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A God in the Shed #1
A God in the Shed
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite Horror (2017)The village of Saint-Ferdinand has all the trappings of a quiet life: farmhouses stretching from one main street, a small police precinct, a few diners and cafes, and a grocery store. Though if an out-of-towner stopped in, they would notice one unusual thing--a cemetery far too large and much too full for such a small town, lined with the victims of the Saint-Ferdinand Killer, who has eluded police for nearly two decades. It's not until after Inspector Stephen Crowley finally catches the killer that the town discovers even darker forces are at play.
When a dark spirit reveals itself to Venus McKenzie, one of Saint-Ferdinand's teenage residents, she learns that this creature's power has a long history with her town--and that the serial murders merely scratch the surface of a past burdened by evil secrets.
When a dark spirit reveals itself to Venus McKenzie, one of Saint-Ferdinand's teenage residents, she learns that this creature's power has a long history with her town--and that the serial murders merely scratch the surface of a past burdened by evil secrets.
450 pages, Paperback
First published June 13, 2017
793 people are currently reading
19447 people want to read
About the author
J.-F. Dubeau
7 books417 followersI love stories. I love consuming them and telling them. Whether as books or comics or movies or interactive role playing games or even on stage doing improv, I just love stories.
I currently work as a graphic designer where I get to tell other people's stories in images and brands. In my spare time I write and illustrate a web comic called The Eldritch Age.
I have a fascination for science, both as it is right now and for the possibilities it opens up in the technological sense but also the philosophical one.
This is where the ideas for my books come from; the clash of thought and science and where, in the long run, it can lead us as a species.
I currently work as a graphic designer where I get to tell other people's stories in images and brands. In my spare time I write and illustrate a web comic called The Eldritch Age.
I have a fascination for science, both as it is right now and for the possibilities it opens up in the technological sense but also the philosophical one.
This is where the ideas for my books come from; the clash of thought and science and where, in the long run, it can lead us as a species.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 822 reviews
November 27, 2023
Dang! This was one nicely messed up little town. They've got a serial killer on the loose, who ended up being one of my favorite characters in the book. They've also got a nasty little god in a shed. Some folk think they can set it free, and have a few wishes taken care of. Don't they read books? Ha, ha. These things NEVER turn out well. I had a great time reading this book, as there were quite a few twists, and bloody,goopy gore. I love that stuff! So why the 4 stars? Well, turns out that while this story does have an ending, I'm pretty sure it's going to be continued. I just like to know beforehand that it's going to be more than one book. I'd have waited until they were all out, and then started in on it. Still, it's one I'd recommend. Thanks go to Inkshares and Netgalley, for the arc.
November 17, 2017
I liked this one, it was good but not great. Really cool story idea and a lot of messed up shit happens to the characters, however I felt absolutely nothing for anyone and had no emotional reactions to anything that happened. A large cast of characters without enough development to make any one stand out from the other and it was kind of a chore remembering who was who just because of their blandness. It sounds like I'm knocking this book pretty hard but it was enjoyable. A better editor would clean and tighten this up by removing phrases and words here and there but for this guy's second book it's a good effort. I didn't really see or feel any kind of connection to the Cthulhu mythos as referenced in the description other than the use of the word eldritch every now and again. 3.49 stars and I'm glad I finished because I almost DNF'd it a few times.
July 31, 2025
This book will have you at the prologue. Adding this to my list of definitive small, rural town folk horrors--review incoming!
December 3, 2019
This book was covered by blurbs exclaiming it to be"masterpiece" and "move over True Detective." It was also a Barnes & Noble Best Horror Books of 2017. After I had flipped the last page, one unanswered question assailed me: WTF is everyone smoking and where can I get some?
Seriously. I don't think I have ever been as disappointed by a book as I have with "A God in the Shed." What started with an intriguing title and ominous beginning just fell apart under my increasing disbelief. I could start with how almost all of the characters made increasingly boneheaded decisions or seemed absolutely unfazed by the danger of the town or its vast supernatural elements. I could also start with the mystery being dragged through the mud by exposition upon exposition, by characters acting in unbelievable ways to advance the story, and by too many opposing ideas breaking too many of their own rules to form some semblance of a plot.
But I believe what I am most upset about was how this was not scary. Not one bit. Just because the author described something in horrific detail, doesn't mean that it was effective. Great horror authors build up the mood, make us feel a threat that's universal. And instead, I read a book that was tonally all over the place. Characters were so stupidly naive/brave/unrealistic with their situations that any emotional weight I felt for them fell apart. If they're not feeling scared, why should I?
Look, it's obvious that some people enjoyed this book. Just not me.
Seriously. I don't think I have ever been as disappointed by a book as I have with "A God in the Shed." What started with an intriguing title and ominous beginning just fell apart under my increasing disbelief. I could start with how almost all of the characters made increasingly boneheaded decisions or seemed absolutely unfazed by the danger of the town or its vast supernatural elements. I could also start with the mystery being dragged through the mud by exposition upon exposition, by characters acting in unbelievable ways to advance the story, and by too many opposing ideas breaking too many of their own rules to form some semblance of a plot.
But I believe what I am most upset about was how this was not scary. Not one bit. Just because the author described something in horrific detail, doesn't mean that it was effective. Great horror authors build up the mood, make us feel a threat that's universal. And instead, I read a book that was tonally all over the place. Characters were so stupidly naive/brave/unrealistic with their situations that any emotional weight I felt for them fell apart. If they're not feeling scared, why should I?
Look, it's obvious that some people enjoyed this book. Just not me.
June 6, 2017
“Saint-Ferdinand. Home of the Saint-Ferdinand Killer. A monster with a reign of terror stretching back almost two decades...Here, the boogeyman was real.”
The small Canadian town where this tale of monsters, ghosts, and magic takes place, is far from what you would call “quaint”. Despite having been plagued for years by a murderous force, the families that have lived there for generations remain, perhaps with hope that the serial killer inciting fear through citizens of all ages will soon be caught. The story opens with that just happening. An old man, living alone in the woods, is put in the town’s jail, and there are sighs of relief throughout Saint-Ferdinand. But the killings don’t stop. Because, well, that wouldn’t for a good story, now, would it?
“Nothing and no one can be in the presence of a god and remain the same. That knife, your shed…you.”
From there, I was pleasantly drug through scenes of suspense, gore, and mystery, told through many different perspectives of the town’s inhabitants. Our main characters are Stephen Crowley, the small police force’s head inspector; Venus, technology wiz teen, daughter to laughable hippie parents; and Randy McKenzie, a local doctor, and as we learn early on, a dabbler of dark magic. Though we see the story mostly through the eyes of these three characters, there are about a dozen we switch to and from. But I was never lost for more than maybe a few pages. Dubeau leads us through multiple POVs, a la the king of many characters, George RR Martin. Similar to Martin's brutal style, sometime we meet a new character, only to have the short chapter end with their gruesome demise. It's the perfect example of showing, not telling, and it adds much diversity to an otherwise mostly linear story line.
The writing was just what it needed to be: flowing smoothly, rarely dragging, if at all. Leading up to the climax seemed to take too long for my liking, but there are many pieces of this complicated puzzle that needed to be explained. Almost every character and story arc had a meaningful purpose, leading up to the bloody and action packed conclusion. The last few pages, my eyeballs were all but bulging out of my head, and my mouth agape.
Dubeau has somehow quietly snuck up in the publishing world, with much promise ahead of him. He has been hailed as “the next Stephen King”, which shouldn’t be thrown about so lightly, but it’s almost believable. To me, though, this novel felt more to me as if Clive Barker had written the TV series Stranger Things:
Creepy monster from the shadow realm, check.
A group of teens somehow three steps ahead of the adults on the case, check.
However, there’s a lot more blood and body parts thrown around. A LOT. Oh, and a creepy, old time circus. And some very dark magick.
Somehow, it never feels like too much. It all works. But this dark tale is not for the meek. Even the mundane Dubeau describes with malicious intent: “They left behind a battlefield strewn with the eviscerated bodies of doughnut boxes and the bled-out remains of coffeepots.” Twin Peaks, much?
I’m not a huge fan of horror. I’ll shamelessly admit that this was the first full-length horror novel I’ve ever read. I’ve long avoided the genre, knowing I am easily influenced by everything I read. And I was right. I suffered through nightmares reading this book, and I loved every minute of it.
Keep this one on your radar – rumor is the manuscript has already been bought for a film version, and that there are other books soon to follow. Just don’t read this one while you’re home alone. Or do, for the full experience. I did it. And I survived.
Here are two other stand-out quotes if I haven’t convinced you to read this book already:
“She had danced with a god, allowed it to touch her soul, and she had lived. The feeling had been intoxicating and otherworldy. Whatever the monster was, she had no doubt of its malevolence, the embrace she’d experienced had given her unparalled comfort. The god had known her deepest wish, her need for security, and it had delivered. Even now, knowing she had been in the arms of death, she longed to return.”
"She'd read enough books to know that these sorts of Faustian bargains always came with a price.Nothing came for free. Not without consequence. Before here was a genie, and the shed was its lamp. She'd rubbed the thing three times; maybe it was time to make a wish."
Actual rating: 4.5/5 Stars (It wasn't perfect - I save 5 stars for my favorite books, but I'm rounding up because I REALLY want people to read this.)
*Many thanks for Inkshares and NetGalley for an eARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review. All quotes are from the advanced copy, and might not remain the same in the final published version.*
The small Canadian town where this tale of monsters, ghosts, and magic takes place, is far from what you would call “quaint”. Despite having been plagued for years by a murderous force, the families that have lived there for generations remain, perhaps with hope that the serial killer inciting fear through citizens of all ages will soon be caught. The story opens with that just happening. An old man, living alone in the woods, is put in the town’s jail, and there are sighs of relief throughout Saint-Ferdinand. But the killings don’t stop. Because, well, that wouldn’t for a good story, now, would it?
“Nothing and no one can be in the presence of a god and remain the same. That knife, your shed…you.”
From there, I was pleasantly drug through scenes of suspense, gore, and mystery, told through many different perspectives of the town’s inhabitants. Our main characters are Stephen Crowley, the small police force’s head inspector; Venus, technology wiz teen, daughter to laughable hippie parents; and Randy McKenzie, a local doctor, and as we learn early on, a dabbler of dark magic. Though we see the story mostly through the eyes of these three characters, there are about a dozen we switch to and from. But I was never lost for more than maybe a few pages. Dubeau leads us through multiple POVs, a la the king of many characters, George RR Martin. Similar to Martin's brutal style, sometime we meet a new character, only to have the short chapter end with their gruesome demise. It's the perfect example of showing, not telling, and it adds much diversity to an otherwise mostly linear story line.
The writing was just what it needed to be: flowing smoothly, rarely dragging, if at all. Leading up to the climax seemed to take too long for my liking, but there are many pieces of this complicated puzzle that needed to be explained. Almost every character and story arc had a meaningful purpose, leading up to the bloody and action packed conclusion. The last few pages, my eyeballs were all but bulging out of my head, and my mouth agape.
Dubeau has somehow quietly snuck up in the publishing world, with much promise ahead of him. He has been hailed as “the next Stephen King”, which shouldn’t be thrown about so lightly, but it’s almost believable. To me, though, this novel felt more to me as if Clive Barker had written the TV series Stranger Things:
Creepy monster from the shadow realm, check.
A group of teens somehow three steps ahead of the adults on the case, check.
However, there’s a lot more blood and body parts thrown around. A LOT. Oh, and a creepy, old time circus. And some very dark magick.
Somehow, it never feels like too much. It all works. But this dark tale is not for the meek. Even the mundane Dubeau describes with malicious intent: “They left behind a battlefield strewn with the eviscerated bodies of doughnut boxes and the bled-out remains of coffeepots.” Twin Peaks, much?
I’m not a huge fan of horror. I’ll shamelessly admit that this was the first full-length horror novel I’ve ever read. I’ve long avoided the genre, knowing I am easily influenced by everything I read. And I was right. I suffered through nightmares reading this book, and I loved every minute of it.
Keep this one on your radar – rumor is the manuscript has already been bought for a film version, and that there are other books soon to follow. Just don’t read this one while you’re home alone. Or do, for the full experience. I did it. And I survived.
Here are two other stand-out quotes if I haven’t convinced you to read this book already:
“She had danced with a god, allowed it to touch her soul, and she had lived. The feeling had been intoxicating and otherworldy. Whatever the monster was, she had no doubt of its malevolence, the embrace she’d experienced had given her unparalled comfort. The god had known her deepest wish, her need for security, and it had delivered. Even now, knowing she had been in the arms of death, she longed to return.”
"She'd read enough books to know that these sorts of Faustian bargains always came with a price.Nothing came for free. Not without consequence. Before here was a genie, and the shed was its lamp. She'd rubbed the thing three times; maybe it was time to make a wish."
Actual rating: 4.5/5 Stars (It wasn't perfect - I save 5 stars for my favorite books, but I'm rounding up because I REALLY want people to read this.)
*Many thanks for Inkshares and NetGalley for an eARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review. All quotes are from the advanced copy, and might not remain the same in the final published version.*
January 3, 2022
Overall I enjoyed this story and the way it was conveyed (mostly).
This is a heavy multi perspective take and at times I did find myself getting a little confused when it was a minor character.
That being said the tale itself is appropriately dark, creepy, and gory. The build up was well done but I won't lie the ending, while supposed to leave a cliffhanger-esque feeling unfortunately fell a bit flat for me. It left with more of a "Really? That's it?" Instead of a "Must. Have. More!" Feeling.
I will eventually acquire the second volume but I am not chomping at the bit as it were.
This is a heavy multi perspective take and at times I did find myself getting a little confused when it was a minor character.
That being said the tale itself is appropriately dark, creepy, and gory. The build up was well done but I won't lie the ending, while supposed to leave a cliffhanger-esque feeling unfortunately fell a bit flat for me. It left with more of a "Really? That's it?" Instead of a "Must. Have. More!" Feeling.
I will eventually acquire the second volume but I am not chomping at the bit as it were.
December 31, 2017
"Do you know what's the worst thing about this creature here in Saint-Ferdinand?...It makes us into monsters, just as we make it into a god of hate and death."
Here's a list of things I knew about A God in the Shed before I started it:
*scary book
*strange bloody thorn looking things on the cover?
*Edelweiss said yes
That's it. I went into this as blind a bat, but without the bat's echolocation.
And what a pleasant surprise it was! Whatever I expected, this was not it.
Now granted, it has been over a month since I read this. I always tell myself, "Ellen Gail, don't wait ages after reading something before reviewing it. Your brain will go blank and have forgotten it all by then." Do I ever listen to myself? No.
What I'm saying it, maybe take my recollections with a grain of salt, maybe a little pepper and basil too. My memory is...what's the word? Le shit.
So - from what I can remember of A God in the Shed, I really liked it! I'm not going to talk about the plot here much for two reasons. 1) It's super complex. LOADS of characters, complicated histories for many of them, supernatural and natural evils going on. 2) I don't want to spoil too much. Going into this blind was so much WTF fun for me. On the surface, yes it's about a god in a shed. But that's like saying a supreme pizza is cheese pizza. Technically yes, it's a cheese pizza, but it's also much more.
I will give you a few cryptic hints - necromancy, a graveyard that's much too large, secret societies, eyeballs, a creepy circus, and something old and dark that comes from the woods.
What I will talk about is HOLY CARP THAT WAS GOOD!
"No name. I am unique."
"What are you then?"
"To you? A god."
She believed it.
First things first - this was gory. I mean, even for me, it was gory. Humans, animals, adults, children; no one and nothing is safe from bloody horrors. It never felt unnecessary considering who/what was doing the killing, but it bordered on excessive for my personal tastes. It thankfully never became a book killer.
Also among the boatloads of characters, one really stood out for me; Venus!
"I am purity of purpose, ageless and vast."
"Self-aggrandizing bullshit," said Venus... "You're just some beast that enjoys torture and death."
When confronted with unrelenting temptation and horror right in her own backyard, Venus does what any reasonable teenager would do - panic, question her sanity, try to bargain, and mostly, try to understand. When it came to the teenage characters especially, there was a nice balance of gothic drama mixed with the shock of "holy shit, what's happening to us?"
If you're a horror lover, A God in the Shed is definitely worth a second look, especially if you can stomach some gore. It's often crazy and strange, and that's a good part of what endeared it to me.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Inkshares for the digital review copy!
Here's a list of things I knew about A God in the Shed before I started it:
*scary book
*strange bloody thorn looking things on the cover?
*Edelweiss said yes
That's it. I went into this as blind a bat, but without the bat's echolocation.
And what a pleasant surprise it was! Whatever I expected, this was not it.
Now granted, it has been over a month since I read this. I always tell myself, "Ellen Gail, don't wait ages after reading something before reviewing it. Your brain will go blank and have forgotten it all by then." Do I ever listen to myself? No.
What I'm saying it, maybe take my recollections with a grain of salt, maybe a little pepper and basil too. My memory is...what's the word? Le shit.
So - from what I can remember of A God in the Shed, I really liked it! I'm not going to talk about the plot here much for two reasons. 1) It's super complex. LOADS of characters, complicated histories for many of them, supernatural and natural evils going on. 2) I don't want to spoil too much. Going into this blind was so much WTF fun for me. On the surface, yes it's about a god in a shed. But that's like saying a supreme pizza is cheese pizza. Technically yes, it's a cheese pizza, but it's also much more.
I will give you a few cryptic hints - necromancy, a graveyard that's much too large, secret societies, eyeballs, a creepy circus, and something old and dark that comes from the woods.
What I will talk about is HOLY CARP THAT WAS GOOD!
"No name. I am unique."
"What are you then?"
"To you? A god."
She believed it.
First things first - this was gory. I mean, even for me, it was gory. Humans, animals, adults, children; no one and nothing is safe from bloody horrors. It never felt unnecessary considering who/what was doing the killing, but it bordered on excessive for my personal tastes. It thankfully never became a book killer.
Also among the boatloads of characters, one really stood out for me; Venus!
"I am purity of purpose, ageless and vast."
"Self-aggrandizing bullshit," said Venus... "You're just some beast that enjoys torture and death."
When confronted with unrelenting temptation and horror right in her own backyard, Venus does what any reasonable teenager would do - panic, question her sanity, try to bargain, and mostly, try to understand. When it came to the teenage characters especially, there was a nice balance of gothic drama mixed with the shock of "holy shit, what's happening to us?"
If you're a horror lover, A God in the Shed is definitely worth a second look, especially if you can stomach some gore. It's often crazy and strange, and that's a good part of what endeared it to me.
Thanks to Edelweiss and Inkshares for the digital review copy!
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August 28, 2024
A fan of gothic stories set in small towns with worldly terrors, I went into A God in the Shed by J-F Dubeau with giddy excitement. While it started strong, ultimately it left me bored.
The prologue started with such promise. It was truly terrifying, well written, and hooked me straightaway. I wondered what would happen now with this cave dwelling god. How will this small town endure?
The answer? Pretty easily. The majority of the book consists of alternating points of view from everyone in this small town all wondering how they can use the god to further their own agendas. There is never any sense of fear or worry until the very end, and even then, it fizzles. We hear that suddenly, the god is finally going to make his move, but nothing happens. The end. Literally, the town is no better or worse than they were at the start. I don’t understand what the purpose was, the driving force of the book because we start at point A, walk around aimlessly, and end at point A.
So, why the two stars? Because it wasn’t necessarily bad, it just didn’t capture me. It simply existed. It was like going on a car ride around the block. Sure, you got out of the house, but did you really accomplish anything in the end? I don’t know, I’ve struggled with writing the review for A God in the Shed by J-F Dubeau for weeks now simply because I don’t know what to say. With books I’ve disliked, I try to be constructive and break down what didn’t work, what was problematic. With books I’ve liked, I talk about what worked, what made it stand out from others. With this, I just have nothing.
// I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this title. //
first reviewed at
The prologue started with such promise. It was truly terrifying, well written, and hooked me straightaway. I wondered what would happen now with this cave dwelling god. How will this small town endure?
The answer? Pretty easily. The majority of the book consists of alternating points of view from everyone in this small town all wondering how they can use the god to further their own agendas. There is never any sense of fear or worry until the very end, and even then, it fizzles. We hear that suddenly, the god is finally going to make his move, but nothing happens. The end. Literally, the town is no better or worse than they were at the start. I don’t understand what the purpose was, the driving force of the book because we start at point A, walk around aimlessly, and end at point A.
So, why the two stars? Because it wasn’t necessarily bad, it just didn’t capture me. It simply existed. It was like going on a car ride around the block. Sure, you got out of the house, but did you really accomplish anything in the end? I don’t know, I’ve struggled with writing the review for A God in the Shed by J-F Dubeau for weeks now simply because I don’t know what to say. With books I’ve disliked, I try to be constructive and break down what didn’t work, what was problematic. With books I’ve liked, I talk about what worked, what made it stand out from others. With this, I just have nothing.
// I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this title. //
first reviewed at
July 11, 2017
Review: A GOD IN THE SHED by J. F. Debeau
A GOD IN THE SHED is an incredibly complex novel, literary in format, stunning in execution. Simultaneously the story of individuals and families, a torn and battered community, legacies gone grievously wrong; of murders and suffering, of deaths and grief, this is also the story of a band of young boys, tautly connected, the day they discover the impossible really exists, and the horrendous, permanent (even eternal) consequences of that day and that discovery. This is a novel which captures readers, pinning their imaginations to observe the intrusion of other realities into our own.
A GOD IN THE SHED is an incredibly complex novel, literary in format, stunning in execution. Simultaneously the story of individuals and families, a torn and battered community, legacies gone grievously wrong; of murders and suffering, of deaths and grief, this is also the story of a band of young boys, tautly connected, the day they discover the impossible really exists, and the horrendous, permanent (even eternal) consequences of that day and that discovery. This is a novel which captures readers, pinning their imaginations to observe the intrusion of other realities into our own.
November 12, 2017
I wanted to love this, but the sloppy writing and typos were too distracting. If it were professionally edited, it might be a good yarn. As it stands, life is too short to finish books not ready for publication.
May 1, 2018
Wow. Why did it take me so long to finally sit down and write this review? I think this is a novel that I wanted to ponder for a little while. I needed to digest it a bit and figure out how to articulate my thoughts. I don't take notes while I read, so sometimes I just have to think about a book for a while before I know what I want to say.
A God in the Shed takes place in the tiny village of Saint-Ferdinand outside of Montreal. I hadn't read the blurb on this book until right before I started reading it, and it doesn't really give away any part of the story, which is good because I like to go into a novel without knowing very much. It does say that the police have been eluded by a murderer known as the Saint-Ferdinand killer for decades. The small town lives in fear, but suddenly the killer is found, right at the very beginning of the novel, and yet the reader is all too aware that things can't possibly be that tidy so soon in the story. Horror lovers know that there has to be something more sinister lurking within the town.
I like how Dubeau sets up the story with the prologue. It's so different from the rest of the story, but it explains so much. Of course very little of it makes sense in the beginning, but once you reach a certain point in the novel it all becomes very clear. I also like the characters. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, and I think that works well when you are dealing with a story about a small town that is dealing with a terrifying adversary. None of the characters are black and white, and they all have complex stories. Family history is very important in Saint-Ferdinand, and so this book is very character driven.
There's more at work in the small village than just a serial killer. Saint-Ferdinand has an ancient evil that has lived among the villagers for a very long time. People in town thought that the evil was contained, but once it escapes no one is safe. A God in the Shed is an excellent horror novel with plenty of gore and folklore. There's a lot going on here, and the novel may have been a bit overly long, but I still really enjoyed it.
A God in the Shed takes place in the tiny village of Saint-Ferdinand outside of Montreal. I hadn't read the blurb on this book until right before I started reading it, and it doesn't really give away any part of the story, which is good because I like to go into a novel without knowing very much. It does say that the police have been eluded by a murderer known as the Saint-Ferdinand killer for decades. The small town lives in fear, but suddenly the killer is found, right at the very beginning of the novel, and yet the reader is all too aware that things can't possibly be that tidy so soon in the story. Horror lovers know that there has to be something more sinister lurking within the town.
I like how Dubeau sets up the story with the prologue. It's so different from the rest of the story, but it explains so much. Of course very little of it makes sense in the beginning, but once you reach a certain point in the novel it all becomes very clear. I also like the characters. Each chapter is told from a different character's perspective, and I think that works well when you are dealing with a story about a small town that is dealing with a terrifying adversary. None of the characters are black and white, and they all have complex stories. Family history is very important in Saint-Ferdinand, and so this book is very character driven.
There's more at work in the small village than just a serial killer. Saint-Ferdinand has an ancient evil that has lived among the villagers for a very long time. People in town thought that the evil was contained, but once it escapes no one is safe. A God in the Shed is an excellent horror novel with plenty of gore and folklore. There's a lot going on here, and the novel may have been a bit overly long, but I still really enjoyed it.
December 11, 2024
*3.5
thank you so much to inkshares and bobi media for providing me a copy of this horror novel that’s as gory as it gets!
🦇 i did enjoy the body gore in this story and not only that, but also the way it was done. it was unique and fascinating, but if i ever saw that in real life, i’d be out of there in 0.001 seconds lmao.
🦇 i also loved the friendship between venus, penelope, abraham and later on daniel. they were people that, i felt, each other could trust with the situation and deal with it together. they were a tight unit in that regard.
🦇 i also felt for the kids having different parents with different parenting issues, it made the story so real and maybe relatable for some too.
🦇 my favourite characters were venus and nathan. they just worked for me personally in different ways. they were interesting to read about. i also shipped venus with daniel not gonna lie. 🤭
🦇 however, i did feel like some of the story was written in a bit of over descriptive way. kinda similar to stephen king type, if you know what i mean. sometimes i wanted for things to move forward faster.
🦇 i also thought some of the povs weren’t really necessary. we followed so many of them already that, granted, helped to follow the story from different angles, but at the same time some of them didn’t do anything for the plot itself. for that reason, the book could’ve been like 50-100 pages shorter.
🦇 i didn’t like the fact that no one was truly afraid of the god, it was like everyone got used to the idea. even after finding out that one exists, they were more fascinated if anything. i guess it wasn’t all that scary to begin with and that’s probably why no one were losing their heads over it lol.
🦇 people were also killed left right and center and i thought it was a tad too over the top as well.
🦇 audrey also grew on me, bless her. she was such a sweetheart and put up with so much!
🦇 if you want a body gore with a supernatural twist/possession story, i’d still recommend picking this up. it wasn’t my favourite, but it might be yours! i feel like this book is more about what people prefer in their horror stories, so i think this could work for a lot of people.
thank you so much to inkshares and bobi media for providing me a copy of this horror novel that’s as gory as it gets!
🦇 i did enjoy the body gore in this story and not only that, but also the way it was done. it was unique and fascinating, but if i ever saw that in real life, i’d be out of there in 0.001 seconds lmao.
🦇 i also loved the friendship between venus, penelope, abraham and later on daniel. they were people that, i felt, each other could trust with the situation and deal with it together. they were a tight unit in that regard.
🦇 i also felt for the kids having different parents with different parenting issues, it made the story so real and maybe relatable for some too.
🦇 my favourite characters were venus and nathan. they just worked for me personally in different ways. they were interesting to read about. i also shipped venus with daniel not gonna lie. 🤭
🦇 however, i did feel like some of the story was written in a bit of over descriptive way. kinda similar to stephen king type, if you know what i mean. sometimes i wanted for things to move forward faster.
🦇 i also thought some of the povs weren’t really necessary. we followed so many of them already that, granted, helped to follow the story from different angles, but at the same time some of them didn’t do anything for the plot itself. for that reason, the book could’ve been like 50-100 pages shorter.
🦇 i didn’t like the fact that no one was truly afraid of the god, it was like everyone got used to the idea. even after finding out that one exists, they were more fascinated if anything. i guess it wasn’t all that scary to begin with and that’s probably why no one were losing their heads over it lol.
🦇 people were also killed left right and center and i thought it was a tad too over the top as well.
🦇 audrey also grew on me, bless her. she was such a sweetheart and put up with so much!
🦇 if you want a body gore with a supernatural twist/possession story, i’d still recommend picking this up. it wasn’t my favourite, but it might be yours! i feel like this book is more about what people prefer in their horror stories, so i think this could work for a lot of people.
December 4, 2017
An utter disaster and one hell of a disappointment.
This book had so much promise; I was really looking forward to what Dubeau had in store for me... Unfortunately, what the author had to offer was super boring and a waste of my time.
In the 1800's, a man named Nathan Cicero and his friends discover a strange deity living in a cave in the woods in Canada. At first, the deity is childlike and the boys play with him, using certain rules (the most important of which being that the players cannot move while there are eyes on them). This is what became known as Cicero's Curse--the God could not move as long as there were some form of eyes on him. Years later, in modern times, we meet Venus Mackenzie, who sets up a digital video camera in order to document the hatching of a nest of birds in her shed. What ends up happening is that the God, summoned by the promise of the bird meat, is drawn and therefore trapped by the camera.
Throughout the story, the reader meets a TON of characters, which I find to be Dubeau's downfall. You have all these people with various motivations and secrets and no time to put them into a logical order. Unfortunately, this book is a train wreck and I, always hopeful of a gruesome scene, found the ones in the book to be boring and lazy.
Overall, I think Dubeau had a superb idea and definitely tools to do it with...he just didn't. It really only deserves one star.
So, book gets an F grade from me unfortunately. I try to be nice and give some books the benefit of the doubt, but the last two that I've read, Natalie D. Richard's 'One Was Lost' and this one, were extremely awful books... I'm sad, because I want to read a stellar book and tell everyone I know about it...unfortunately, I can't...
This book had so much promise; I was really looking forward to what Dubeau had in store for me... Unfortunately, what the author had to offer was super boring and a waste of my time.
In the 1800's, a man named Nathan Cicero and his friends discover a strange deity living in a cave in the woods in Canada. At first, the deity is childlike and the boys play with him, using certain rules (the most important of which being that the players cannot move while there are eyes on them). This is what became known as Cicero's Curse--the God could not move as long as there were some form of eyes on him. Years later, in modern times, we meet Venus Mackenzie, who sets up a digital video camera in order to document the hatching of a nest of birds in her shed. What ends up happening is that the God, summoned by the promise of the bird meat, is drawn and therefore trapped by the camera.
Throughout the story, the reader meets a TON of characters, which I find to be Dubeau's downfall. You have all these people with various motivations and secrets and no time to put them into a logical order. Unfortunately, this book is a train wreck and I, always hopeful of a gruesome scene, found the ones in the book to be boring and lazy.
Overall, I think Dubeau had a superb idea and definitely tools to do it with...he just didn't. It really only deserves one star.
So, book gets an F grade from me unfortunately. I try to be nice and give some books the benefit of the doubt, but the last two that I've read, Natalie D. Richard's 'One Was Lost' and this one, were extremely awful books... I'm sad, because I want to read a stellar book and tell everyone I know about it...unfortunately, I can't...
June 27, 2018
This was such a crazy story! The village of Saint Ferdinand is a small town that has been plagued by a serial murder, but when a suspect is apprehended for the killings the issues don't stop. There is a dark force in the village of Saint Ferdinand. I was not expecting the turns that this book was going to take. My only complaint would be that the number of characters that we heard from made the story a little confusing. That being said, I loved where the story went and the mix of crime story, horror with an occult angle!
August 27, 2018
This book had some interesting ideas, but ultimately, it came off as a first draft. The other 1-2 star reviews here are on point. After a promising start, nothing really happens until everything wraps up in around 20 pages at the end. Characters wander around with unclear motivations and it is never clear who knows what when, or what the time lines, motivations or details are for any of the many backstories. The characters are bland and uninteresting, and there is no clear protagonist, which isn't necessarily a problem, but in this case it's not handled in an intriguing way with shifting allegiances or anti-heros, people either just go with the flow, or stalk around yelling and punching old men. Characters motivations and reactions annoyingly contradict themselves from sentence to sentence which consistently knocks you out of the story. The focal point of the book, the God in question, does nothing through the entire novel except kill a few people who wander into it's cell. There is some tension in what will happen if it is released, but the rules of this magical world are never made clear, and hence, you never know what the real danger is or how it may come about. Some interesting ideas here, but it needed another edit to sculpt them into something truly intriguing and scary.
May 1, 2022
I really enjoyed it!! It took me a bit to get into it, but once I finally did I flew through it. There was some pretty unique imagery and I thought it was pretty twisted. Definitely going to read the sequel!!
April 19, 2023
Wow! What an absolutely frustrating book!
The concept is cool: a teenage girl has a god trapped in her shed. The execution made it nearly impossible to finish.
The writing is dry and passive. Chapters that are explicitly from one character’s point of view shift to another’s with random abandon. So, so much tell over show. Nobody behaves like a normal person, and every other sentence is loaded with epithet after epithet.
A character can’t just be “he” or “she,” or even—shock—their name. They are “the teenaged boy,” “the old man,” “the large teenager,” “the sad young woman.” It gets real old, real fast.
I spent the first 90% of this book thinking I’d accidentally picked up the sequel to something, only to get to the end and realize this whole book was nothing but setup to a sequel.
If you’re looking for something taut and scary, do yourself a favor, and look in any other shed.
The concept is cool: a teenage girl has a god trapped in her shed. The execution made it nearly impossible to finish.
The writing is dry and passive. Chapters that are explicitly from one character’s point of view shift to another’s with random abandon. So, so much tell over show. Nobody behaves like a normal person, and every other sentence is loaded with epithet after epithet.
A character can’t just be “he” or “she,” or even—shock—their name. They are “the teenaged boy,” “the old man,” “the large teenager,” “the sad young woman.” It gets real old, real fast.
I spent the first 90% of this book thinking I’d accidentally picked up the sequel to something, only to get to the end and realize this whole book was nothing but setup to a sequel.
If you’re looking for something taut and scary, do yourself a favor, and look in any other shed.
August 12, 2022
I regretted choosing this as my next book about 10 pages in. But due to sunk cost fallacy, I had to just finish it so it would count towards a completed book this year.
But fucking yikes this sucked.
I had picked it up solely because I'm such a sucker for descriptive blurbs that I fell Jerry Smiths comparison to True detective on the cover (which I am a desperate fool for anything resembling season 1 of TD). Well Jerry Smith is a fucking dipshit, whoever he is.
I am sorely disappointed in this book. What I was hoping would be some tale of a serial killer that led into creepy cults, was actually just YA-levels of hackneyed bullshit. I mean I still would like to say I like the general premise of the book (not literally) on paper, but this is clearly amateurish reddit prose, with just non-sensical plot development.
First of all: how the fuck can there be such a prolific serial killer in such a small town (population of 3K), for 20 fucking years, with no involvement of the FBI?
Also, what fucking idiot would have stayed behind in such a small town with such a serial killer? Surely by the 2nd year, anyone with a family would have just moved out to protect their children? Rather than "being more strict with curfew"?
Then, the reason the guy was even killing people was to use their eyes to keep the God imprisoned. WHY DID HE EVER NEED TO KILL MORE THAN ONE PERSON? ONE SET OF EYES WAS ENOUGH! HE DIDN'T NEED TO KEEP KILLING! OR EVEN KILL ANY HUMAN AT ALL, PROBABLY! A FUCKING SET OF SQUIRREL EYES WOULD HAVE SUFFFICED!
Oh and then guess what? A camera actually works all the same too! So he could have just setup a trail cam to keep it imprisoned. Sure maybe the tech wasn't around 18 years ago, but it was at some point.
Then the dickhead detective character just makes no fucking sense at all. By the end his motivations were all the more confusing. And oh what a badass! He literally just punches every problem he has in the face!
Plus the 20 or so fucking characters and family trees that are thrown at you that you can't keep track of. I'm still not sure if there's like some warring factions between these two stupid fucking cults.
Looking at the back of the book I realized this seems to be a quasi-crowd-funded publishing company, and that explains a lot.
Now, as ridiculous as this book was, it was the very least engrossing enough to see where it went. I was certain I would give it 2 stars, rather than 1. But the description of "it was ok" for the 2 star rating on Goodreads seemed rather gratuitous as compared to my actual feelings on it. I did not like it, generally speaking. But, now I have time invested in this shit, so maybe I will read the sequels, granted I get them for free off libby.
God damn. Fuck Canadians, man.
But fucking yikes this sucked.
I had picked it up solely because I'm such a sucker for descriptive blurbs that I fell Jerry Smiths comparison to True detective on the cover (which I am a desperate fool for anything resembling season 1 of TD). Well Jerry Smith is a fucking dipshit, whoever he is.
I am sorely disappointed in this book. What I was hoping would be some tale of a serial killer that led into creepy cults, was actually just YA-levels of hackneyed bullshit. I mean I still would like to say I like the general premise of the book (not literally) on paper, but this is clearly amateurish reddit prose, with just non-sensical plot development.
First of all: how the fuck can there be such a prolific serial killer in such a small town (population of 3K), for 20 fucking years, with no involvement of the FBI?
Also, what fucking idiot would have stayed behind in such a small town with such a serial killer? Surely by the 2nd year, anyone with a family would have just moved out to protect their children? Rather than "being more strict with curfew"?
Then, the reason the guy was even killing people was to use their eyes to keep the God imprisoned. WHY DID HE EVER NEED TO KILL MORE THAN ONE PERSON? ONE SET OF EYES WAS ENOUGH! HE DIDN'T NEED TO KEEP KILLING! OR EVEN KILL ANY HUMAN AT ALL, PROBABLY! A FUCKING SET OF SQUIRREL EYES WOULD HAVE SUFFFICED!
Oh and then guess what? A camera actually works all the same too! So he could have just setup a trail cam to keep it imprisoned. Sure maybe the tech wasn't around 18 years ago, but it was at some point.
Then the dickhead detective character just makes no fucking sense at all. By the end his motivations were all the more confusing. And oh what a badass! He literally just punches every problem he has in the face!
Plus the 20 or so fucking characters and family trees that are thrown at you that you can't keep track of. I'm still not sure if there's like some warring factions between these two stupid fucking cults.
Looking at the back of the book I realized this seems to be a quasi-crowd-funded publishing company, and that explains a lot.
Now, as ridiculous as this book was, it was the very least engrossing enough to see where it went. I was certain I would give it 2 stars, rather than 1. But the description of "it was ok" for the 2 star rating on Goodreads seemed rather gratuitous as compared to my actual feelings on it. I did not like it, generally speaking. But, now I have time invested in this shit, so maybe I will read the sequels, granted I get them for free off libby.
God damn. Fuck Canadians, man.
October 19, 2018
Imagine a god of death and hate, trapped within the rules of a game it has learned from a child a century ago. Imagine it gets angrier, meaner, crueler the longer it is trapped in this game. It can and does take people apart piece by piece, eat their souls or bring out the worst in humans.
Imagine the only thing between you and this god is serial murder and that murderer has just been caught... That's exactly the kind of threat that's been haunting the Canadian town of St. Ferdinand.
"A God in the Shed" is breathtaking! Perfect from its premise to its prose; clever, creepy, gripping, stomach churning and spine chilling all at once. I can’t remember the last time I have finished a book in such short time, but here I am. I hear there is a second part in the making, very excited about this!
Imagine the only thing between you and this god is serial murder and that murderer has just been caught... That's exactly the kind of threat that's been haunting the Canadian town of St. Ferdinand.
"A God in the Shed" is breathtaking! Perfect from its premise to its prose; clever, creepy, gripping, stomach churning and spine chilling all at once. I can’t remember the last time I have finished a book in such short time, but here I am. I hear there is a second part in the making, very excited about this!
June 14, 2017
When I first was told about this book, my mental response was, "J-F who?" Now that I've read it, I'll do everything I can to let other people know who he is. It's his second novel but his first in horror and, in that respect, it's a stellar debut. If you haven't read him yet, you want to. Style-wise, Dubeau is in a realm of his own design and it's a scary place to be.
Rarely do I use the words disturbing, or unsettling when it comes to Horror. I'm jaded by years of it so not much scares me. This book is a remedy for that. Started creeping me out from page one and only intensified from there.
Full review coming soon.
Rarely do I use the words disturbing, or unsettling when it comes to Horror. I'm jaded by years of it so not much scares me. This book is a remedy for that. Started creeping me out from page one and only intensified from there.
Full review coming soon.
March 26, 2019
** Edited as review is now live on Kendall Reviews! **
A stunning ride through rural Quebec!
Once I finished reading this story, I knew I had a contender for my book of the year.
A God in the Shed was outstanding and had me riveted from page one.
How did I get to that point? Unfortunately a way too roundabout route.
A God in the Shed came onto my radar last year and I snagged it on one of my large book hauls. Then it was buried in my TBR. And then buried again.
Then when 2019 was approaching I made the decision to organize my TBR and when I spotted this one as sitting there, unread, I moved it up to the start of the list. And yes I get the irony of “top of the list” because if you were to go to my Goodreads page at this exact moment, it’ll tell you that I’ve read 35 books already in 2019. Which means I’m averaging about 18 books a month, but also that 34 books came before it!
A God in the Shed follows the small town of Saint-Ferdinand and its inhabitants. The town is cursed by having a god of pain and death reside in it and we get to follow the exploits as its presence becomes known to all the townsfolk.
This is everything I wished the novel Hex was. Dubeau builds tension both between the numerous characters, which are all done some incredibly well, and within the town. People keep finding out more and more about the long backstory of the town.
Throughout all of this – this devil, this god, has been locked in the shed accidentally and is now trapped.
I loved the varying descriptions of the god the author uses and the gore within this story is so fantastically done.
I had been warned by some folks that they felt the ending wasn’t great, but for me it worked out perfectly. I believe, and this is a personal belief, that Dubeau fully plotted this novel out. From page one to the last page of the epilogue, the entire story read like every single detail was meticulously plotted it and when the ending came I was a fan of what he did. I don’t believe this is a spoiler, but the epilogue gave some tidbits towards a re-visit to some of the characters down the road. I don’t believe this will ever happen, but with the book having been optioned to become a filmed property, that may well end up being the case. If that does happen – consider me a first day buyer.
A stunning ride through rural Quebec!
Once I finished reading this story, I knew I had a contender for my book of the year.
A God in the Shed was outstanding and had me riveted from page one.
How did I get to that point? Unfortunately a way too roundabout route.
A God in the Shed came onto my radar last year and I snagged it on one of my large book hauls. Then it was buried in my TBR. And then buried again.
Then when 2019 was approaching I made the decision to organize my TBR and when I spotted this one as sitting there, unread, I moved it up to the start of the list. And yes I get the irony of “top of the list” because if you were to go to my Goodreads page at this exact moment, it’ll tell you that I’ve read 35 books already in 2019. Which means I’m averaging about 18 books a month, but also that 34 books came before it!
A God in the Shed follows the small town of Saint-Ferdinand and its inhabitants. The town is cursed by having a god of pain and death reside in it and we get to follow the exploits as its presence becomes known to all the townsfolk.
This is everything I wished the novel Hex was. Dubeau builds tension both between the numerous characters, which are all done some incredibly well, and within the town. People keep finding out more and more about the long backstory of the town.
Throughout all of this – this devil, this god, has been locked in the shed accidentally and is now trapped.
I loved the varying descriptions of the god the author uses and the gore within this story is so fantastically done.
I had been warned by some folks that they felt the ending wasn’t great, but for me it worked out perfectly. I believe, and this is a personal belief, that Dubeau fully plotted this novel out. From page one to the last page of the epilogue, the entire story read like every single detail was meticulously plotted it and when the ending came I was a fan of what he did. I don’t believe this is a spoiler, but the epilogue gave some tidbits towards a re-visit to some of the characters down the road. I don’t believe this will ever happen, but with the book having been optioned to become a filmed property, that may well end up being the case. If that does happen – consider me a first day buyer.
August 20, 2017
(review from http://literaryweaponry.com)
DNF at 35%.
I’m sorry to say that this book found it’s way into the DNF pile at 35% complete. When I spotted this book on the shelf at Barnes and Noble and popped onto Goodreads to see some of the opinions about it I got excited. It sounded right up my alley. Mysterious killer, cult like town activity, and evil secrets. For the first 50 or so pages I was completely immersed but that quickly changed. The pacing was mind numbingly slow and I couldn’t get through more than a page or two without setting it back down. Things that could have been big reveals or shocking revelations were soured by the pace. The wow factor was missing.
Thinking that maybe it would still be worth while to push through to the end I did something I rarely do and flipped to the last chapter. To say the least, I was disappointed by how the story wrapped up. No, it wasn’t worth it to me to keep reading.
This book is going to be fabulous for the right person. Someone who likes a slow burn horror/mystery with a great deal of insight into the characters. For me, if I’m reading a horror, a slow burn is not what I am after. While this book wasn’t right for me, I can easily see it being right for some readers.
DNF at 35%.
I’m sorry to say that this book found it’s way into the DNF pile at 35% complete. When I spotted this book on the shelf at Barnes and Noble and popped onto Goodreads to see some of the opinions about it I got excited. It sounded right up my alley. Mysterious killer, cult like town activity, and evil secrets. For the first 50 or so pages I was completely immersed but that quickly changed. The pacing was mind numbingly slow and I couldn’t get through more than a page or two without setting it back down. Things that could have been big reveals or shocking revelations were soured by the pace. The wow factor was missing.
Thinking that maybe it would still be worth while to push through to the end I did something I rarely do and flipped to the last chapter. To say the least, I was disappointed by how the story wrapped up. No, it wasn’t worth it to me to keep reading.
This book is going to be fabulous for the right person. Someone who likes a slow burn horror/mystery with a great deal of insight into the characters. For me, if I’m reading a horror, a slow burn is not what I am after. While this book wasn’t right for me, I can easily see it being right for some readers.
June 15, 2017
So I was instantly drawn to this book for two reasons - that cover and then the comparison to other great horror authors (King, Simmons, Barker, etc). There was also a mention of the occult and the sentence, "Stephen King's IT meets Jeepers Creepers." Otherwise, I went into it blindly - oh my god. If you want a great horror story, then you need to pick up A GOD IN THE SHED by J. F. Dubeau.
I just have to say, that prologue. Wow! That really sets the tone for this entire book. This is a very atmospheric thriller taking place in Quebec, Canada - specifically the small village of Saint-Ferdinand. This small village has everything you'd expect; farmhouses, one main street, small police precinct, a grocery store, and a couple of diners. However, the most unusual thing about this town is the cemetery - far too large, and too full, for such a small area. All are victims from the Saint-Ferdinand Killer, who successfully eluded police for almost 20 years until Inspector Stephen Crowley caught him.
Now that he's been caught, a much darker force is uncovered. A dark spirit has revealed itself to Venus - a local teenager. This creatures shows her what its capable of and that it has a long seeded history with Saint-Ferdinand. Something so dark and evil that the serial murders just barely scratch the surface.
It is told in multiple perspectives, which could get a little bit confusing, but I love that style of writing. So much gore, blood, and twisted things happening in this small town. It does have a slower pace to it, but I couldn't put it down! I had to know the next demented thing that was going to happen. The characters were very well-developed and complex - Dubeau made it so easy to connect with the characters (even the serial killer!).
It was left open ended because - as I just learned - this is part one of a trilogy. So I can't be upset that not all my questions were answered. Without a doubt, I'll be getting book 2 and 3. If you're a fan of horror, ghosts, monsters, the occult, and serial killers, then I'd highly recommend this one to you.
I give this 5/5 stars!
A big thanks to Inkshares for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I just have to say, that prologue. Wow! That really sets the tone for this entire book. This is a very atmospheric thriller taking place in Quebec, Canada - specifically the small village of Saint-Ferdinand. This small village has everything you'd expect; farmhouses, one main street, small police precinct, a grocery store, and a couple of diners. However, the most unusual thing about this town is the cemetery - far too large, and too full, for such a small area. All are victims from the Saint-Ferdinand Killer, who successfully eluded police for almost 20 years until Inspector Stephen Crowley caught him.
Now that he's been caught, a much darker force is uncovered. A dark spirit has revealed itself to Venus - a local teenager. This creatures shows her what its capable of and that it has a long seeded history with Saint-Ferdinand. Something so dark and evil that the serial murders just barely scratch the surface.
It is told in multiple perspectives, which could get a little bit confusing, but I love that style of writing. So much gore, blood, and twisted things happening in this small town. It does have a slower pace to it, but I couldn't put it down! I had to know the next demented thing that was going to happen. The characters were very well-developed and complex - Dubeau made it so easy to connect with the characters (even the serial killer!).
It was left open ended because - as I just learned - this is part one of a trilogy. So I can't be upset that not all my questions were answered. Without a doubt, I'll be getting book 2 and 3. If you're a fan of horror, ghosts, monsters, the occult, and serial killers, then I'd highly recommend this one to you.
I give this 5/5 stars!
A big thanks to Inkshares for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
June 15, 2017
So happy to be reading my first love, horror, again! And what a story to get into! Occult? Yes! Supernatural? Yes! Ancient Evil? Yessssssssss! A dark spirit introduces itself to a group of boys years ago, but it plays by its own rules and should you choose to cheat... well, nothing can save you. Don't anger this ancient god, do not break the rules and do NOT set it free once you find a way to trap it. Flash forward and we see the town of Saint-Ferdinand in which the inhabitants have been living in fear for almost twenty years and bodies continue to go missing while the killer remains at large. Inspector Crowley (yay for this Supernatural FAN!) finally catches the killer, but bodies continue to go missing. Is there an accomplice? Or are their darker forces involved?
Enter Venus, a teenager who accidentally traps a dark god in her shed (hey-o, title!). Her curiosity piqued, she finds out about the town's history and how key people within the community are catalysts to something bigger... darker... and bloodier. Will she set this god free to get her deepest desire?
The author brings in many characters and we see from a variety of perspectives from chapter to chapter. Even with these vast introductions, I never felt lost and I felt he was setting up a history within a history for each character as a baseline for something prominent in the future. It's bloody, gory, mysterious, moderate to slow paced and sucks you right in. I love these types of books and Mr. Dubeau does not disappoint. My black heart is full. The cover is gorgeous, the story line is interesting, I'll never play a game of hide and seek again and I want to make furry coats out of stuffed animals for all hairless cats. Confused? Read the book so you won't be ;).
Keeping this at 4 stars because a few things were left a little untied at the end... I'm assuming and hoping that this is a set up for upcoming sequels because I'll be following Mr. Dubeau for quite some time I think.
Thank you, Inkshares for this gorgeous book in return for my honest review.
Enter Venus, a teenager who accidentally traps a dark god in her shed (hey-o, title!). Her curiosity piqued, she finds out about the town's history and how key people within the community are catalysts to something bigger... darker... and bloodier. Will she set this god free to get her deepest desire?
The author brings in many characters and we see from a variety of perspectives from chapter to chapter. Even with these vast introductions, I never felt lost and I felt he was setting up a history within a history for each character as a baseline for something prominent in the future. It's bloody, gory, mysterious, moderate to slow paced and sucks you right in. I love these types of books and Mr. Dubeau does not disappoint. My black heart is full. The cover is gorgeous, the story line is interesting, I'll never play a game of hide and seek again and I want to make furry coats out of stuffed animals for all hairless cats. Confused? Read the book so you won't be ;).
Keeping this at 4 stars because a few things were left a little untied at the end... I'm assuming and hoping that this is a set up for upcoming sequels because I'll be following Mr. Dubeau for quite some time I think.
Thank you, Inkshares for this gorgeous book in return for my honest review.
March 30, 2017
J-F Dubeau’s A God in the Shed is a novel full of interesting ideas, let down by some sloppy execution. A small-town Gothic mystery with occult trappings, it’s a solid horror story in the vein of TV’s True Detective or Twin Peaks that would have benefited from another round of edits.
Packed with a myriad of characters and a slowly deepening mystery as the layers of old secrets of the town are stripped away, it should be a riveting read. Unfortunately, passages are often overwritten and descriptions bumble along pulling the reader from the story.
A much harder slog that it should be.
Packed with a myriad of characters and a slowly deepening mystery as the layers of old secrets of the town are stripped away, it should be a riveting read. Unfortunately, passages are often overwritten and descriptions bumble along pulling the reader from the story.
A much harder slog that it should be.
August 21, 2021
Some properly spooky parts, but full of detail that made it tough to stay focused. When I wasn't reading, I had little desire to return to it, even though it is well written and has an original and engaging plot. Glad I read it, but it fell a little flat with me.
July 1, 2022
A God in the Shed reminds me of a bad version of Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt: Small town is plagued by a resident malevolent entity, and they must learn to live with it with little to no help from the outside world. But Hex has a lot more answers, is much better written, and the monster (a witch in its case) is by far more frightening because she's given greater context.
The worst part of this book is that I was never scared. Blood and guts do not equal scary. Unsavory, yes. Creepy, sure. Repulsive - again, sure, although this wasn't that intense. But repeatedly talking about innards and blood spatter does not automatically make an impressionable tale of dread as Dubeau and his editor seem to think. Speaking of editors...where is that guy because he's nowhere to be found in this text. Besides the lack of genuine horror in this horror book I was also pulled out of the plot time and time again by flat-out bad prose. An example:
"Both beautiful and terrible at once, it could be compared to a heavenly chorus chanting from within a cave inhabited by a hundred thousand bats." (...I can't grasp this comparison as I haven't had the pleasure.)
Then there's the chapter where adjectives are in full force when describing one of the MC's best friends: "The large farm boy," "the big teen," "the big farm boy". And it goes on from there.
Even within the vast parameters of his own imagined world, it feels like Dubeau bends too many rules; illogical or otherwise clumsy explanations left me confused as hell. Then there were characters that were woefully bland or straight-up unlikable, and not even in a love-to-hate-them kind of way (I'm looking at you, brutish, comically aggressive police inspector who just goes around punching everyone for any reason). The ending felt like a haphazard mess, with loose ends being hurriedly tied up - or in some cases not tied up at all since this book is part ONE of a series in progress. On my end I'll have to find a way to live with the lack of resolution though because I will not be back for more.
The worst part of this book is that I was never scared. Blood and guts do not equal scary. Unsavory, yes. Creepy, sure. Repulsive - again, sure, although this wasn't that intense. But repeatedly talking about innards and blood spatter does not automatically make an impressionable tale of dread as Dubeau and his editor seem to think. Speaking of editors...where is that guy because he's nowhere to be found in this text. Besides the lack of genuine horror in this horror book I was also pulled out of the plot time and time again by flat-out bad prose. An example:
"Both beautiful and terrible at once, it could be compared to a heavenly chorus chanting from within a cave inhabited by a hundred thousand bats." (...I can't grasp this comparison as I haven't had the pleasure.)
Then there's the chapter where adjectives are in full force when describing one of the MC's best friends: "The large farm boy," "the big teen," "the big farm boy". And it goes on from there.
Even within the vast parameters of his own imagined world, it feels like Dubeau bends too many rules; illogical or otherwise clumsy explanations left me confused as hell. Then there were characters that were woefully bland or straight-up unlikable, and not even in a love-to-hate-them kind of way (I'm looking at you, brutish, comically aggressive police inspector who just goes around punching everyone for any reason). The ending felt like a haphazard mess, with loose ends being hurriedly tied up - or in some cases not tied up at all since this book is part ONE of a series in progress. On my end I'll have to find a way to live with the lack of resolution though because I will not be back for more.
August 4, 2017
I won! After several years and over 100 entries, I finally won a GR giveaway! There are so many people I want to thank: my family, the Great Old Ones, whoever drew my name out of that hat at the Goodreads office.
First of all, this book, published by Inkshares, has a gorgeous design: creepy/beautiful cover art, the good, fancy paper and font, book flaps (I love flaps on a paperback, even if I'm a compulsive bookmark user.)
This horror fiction, set in the fictional hamlet of Saint-Ferdinand in southern Quebec, is a tale that includes a serial killer hermit, one or more secret societies, necromancy, a mysterious circus, and an actual God of the Lovecraftian variety. It's actually like updated Lovecraft: modernized, multi-threaded, and 1000% less racist.
(It also has a little too much violence toward animals for me. I did not need to read so many details about a rabbit being sacrificed. But as anyone who knows me can attest, this is something I always bitch about. Bunny sacrifice.)
I had difficulty getting into the story here, and honestly about 150 pages through I took more to skimming then reading. I think the reason was mostly because I just didn't remotely connect with ANY of these characters. Good guys, bad guys (and it was admirably confusing at times to tell who was who): none of them really felt like actual people to me. Which makes the Lovecraft comparison fitting, because that's something I always feel about his work (although, counterpoint, he has Cthulhu.) I respect what Dubeau did here--there's a real layered mythology that he sets up and honors--but I didn't enjoy it. But hey, I'm in the minority on that last point.
I'm grateful for the book, regardless. Inkshares crowd sources what they choose to publish. If they receive enough orders, they proceed with publishing a submission and from there the more traditional publishing machinery takes over. Go check out their site.
First of all, this book, published by Inkshares, has a gorgeous design: creepy/beautiful cover art, the good, fancy paper and font, book flaps (I love flaps on a paperback, even if I'm a compulsive bookmark user.)
This horror fiction, set in the fictional hamlet of Saint-Ferdinand in southern Quebec, is a tale that includes a serial killer hermit, one or more secret societies, necromancy, a mysterious circus, and an actual God of the Lovecraftian variety. It's actually like updated Lovecraft: modernized, multi-threaded, and 1000% less racist.
(It also has a little too much violence toward animals for me. I did not need to read so many details about a rabbit being sacrificed. But as anyone who knows me can attest, this is something I always bitch about. Bunny sacrifice.)
I had difficulty getting into the story here, and honestly about 150 pages through I took more to skimming then reading. I think the reason was mostly because I just didn't remotely connect with ANY of these characters. Good guys, bad guys (and it was admirably confusing at times to tell who was who): none of them really felt like actual people to me. Which makes the Lovecraft comparison fitting, because that's something I always feel about his work (although, counterpoint, he has Cthulhu.) I respect what Dubeau did here--there's a real layered mythology that he sets up and honors--but I didn't enjoy it. But hey, I'm in the minority on that last point.
I'm grateful for the book, regardless. Inkshares crowd sources what they choose to publish. If they receive enough orders, they proceed with publishing a submission and from there the more traditional publishing machinery takes over. Go check out their site.
October 8, 2018
This book was just all over the place. I bought it because I liked the title, honestly, and had seen good reviews, and I think I got a notification from Amazon that it was on sale and I bought it. The beginning was pretty great, about some friends inthe late 1800s finding this weird creature in the forest and playing games with it all summer, then it flips out and attacks them. And I really liked the beginning of the modern day part, where an inspector is investigating these murders and comes across on old trailer house with a yard full of running refrigerators filled with eyeless corpses, and all the eyes on skewers facing this cave, so badass. But after this things just start to not work.
One thing that drove me crazy about the book was that many of the main characters know there is an evil god in the town, but no one seemed to remember that when all this weird shit was going on. Like, it's told from shifting third-person points of view, but no one seems to be thinking the obvious shit, like, there are wizards and competing cults in town, it just slowly gets revealed how much everyone knows. I also thought there was no need for the remnants of the older cult to be a part of a circus, that was pretty random. And as much information as is finally leaked through different characters thinking and doing their things, the reader still doesn't really know what went on in the past, or even how the book ends. I also thought it was too long, there would be an entire page talking about ice cream or something like that, things that could have been removed for a faster read.
It's not that the idea of this book isn't great, it is, but I think it would have made a better movie than book.
One thing that drove me crazy about the book was that many of the main characters know there is an evil god in the town, but no one seemed to remember that when all this weird shit was going on. Like, it's told from shifting third-person points of view, but no one seems to be thinking the obvious shit, like, there are wizards and competing cults in town, it just slowly gets revealed how much everyone knows. I also thought there was no need for the remnants of the older cult to be a part of a circus, that was pretty random. And as much information as is finally leaked through different characters thinking and doing their things, the reader still doesn't really know what went on in the past, or even how the book ends. I also thought it was too long, there would be an entire page talking about ice cream or something like that, things that could have been removed for a faster read.
It's not that the idea of this book isn't great, it is, but I think it would have made a better movie than book.
July 7, 2019
2.5/5 stars.
By the first fifty pages, I kept getting the feeling this was the author's first book. I was close: it's his second. The writing was clunky, especially the dialogue. I also had difficulty understanding how much time had passed between scenes. Perspectives would often shift between characters within chapters that were supposed to be dedicated to one point of view. That's sloppy writing in my opinion.
However, I was never bored reading it. The story itself is intriguing (the god totally reminded me of a Resident Evil villain), and I appreciated how most of the characters weren't set squarely in either category of protagonist or antagonist. However, it seemed like there were too many characters. I barely had any time to fully understand the point of the circus. It was basically just a plot device for Venus and Daniel to learn more about the god.
Also, can we talk about the magic system in this book? If you should even call it that. Live paintings, prophecies, regeneration... I know these are gifts from the god, but it would feel less cheap if only one or two were used. Okay, what I really want to say is the living painting schtick was completely unnecessary. Which reminds me...
Why in the world did the old guy (I can't remember his name) kill people just for their eyes? If he only needed eyes why didn't he just get animal eyes or something? Maybe I missed the explanation, but I thought about this the entire time I was reading.
Overall, it was a decent book, but the writing and storyline were too messy.
By the first fifty pages, I kept getting the feeling this was the author's first book. I was close: it's his second. The writing was clunky, especially the dialogue. I also had difficulty understanding how much time had passed between scenes. Perspectives would often shift between characters within chapters that were supposed to be dedicated to one point of view. That's sloppy writing in my opinion.
However, I was never bored reading it. The story itself is intriguing (the god totally reminded me of a Resident Evil villain), and I appreciated how most of the characters weren't set squarely in either category of protagonist or antagonist. However, it seemed like there were too many characters. I barely had any time to fully understand the point of the circus. It was basically just a plot device for Venus and Daniel to learn more about the god.
Also, can we talk about the magic system in this book? If you should even call it that. Live paintings, prophecies, regeneration... I know these are gifts from the god, but it would feel less cheap if only one or two were used. Okay, what I really want to say is the living painting schtick was completely unnecessary. Which reminds me...
Why in the world did the old guy (I can't remember his name) kill people just for their eyes? If he only needed eyes why didn't he just get animal eyes or something? Maybe I missed the explanation, but I thought about this the entire time I was reading.
Overall, it was a decent book, but the writing and storyline were too messy.
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