Psychological Thriller
Date Published: 03/25/2024
Publisher: Great Whale Books
The wedding was weeks away for two young lovers, who had counted themselves lucky to have found one another. Then, it was over, as one of them abruptly disappeared. Audrey was not abducted. Not exactly. She was not taken against her will. Rather, her will itself had been taken. Coerced and controlled. Deceived and derailed. Matthias cannot walk away from the catastrophe, though he has nothing to go on, and is in the dark beyond all personal darkness he has ever known . . .
The Contraption is a novel that deals with the challenges faced by a woman who has been recruited into a dangerous, coercive religious cult. Her fiancé is left not knowing even where she is. Her name has been changed and she has been relocated to another state. The cult, Church of the Mountain of Radiance, is an all-controlling psychological prison.
Excerpt
Charles collected his papers, “Okay, now let me ask you one. I want to know your intentions regarding Audrey if you find her.” He got a little pointed about it, “… You find her. So, just what are you planning to do?”
Matt kept his cool, and said he just wanted to talk to her.
“Good. That’s good. Now, what are you going to say?”
He stammered, and Charles said, “Here’s a suggestion. You keep it very, very, very mellow! You smile a lot, but nothing big and phony-looking. You do not raise your voice. Ever. The most you can hope to accomplish is to counter what they have been telling her about you. Which would be something along the lines of – you hate her. You wanna kill her. You never loved her. All her family and friends hate her, too. Cults have to sever the person from all former attachments! And a big one, like a fiancé? Oh, hell yeah. What haven’t they pumped her head with concerning you? Then, there’s always the angel. The voice of her guardian angel says you’re no good. Okay, so if you get to talk to her, what you are going to do is plant a seed in her mind that they have been lying to her about you. About you, or about anything. Once the seedling of doubt starts to sprout, it can put a crack in all those walls they’ve built around her. Something in your favor is that she will start wanting out pretty soon.”
About the Author
The author, Barton A. Stewart, is a long time student of the cult phenomenon, and literary fiction. The Contraption marries together his two long time interests. Stewart has lived all over the United States, is
presently single, and currently calls Metro Boston home. His book will be among the most realistic fictional depictions of the kinds of things that
can happen in cases like this. Avoiding the sensationalism of so many novels on this subject, Stewart offers a look into another world, which
unfortunately exists in the here and now.
Contact Links
Twitter: @BartStewart1
Purchase Links
