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The Curse: A Hope Allerd Novel

By: Robert Thornton
Publication Date: May 23, 2023
ISBN: 979-8395822802
Reviewed By: Ephantus Gold
Review Date: July 24, 2023

The Curse: A Hope Allerd Novel by Robert Thornton follows the adventures of a young medical doctor, whose longing to fulfill a patient's last request places her life on a knife's edge...

Owing to her brilliance, Dr. Hope Allerd has been consulted by Father Jerome Weir, a faculty member of St. Bede's University, to evaluate a patient at St. Bede’s Hospital who has been diagnosed with an infection. A thirty-minute study of the patient's records leaves no doubt in her mind that a potentially fatal fungal infection, pulmonary aspergillosis, has had the best of the poor man's lungs. To her astonishment, the patient is quick to attribute the infection to a source that is not normally found in the International Classification of Diseases - a curse.

The able doctor is further shocked when the patient dies immediately after sharing the news, but not before handing her his house key for her to find an item of value in his home. With a deep longing to fulfill the old man's wishes, Dr. Hope finds a pouch that a carbon-14 dating report confirms to be between four thousand and four thousand eight hundred years of age. The mystery deepens further when its content is disclosed to be a twenty-first-century phone - an iPhone 13. How did it get inside an ancient, sealed pouch, and what will be the cost of unveiling this puzzle?

In this novel, toxic benevolence is exposed, discretion is tested, and underlying dread in characters comes alive. From the moment the read begins, the element of imagery is well utilized to bring up a sense of terror which is relevant for this book's genre. Author Thornton is an intellectual who brilliantly twists up theories, impressions, and moments into incredible embodiments, which without a doubt, pull readers out of their comfort zones. The stakes keep rising as the read advances, particularly with the introduction of an overly savage entity, which the protagonist believes is connected to a well-guarded scientific operation. Well-illustrated themes of quantum tunneling, human monstrosity, and cruelty heighten the suspense and apprehension, and the strong beating of a reader's heart gradually grows louder with every new chapter.

Quill says: The Curse: A Hope Allerd Novel by Robert Thornton is a novel that taps into a reader's soul and inner emotions, by combining the ordinary with the abominable, the unorthodox, and the grotesque. The author utilizes descriptive words, character choices, and dangerous situations to create suspense and, in the end, offers a thrilling ride that will stick in a reader's memory for years.

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