & Twisted Tales taken from the horror books La Belle Rouge has written every October for a decade and a half. If you have read her works in the horror genre, you know the invitation is for you to enjoy thr
