In the Name of the Devil

by Harrison Phillips

WARNING: This book contains scenes of explicit violence and gore.

Maisie had just turned 16. She should have been out with her friends, enjoying every moment of her teenage years.

But that was not to be.

Jacob and his disciples had other ideas for Maisie and her family. Taken hostage in their own home - beaten, raped and tortured - they were to be sacrificed, their souls offered as a gift to Satan.

But Maisie's family might not be all they seem.

Maisie's family have dark secrets if their own...

Genres: Horror

169 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2021

About the author

Harrison Phillips is an English author of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. His literary influences range from Clive Barker and Stephen King, to Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee. He was born and raised in Birmingham, England, where he still resides with his long-suffering wife, their two daughters, and a schnauzer named Minnie.

Reviews

[Peter Topside · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just a very mean spirited story with not much done well. Every aspect of it, both plot and characters, came across very haphazardly, with violence and rape being the primary focus, at the expense of everything else. For instance, Maisie had very little development as to why she was so ‘special,’ aside from one event in the beginning, but that was basically it until the ending. Then, it was just an information dump. For such an important aspect of this book, it was shockingly underdeveloped. And other parts of the book had no continuity, ie Maisie comes home absolutely muddy and sweaty from a run, but sits to eat breakfast in her pristine house in front of her nagging and overly tidy ‘mother,’ who doesn’t object, before going to shower? I also, coming at this from a medical education, took issue with some of the scenes where a single person is able to rape multiple victims, one after another, with no refractory period, and other victims continuing to walk around with multiple serious injuries, including left ventricles being severed, and such. None of these acts are physically possible. The satan worshippers also just killing people with no rhyme or reason, and performing no form of ritual when commiting their heinous acts, was very lazily done. And their leader just keeps saying things like ‘satan is coming. It’s evil vs good. We are killing in his name.’ It was just very poorly established as to what they were doing exactly. Were they just killing to please Satan when he returned, or to get enough victims to do something with all the bloodshed? Even the leader here had very minimal background, before he, Holly, and Ethan went on their escapade. And even then, with Jacob as the leader, why was he just letting Ethan do whatever he wanted with the victims? Letting him rape women, watch Maisie go to the bathroom, and all other sorts of nonsensical actions that risked himself being exposed, arrested, and/or harmed, never really intervening or using his authority to keep control of a given situation? Again, none of it made any sense or came together. The best part of this book was the very end, with the big twist, but by that point, I took so many issues with everything else, that I couldn’t enjoy the content by then.

[Leeanne 🥀 The Book Whor3 🥀 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowee!!

Well this was a thrill a minute, I couldn’t put it down. Was reading until 3am as didn’t want to sleep until I got to the ending, and boy, I wasn’t expecting that!! HP sure knows how to write and has an awesome imagination, and extremely graphic. I started reading this with my GR buddy Ian, who is yet to finish (only because I’ve had more time! 😆), so don’t want to say too much and spoil it. I totally recommend this to anyone who likes extreme horror, as it’s very brutal, and not for the faint hearted.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

' Satanic secrets that just go wild!'

A gang of young pseudo-satanic psychotic rapists and murderers go on the rampage, defiling and killing and all in the name of the devil...until they meet Maisie and her seriously weird parents and best friend. Things are about to get darker...much, much, much darker!

'In The Name Of The Devil' proved itself to be a mysterious, well-crafted, fun, extreme horror story with lots of fantastic ideas and plenty of gory atrocities to keep the reader's interest throughout. The biggest compliment I can perhaps give it is that I read it in 4 short sessions, but after each interval I just couldn't wait to continue reading further into the gruesome adventure, knowing exactly where I was at when I left off from last time. However, beware - the storyline contains plenty of the usual triggers and, believe me, they all get well and truly tripped.

Harrison is a fine young author who possesses such an original, wild creative imagination for telling the gory, gruesome and explicit, wrapping them all up in such a wonderfully enjoyable storyline that cannot help but intrigue, fascinate and entertain all devout followers of tales in the genre of extreme horror.

Finally a big thank you to Leeanne, a close bukbuddy, who shared this gorgeously gross and horrific experience with me right through to the very end. And yes Leeanne, I agree as is the case here, satanic cult stories are always going to be a guaranteed winner!

Rating: 4.3 demonically dark black stars of pure, blood-spilling, high quality fun.

[Hail Hydra! ~Dave Anderson~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

He took a step back and watched as the image on the screen panned across a pile of blackened rubble, still smouldering, ash filtering upwards, into the atmosphere. As the shot tilted upwards and zoomed further out, more of the scene was revealed.

Something quite peculiar stood out in Watkins’ mind; there amongst the burned-out rubble stood a tree, tall and black, its twisted branches stretching skyward. Amongst all the destruction, this tree, standing there, alive and well, seemed almost surreal.

[Brian Bowyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal!

My second read by Phillips, and this one is intense. It's also fast enough that I finished it in one day. This is a twisted, disturbing, and well-crafted tale. Highly recommended for fans of extreme fiction!

[Yvonne (the putrid Shelf) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do love a Harrison Phillips story and this one was just carnage from start to finish. I love when a book can make me swallow down vomit - the microwave and kettle scenes are engraved into my brain now.

[lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of devil worshippers sort of mess with the wrong family. Moral of the story... be careful who you try to kill "in the name of the devil".

This is the longest book of his I've read so far and it was definitely a good one! Not my fav due to a few scenes (that's totally a me issue) but I still had a great time with the story! I actually loved all of the characters, which also says something about me 😂. I was shocked that I predicted most of how this was going to end pretty early on, which I am normally not able to do in this genre, so that was a fun surprise!

[Rosilyne · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book should have been treated as a first draft. The most annoying thing about the experience was the word “then.” The character THEN did this and THEN did that. The word appeared several times in one paragraph alone. You can just say, “they pulled out a gun,” instead of, “they then pulled out a gun.” The story is a framework with nothing actually fleshed out. The characters are one dimensional and you don’t care about any of them. There are no descriptions or atmospheric details. You can tell the author is rushing to get to the next violent/sexual part, but even the descriptions of those acts fall flat. The speech and dialogue read like a middle schooler writing a short story, but the only media they have ever consumed consists of bad Shudder horror movies, kids Netflix and CW shows. Very silly, unrealistic, melodramatic and corny. If the writer spent more time editing and building this story, it could be something fun, but this is a solid D- as is.

[Becki 🤎 · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the name of the devil 👿

Last week’s Horror-son & co read was one I’d been dying to get to, I was so happy when the wheel chose it for us!

And Oh This was so crazy good! 👏🏼

Maisie has just turned 16, her parents have planned a special surprise for her & her friend. They go out for birthday tea, with the girls planning to ditch & head to a party after to celebrate with there friends 🥂

Those plans are soon sabotaged when they’re hijacked on the way home by 3 Satan worshippers! They witness horrific acts & just when they think there’s no way out, the parents throw them a curveball….it looks like they had their own dark agenda for the girls…can it get any worse 👀🫣

This was jaw dropping! So much abuse, gore & violence in one book! There’s a certain part with a dog that I’d suggest you skip past if you can’t deal with animal cruelty in this genre too! Defo check your triggers on this one!

I think this might be up there as one of my favs from Phillips!! I gave it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Excited for our next read! With our little club, the wheel has chosen shot gun nun, another I’ve not read before, so ima get straight into it ASAP 👏🏼🤎

[Leighah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this because of a 1 star review it recieved. Thankfully I don't have any triggers so I actually enjoyed this. I can understand how this title would not be for everyone. Even I found that microwave scene hard but then I enjoy being made to feel uncomfortable. So if you have triggers maybe think twice but if you are after a queasy horror that pushes the boundary give this one a crack.

[Paige Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

INSANE!

Holy moly this was intense! THE TWIST....I did not see that coming. MIND BLOWN!

If you like a good cult story...This is it!

[Sharon Leung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, it has a great plot with a few good twists to it. Being in the extreme horror category was perfect it had the blood and gore as well as some great characters. A family that are the perfect trio, loving mother and father of an only child Maisie, whom is the perfect loving respectable daughter. Then there is the group of killers whom have issues of their own and believe In all the devil ideals. A fascinating story of evil, but the twists bring a whole new meaning to this story and has you glued and immersed into a whole New world. A good fascinating story that really captures your full attention. Recommended!

[Kirsty Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s Maisie’s birthday and her parents have a meal out booked that she cannot miss.

Jacob worships the devil and he inflicts pain on others so that they can feel his suffering. When they ambush Maisie’s family all hell breaks loose and the story takes a hellish turn I did not see coming!

I loved the scenes with Maisie and her friends reminds me of my teen years kicking about with my mates.

However, the was also a scene I found quite difficult. Check your triggers with this one! It’s a wild ride and paced well! I finished this one within a day!
🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Kassy Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy catballs Batman!!!

Harrison has a mind that can be called scary! One word Chewy! Once you read this book you'll understand the reference. This book had my brows lifting to my hairline and my mouth either open wide in shock or lip curled at the gore and details! I feel like I should take a shower to wash all this book off me. It is gore to the max with a storyline I can only read once. Creatively speaking its intense!

[Crysta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tend to stay away from books with religious affiliation, but this book has changed my mind. I loved the imagery. Each scene was more gruesome than the last. The storytelling was unique in terms of there being interludes that filled in the gaps. I was captivated from the prolouge on, and I was unable to predict what would happen next, I was left guessing until the very end.

[Jeff O'Brien]

DNF. Not because it wasn't good. Just not my thing. If you like extreme horror in the same ball park as Last House on the Left and House on the Edge of the Park, you'll like this book very much and I recommend it. Good writing and good suspense building too.

[Jacob B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Figured what the twist was pretty early on but that doesn't mean I'm not about to read everything else this guy writes.

[Courtney May · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rate: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: N/A

This book is freakin nuts and disturbing. I’m only giving it three stars because it kept me intrigued.

[Rheanna Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

I regret reading this book.

[Briony Youngman-Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the strangest (not in the best way) books I’ve read

[Lara ☆☽ · Rating 1 out of 5]

what the hell?!

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eigentlich sollte Maisie einfach nur ihren Geburtstag feiern, aber Jacob und seine Anhänger haben andere Pläne. Aber Maisies Familie ist nicht ganz so normal, wie es den Anschein hat.
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Mit nur 203 Seiten ist das Buch recht kurz, deshalb gibt es nur sehr wenig Entwicklung bei den Persönlichkeiten von den einzelnen Figuren. Wirklich sympathisch war mir niemand, denn man merkt eigentlich recht schnell, dass man niemandem so richtig trauen kann, weil jeder seine eigenen Geheimnisse. Die Handlung ist sehr spannend und es gab einige überraschende Wendungen, die ich nicht so habe kommen sehen. Einige der Szenen sind recht blutig, es ist also eher nichts für Menschen mit schwachen Nerven. Der Schreibstil konnte mich nicht so ganz überzeugen.
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