Book Review: Dark Avenging Angel – Author Catherine Cavendish

Dark Avenging Angel
By Catherine Cavendish
Samhain Publishing

132 Pages

“Don’t hurt Jane. You may live to regret it.”

Jane is product of insecurity, low self-esteem and a lost soul. Her father abuses her, her employer harasses and degrades her at every available turn. Seemingly at the brink of losing all hope a mysterious entity appears to her one night and offers an alternative. Retribution. The only cost is to name the souls who have dealt her injustice. Will Jane surpass the tempting offer to balance the scales of moral inequity or will she simply succumb to the Dark Avenging Angel.

If I had a mere nickel for every time I’ve expressed just how impressed I am with the formidable foray of talent at Samhain Publishing I’d likely never have to work again. Author Catherine Cavendish is most certainly an exclusive member to that club. This is my second reading odyssey with Cavendish at the helm. Our prior voyage came to us in the form of The Pendle Curse, a supernatural tale dealing with reincarnation and witches.

Perhaps what I admire most about this highly gifted author is her unprecedented ability of embracing diversity. While a great deal of writers tend to gravitate towards the same genre or themes, Cavendish has breaks the mould and unleashes a hellacious, creepy tale with spirits, the tormented and an overall thread of redemption.

Through Dark Avenging Angel, we’re invited into the world of Jane. She epitomizes the prototype of horror protagonists. Insecure, vulnerable and uncertain, it takes no time at all for her inner self to reach and touch a most vast demographic. Told through her perspective, first person persona her plight resonates within each of us regardless of sex, race, and religion or otherwise.

One cannot deny an almost certain sense of cringing each time Jane has to endure the onslaught of abuse from her tyrant father or squirm with unease each time her supervisor demeans and degrades her to unfathomable lows. The dream sequences as Jane attempts to unravel her subconscious are a sturdy foreshadow, prophetic and suspend all sense of reality in ethereal time. This author has an uncanny of illustrating the dark and disturbed while refusing to relent until the final climax.

While refraining from engaging in any spoilers, it is suffice to say that death is plentiful and somewhat inevitable in this genre. Each of these scenes are highly inspiring, most imaginative embodying all that is ominous and bone chilling.

Never fear the level of unsettling content is not so severe that one is prompted to seek psychiatric care upon conclusion of this novel. Some most welcome comedic interlude manages to lighten the tone just when it’s needed most. Certain instances of reoccurring tooth paste jokes evokes a certain sensation of levity and well timed comedic relief. Just when our subconscious guards are let down, Cavendish manages to scrimmage the next calculated scare towards a most inevitable doom.

The overall images of Jane’s Dark Avenging Angel and the imagery all encompassed is the sort of thing one may consider refraining from reading just before retiring for the evening. To ensure maximum enjoyment perhaps one may be best forewarned to delve into these pages while in the comfort of broad daylight. I highly look forward to the next adventure wherever it may lead with author Catherine Cavendish at the helm.