Weekly Reader: Satan’s Fan Club by Mark Kirkbride; Thriller Looks Into The Darkest Sides of Humanity

 

Weekly Reader: Satan’s Fan Club by Mark Kirkbride; Thriller Looks Into The Darkest Sides of Humanity

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Well we saw The Devil take a holiday off in A Festive Juxtaposition, now let's see what his biggest fans are doing. Well sort of.

Mark Kirkbride’s Satan's Fan Club is a disturbing intriguing psychological thriller which explores the darkest sides of human nature, the secret desires that we don't want anyone to know about, and the people who are willing to let those secrets come forward.

James Glavier is a young man who is invited to join a secret society known as Satan's Fan Club. The entrance fee is a very simple one. He has to commit a crime that is very personal to him and he has to kill someone important to him. It's not like James is a law abiding do-gooding citizen anyway. He is sexually attracted to his twin sister, Louise and the two live an isolated suffocating existence with each other as their only companion. James also sees darkness around him as his father is attracted to the au pair, Riika. Not to mention there is a serial killer on the loose and his victims are found awfully close to the Glavier household.

This is one of those types of books where it's hard to root for anyone because everyone is so reprehensible in some way. Satan's Fan Club did not have to do a whole lot to make these characters explore their dark side since they were pretty deplorable to begin with. They just pushed them along the path that they already took the first step on.

James and Louise’s relationship is one that is born out of toxicity and mutual abuse. They isolate each other from the world around them and are extraordinarily possessive of each other. They know that if found out, their affair could be catastrophic but they don't care. If anything, it excites them even more because it's dangerous and forbidden. It seems to be born from a selfish need to be the only one in each other's life and to live recklessly rather than any type of real affection.

Their parents are just as bad. Their dim mother seems to turn a blind eye to their affection or is easily deceived. It's only later that we discover that her naivete is a front for hiding her own jealous and duplicitous nature. She only reveals what she knows when it serves her best interest.

Their father is someone who talks a good game about religion but does not follow his own standards. He behaves like a regular church goer by quoting the Bible, doing good works, and acting like a pillar of the community. That's what people see on the outside. Inwardly, however, he is a philanderer who barely hides his affair with Riika. He has a violent temper when things don't go his way or something counters his religious beliefs. He is a hypocrite of the highest order.

The Glavier family is so unlikeable that at one point their young daughter shows some violent tendencies suggesting that she too will end up like everyone else.

The final chapters are dripped in irony as the consequences of the characters’ actions are called forward and secrets are revealed. Even the true identity of Satan's Fan Club and its members are called into question as the characters discover too late that this is one club where the membership cost is too high.