Little Heaven is a Sadistic Horror Novel that Focuses on Body Horror and the Horrors of Humanity
I did mention beforehand that I believed that The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike is one of the best horror novels ever written.
I think that Little Heaven by Nick Cutter is a close second.
Little Heaven is unlike any horror novel I have ever read. In this story, we follow two different journeys of both the heroes and villains, who meet a pure evil that is capable of using humanity in the sickest ways.
We follow the story of three hitmen who come across a cult known as Little Heaven, due to a woman named Ellen who hires them to help search for her nephew who was possibly taken into the cult.
They come across an evil that none of them expected, taking them on an adventure that would haunt each of them for years to come.
The three hitmen are Micah, Minerva, and Ebenezer who become unlikely allies after they each fail to kill each other during a random shoot out.
I couldn’t help but laugh during their dialogue moments, Nick Cutter really made these characters his own, and I really found myself loving each of them. Despite their evil actions in the past, none of them were exactly evil.
They were three people who experienced severe trauma, that led to their path of becoming hitmen. They accept Ellen’s money offer to find her nephew named Nate, each of them not realizing that something far darker is waiting for them in the cult of Little Heaven.
They meet the leader of the cult named Amos Flesher, who is determined to be the evil one we readers are supposed to immediately dislike.
He didn’t create his religious community to look after his people. He was only after power, and loved controlling this group of people that had either experienced a terrible thing, or had done something bad in their lives.
Amos Flesher is also hiding something that the three hitmen come to find out later, that some sort of ancient evil is harboring within the cult.
This evil creates body horror monsters that are the combination of multiple animals in one body, kidnaps children, and even kills adults that would dare to ruin its plans. So, it made sense why the three hitmen decided to take matters into their hands to save everyone.
Unfortunately, things don’t go according to plan.
Amos Flesher begins to work with the ancient evil to take down anyone that would stand in his way…and would do anything to ensure his bond with the evil.
While Micah and his companions are struggling to survive against multiple horrible things that go wrong, Amos Flesher decides to take advantage of his own people when none of the fighters are present in the community.
When each of them leave for different reasons, Amos Flesher convinces his people to enter to gather as a group, and tricks the adults and children into drinking a liquid that he had poisoned.
The adults instantly all die, suffering in front of their children. I couldn’t stand this part, the detail to the violence did not hold back, and I hated how Flesher took delight with this horrific violence.
It was even more brutal to learn that the kids were going to suffer even more, knowing that they secretly drugged and were going to be given up to the ancient evil.
Poor Nate and Ellen witness what Flesher does to his people, and Nate is forced to watch Flesher straight up torture and murder his own father…this entire sequence was disturbing, and I have never felt so angry at a monster.
Even though Flesher was a human being, he was just as evil as the thing that was residing outside of Little Heaven’s walls.
The three hitmen arrive back to Little Heaven ready for a fight, and decide to go after Flesher and save the kidnapped children.
Micah decides to lead the group against the two threats they must face, Flesher and the ancient evil. Micah is the first one to run into the ancient evil, being able to meet this thing face to face.
I gotta give out a warning here, what I’m about to reveal is…uh…really messed up. I had a hard time reading this part of the book, and I don’t normally get disgusted by body horror…but this scene defeated me.
Micah learns that a man who once lived there out in the woods before the creation of Little Heaven had been the vessel for this ancient evil.
He had used his own body as a sort of home for this beast, that took on the disguise of a human baby to trick its victims.
The thing also had a sort of horror — like version of the Pied Piper that referred to the evil like a father figure that worked for him. It helped the evil bring children to feed off of their life force.
I won’t describe this part here, because I think this scene was way too disturbing…and I couldn’t stand reading this part.
Micah and his team are able to defeat the evil, and use Flesher as the new vessel for this thing. I thought it was sweet justice when that evil crawled right inside of Flesher’s body. I hated this sequence too, because the description of its real form really got to me.
Imagine a child — sized caterpillar crawling inside of your body, and residing there forever, where you would stay alive for years. Possibly for all eternity. Doesn’t sound lovely, huh?
And I assume that you are thinking that is where the story ends.
Micah and his team are able to save some of the children, Ellen and Nate included, and they all live happily ever after.
No. None of that happens for any of them.
We are now moving forward to the time period of 1980, where the hitmen must return to the evil and confront it one more time.
None of the three hitmen aren’t living good lives. During their first encounter with the evil, a wish is granted to each of them by force.
Micah gets to marry Ellen and have a child with her, but his wife falls into a coma, and his daughter is kidnapped by the evil until 1980.
Minerva is now an expert hitmen, but she cannot die…no matter how many times she tries to end her life.
Ebenezer is still the badass warrior that he is, but even he is being taunted with the thought of death, and what waits for him on the other side.
The three companions decide to band together once again, to help save Micah’s daughter. They travel all the way back to where Little Heaven once stood, and find the ancient evil waiting for them.
The Pied Piper child is still alive as well, and it tells the three heroes that his father has been waiting for them. Micah’s daughter is being held hostage by the evil, and it is then that Micah realizes what he must do.
He knew why these disturbing memories always stayed with him for years. He must become the next vessel for this evil. He cuts down Flesher’s body, (who is still alive), and Micah finishes him off for good. He tells his two friends to take his daughter away, and to look after her.
Minerva and Ebenezer take the news hard, but they know what they must do. They take his daughter away to safety, and Micah blows up TNT, trapping him with the evil inside of its resting place: the cave.
Micah allows the evil to crawl inside of his body.
We then cut to Minerva and Ebenezer returning to Micah’s home, where Ellen suddenly makes a recovery, waking from her coma. Minerva and Ebenezer no longer feel cursed, and they watch Micah’s daughter run inside of her home to greet her mother.
It’s a heartfelt ending for Micah’s friends and family, and I realized that his sacrifice was not in vain. He knew the fate that would wait for him, but he didn’t hesitate, because he wanted to save his loved ones.
Reading the ending scene of Micah determined to keep his memories intact as this monster will reside in his body possibly for all eternity is a gut — wrenching ending for this novel.
This is one of the worst fates in horror history, and man…Micah did not deserve that.
Little Heaven is now in my top 5 best horror novels of all time. This book has everything that any horror fan would want, and it doesn’t hesitate to show everything that is taking place. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone, because it takes a certain kind of person to read this one.
The horror is raw and disturbing, and damn…it was a wild ride!
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