Mark T. Sullivan's "The Purification Ceremony" focuses on Diana Jackman, a woman of Native American ancestry who has separated from her husband and family in the wake of her estranged father's suicide. His death re-awakens long-suppressed emotional issues for Diana, and, in a bid to reconnect with her family's love, respect and near-worship of nature and the outdoors, she books a deer hunting trip in British Columbia.Things almost immediately go wrong, however, as Diana stumbles across the dead and ritually mutilated body of one of the guides, and more violent death follows. Not only is there a madman stalking the hunting party, the group is snowed in, and the killer has cut of communication with the outside world. Diana must use everything her father taught her to survive and protect the others, but she faces a vengeful murderer whose near-supernatural ability to track and hunt and kill is like nothing she's ever encountered."The Purification Ceremony" has a great set-up, a protagonist with an engaging and captivating backstory, and an author with a gift for language. There are moments of true tension, but also, unfortunatley, too much reliance on mysticism, some points in the story that should have been better, and a twist reveal of the villain that is plausible, but which somehow struck me as too pat.I wanted to love "The Purification Ceremony" - the first two-thirds are genuinely excellent - but I only ended up liking it.
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