In 1961 New Orleans, Eve is a young woman who was raised in a nunnery after becoming an orphan at a young age. A priest in training, Peter, and she have become close friends since he arrived as a child. Their mentors, Sister Abbie and Father Connor, respectively, notice a budding love growing between the two. However, that is a problem for another day. Father Connor and Peter are on their way to California to heal a possessed woman. Father Connor fears that he has encountered this particular demon before, along with Sister Abbie, over ten years ago. While the exorcism is successful, they have to destroy the demon once and for all. Only Peter has a certain connection to it and falls for the temptation of learning the truth about how he became an orphan all those years ago. Consequently, the demon becomes a passenger on his way back to New Orleans. And it is all too eager to use vulnerable people to wreak havoc in its wake. Hell’s Cargo by Michelle Garza and Melissa Lason is a splatter western story that explores how even the most devout people will do whatever it takes to rid the world of evil – even if it means the road to salvation is paved with debauchery and murder.
Book
Eve has heard voices her entire life. She is especially terrified of storms, when the voices become loudest. While this has ostracized her from other children at the nunnery, Peter is quite the opposite. He becomes her only friend and slowly falls in love with her. The feelings are reciprocated but never acted upon, given their current path to serve their faith. But when the demon tempts Peter, it targets Eve as well. And all Eve wants is a happy life with Peter. This makes it too easy for the demon to offer her what she wants in exchange for becoming a willing host to carry out its deadliest desires.
Sister Abbie recognizes what is going on. She remembers the horrifying night all those years ago when she and Father Connor last encountered the demon, narrowly escaping with their lives. They need to track Father Connor back to California so that he can cure Eve and get rid of the demon once and for all. But with the long trip ahead brings more risks of the demon-possessed Eve bringing danger to everyone they encounter. Soon enough, everyone is doing what they deem necessary in order to reach their final destination. But deals with the devil are dangerous. No one can stop the decimation that the group leaves in their wake. And just when we think there’s a chance they might succeed, the consequences of their actions catch up with them, setting them up for a chaotic and painful final showdown in Hell’s Cargo.
Review
Garza and Lason set the tone immediately in Hell’s Cargo. The story is well-paced, suspenseful, action-packed, and arguably frightening. The authors offer insight and commentary on inner demons vs. outer demons with how characters pledged to serve their faith fall into temptation. Both Father Connor and Sister Abbie carry guilt for not telling Peter the full truth about what happened to his parents. The demon gives Peter and Eve a path to give into their feelings, which facilitates its own desire to ruin humanity each chance it gets. Readers will learn early on not to hold hope for anyone our unfortunate characters come across. How many deaths are acceptable on the path to salvation? Is it okay to allow the devil to wreak havoc on humanity, as long as they are able to destroy it once they reach their destination?
I became invested in their journey and their tragic circumstances, on the edge of my seat and holding on to the tiniest bit of hope that they would succeed in their mission. While some characters along the way are important to the journey, their significance is confusing at first. This is ultimately the demon’s story, and the other characters are just unfortunate pawns to do its bidding. This left much to be desired in terms of character depth and transitions between scenes. Even so, I got sucked in to the very end, eager to see how it would play out. Readers who enjoy the horror genre should check this one out.
