This is a fresh and original take on my favorite genre, cryptid horror. I love flawed protagonists, and Amanda Lane, our down on her luck private eye suffering from PTSD and the loss of her leg in the war, fits the bill to a T. Separated from her husband, she ends up back in her small hometown in Florida, right by the Ocala National Forest. A search for a pair of missing girls digs up old memories she'd rather forget. Faith of Dawn is an unflinching look at the darkest corners of man's soul. Something is lurking in the swamps. Something is lurking in the hearts of Amanda's hometown. How the two come crashing together is for the reader to discover. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. Dearborn has crafted one wild ride into murky territory...and I enjoyed every minute of it. 9 s Kate Victoria RescueandReading1,169 36

Nah… this one just wasn’t it.

Hated the characters (especially Amanda), way too many things added for shock value instead of actually enhancing the plot, and so much more.

I really think the MC needed to be able and tone down on the disgusting/graphic aspects to make this a better read (adventure thriller focussed instead).3 s Alex241 6

I received an ARC through NetGalley and my review is voluntary and honest.

This wasn't really scary or thrilling, just miserable.

Amanda is a disabled war veteran with PTSD. Unfortunately, she is also abusive and delusional. In the first chapters of the book, she goes to the house of her ex-husband, who has told her he doesn't want to see her and doesn't want her anywhere near his two young children (who are not hers). He opens the door only partly, and she thinks about how that's stupid because doesn't he know that she could just break the door down if she wanted to go in? Despite this, she somehow acts offended when Patrick tells her that she scares him and he doesn't want to talk to her. Amanda then proceeds to spend most of the book thinking about Patrick and how he's being unfair and he should take her back and let her explain. I was 0% surprised when it was revealed that she hit him at least once. She's a walking collection of red flags.

The rest of the plot was mostly just miserable, with lots of bestial rape, mutilation, and Amanda's whole hometown being a religious cult. It could have been interesting, but it wasn't, and I was too annoyed by Amanda's pining over and blaming Patrick to really get into it.

CW: bestiality, rape, murder, death, mutilation, underage prostitution, drugs, dead babies, probably more1 John Mccormick585 6

My thanks to the Author publisher's and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This book starts off as a totally absorbing missing person's mystery, with our troubled private investigator returning to her childhood home to search for two missing teenage girls. Amanda Lane one legged Afghanistan veteran is ballsy brave clever and feisty, but in the blink of an eye, the book becomes a creature feature, a far fetched gruesome at times horror story, not my normal read at all, but I was completely and totally hooked. Well written with superb characters throughout especially our heroine, please tell me there will be more books to come.
I can think of no higher praise than this could have been penned by Stephen King.

Completely and utterly recommended.1 Clarke263 3

Firstly, I need you to know that I hated every second of this book. I wanted to DNF it so badly but I continued out of spite to write a full review. I read this so you don't have to. Good Lord there were so many issues.

1. Using the R slur repeatedly when referring to disabled people (it doesn’t matter if you follow it up with 'I know you’re not supposed to use these days' or subbing in the word "touched"). The author quite literally acknowledges this is wrong and yet continues to refer to disabled people in derogatory ways. I don't care if the book is set in a small town and you want 'realism', it adds nothing and is utterly disgusting. There were so many better ways to have this detail for an extremely obvious plot point without using slurs and derogatory language. Yes, I wanted to throw my phone away because of it.
2. The main character, Amanda, has a prosthetic leg following an injury in Afghanistan. How do I know? It's mentioned on every fucking page. 'She held open the door with her 'plastic' leg', 'she stepped out of the car with her normal leg first then her prosthetic', etc etc. it was mentioned constantly. If it was a drinking game, I'd be dead (and I've drank an entire bottle of vodka straight in one night so please grasp the significance of this lmao). It honestly was hardly ever relevant, and felt extremely gross. One of the reasons I continued the book was to see if this became relevant to the story. It did not. It was used lazily in the Big Event at the end but otherwise was just mentioned constantly for shits and giggles I guess? She reflects on her time in Afghanistan occasionally and is typically very surface level at best, but otherwise it seemed to be used to fill up words on the page and give her an excuse to be a dickhead with a gun. She does meet a very minor character who also has a prosthetic leg. Of course this character was fat so obviously was lost due to diabetes. The point of this? No idea. So Amanda could be a judgemental bitch maybe?
3. The judgements didn't stop there. Everyone who was not white was not described well, including frequently referring to Native Americans as Indians (which to my understanding, saying that word alone is offensive but I could be wrong), using derogatory language towards/about sex workers, fatphobia, and just about insulting every demographic possible (except the whites). There's also a nice dash of victim blaming to go with it.
4. There's just a lot of nonsense, filler, grammatical errors, and sentences that don't make sense. Half the book could've been deleted because it didn't add anything. Genuinely felt padding for a word count. Many phrases were repeated (if I had to read Amanda repeating herself and clarifying that she hates her southern accent coming out again, I would've lost it). Also, every time a chapter was from another POV, it was titled 'interlude' WHEN THATS NOT WHAT THAT MEANS. A simple google search will explain what an interlude is. I don't know how this is getting published.
5. So, I'm gonna assume the book uses offensive language under the guise of realism, and yet SO MANY UNREALISTIC THINGS HAPPEN. To avoid spoilers, I will keep this vague but Amanda doesn’t act a veteran, lots of stupid choices, and the ending was obviously unrealistic with what it featured. People flipflopped, mental leaps, but also sheer stupidity occurred throughout the book. I'm fine with unlikable characters if you atleast keep them consistent. Also, how can you have an expert on something that many believe isn't real? to the degree of 'knowledge' they had? Idk this was kind of the least of my worries.
6. TW for rape, beastiality (I guess), murder, infant death, pregnancy and birth (including perinatal death), paedophilia, drug use/addiction, racism, ableism, slurs, etc for the whole book but also this point. Why the FUCK are you talking about the size of an infants penis?
7. TW for domestic violence. Amanda is abusive and there is reference to domestic violence for which she is not remorseful. She calls and visits her ex when he has set clear boundaries and states he is scared of her. She asks to see his children and is upset when he says no. She whines about missing him and having nothing without him throughout the book, wanting to call him all the time, etc. This was grating and we get it! She's awful! Can we move on?
8. The plot just fucking sucks honestly. There's no payoff to the mystery, very few answers, and it was just so not worth it.


TLDR: this book is full of awful writing, with regards to both plot and in using offensive and derogatory terms throughout. Check trigger warnings before reading. I hope this doesn’t actually get published.

Thank you to netgalley for the arc. Michael HicksAuthor 38 books466

Stop me if you've heard this one before -- A bunch of Florida rednecks worship a foul-smelling creature with a penchant for rape and whose presence may spell the end of life as we know it. No, Kristin Dearborn's Faith of Dawn is not about Donald Trump and his MAGA cult, but the mythical skunk ape and the small cult of whacko worshippers that kidnap women for its pleasure and to keep it in thrall for their grandiose designs. But no, seriously, this is not about Donald Trump, I promise.

After two women go missing in the Ocala National Forest, Nicole's father hires Boston PI Amanda Lane to track her down and bring her and Stephanie home. The forest was practically Lane's backyard in Mabscott before her father sent her away and she joined the military, only to lose her leg in Afghanistan. Lane's coming off a bad breakup that she refuses to accept and thinks locating these two women, already the subject of news headlines, may help her win Patrick back. But as George Weber once learned in a Thomas Wolfe book, you can't go home again, and Lane is confronted with decades-old secrets and a long legacy of violence that was hidden from her.

In Lane, Dearborn pulls off a delicate balancing act. Her intrepid PI isn't exactly the most likable sort, but she sure is damn compelling. When we first encounter her, Lane is revealed to be a stalker and she's not supposed to be anywhere near Patrick and his daughters. She just can't let go of the life they had been building, no matter how much it scares them or makes her look a psycho. She constantly calls/harasses Patrick during her time in Mabscott, willfully defying his demands to be left alone and denying that their relationship is over. As we learn more about their history together and the events leading up to the dissolution of their marriage, the worse Lane comes across. She's damaged goods, mentally and physically, thanks to her time in the Army, the last real home she knew until she was cut loose after losing her leg to an IED. And that's Lane in a nutshell, constantly being cut loose and sent away, perpetually adrift with nothing to latch onto and, once that rare handhold is found, refusing to let go, even if she loses whatever little else she has left. She's rough and abrasive, but also single-minded and determined. I love, too, that Dearborn crafted this toxic, broken character, fully committed to the warts and all aspects of Lane, and put her front and center in this perverse creature feature.

Cryptids Bigfoot, Yetis, and skunk apes are fairly commonplace in horror fiction, but Faith of Dawn is a pretty far cry from the more fun-focused, B-movie- works of Hunter Shea or the goofy hijinx Reggie Levine finds himself stuck in thanks to Adam Howe. There's nary a lick of fun to be had here, and Dearborn plays it darkly straight the whole way through. An early interlude revealing the fate of one of the missing girl's Lane is searching for reads a segment from Jack Ketchum, detailing the tortures and indignities that have been heaped upon this kidnapped woman. It's lurid and nasty, and serves as a warning to the reader that this isn't going to be anything at all a lighthearted romp in the swamp.

Far from it, in fact. Rather than going the route of silly creature feature, Dearborn instead tackles this particular case as a neo-noir horror story, one that just so happens to revolve around the mystical skunk ape. While the hairy, stinky cryptid is at the heart of things here, the real meat and potatoes of the story is centered around abductions, murder, and small town secrets that are kept hidden at the cost of people's lives. Faith of Dawn is deadly serious in its delivery, and Dearborn plays it all with a straight, unflinching, razor blade-lipped face.advanced-review-copy horror Milt Theo845 63

Kristin Dearborn's new book, 'Faith of Dawn,' is a gritty, realistic, bloody good tale of cryptid and cult horror, with a very light touch of Lovecraftian magic. The main character, a female Afghanistan veteran who's lost a leg and turned into a private investigator, is an intelligent version of the older male PIs, those troubled, cynical characters who'd never try to be heroic for the sake of glory alone. Private Investigator Amanda Lane is a world-weary savior, and can't help trying to stand by the people who need her, even at the worst of times. She just doesn't know how to separate real need from self-deception. She's in the middle of her way to divorce (her own fault, by all accounts), she's lost her way, and it seems extremely ly she'll end up an unable character in anyone's book.

Not so. She jumps out of the frying pan into the fire when she accepts to investigate a cold case in her home town. Yet what she finds out is so much brutality and savagery, all her character flaws turn into assets.

Many people will be shocked by the graphic revelations in Dearborn's book, as forced pregnancies and teenage girls are involved, with some torture and gore on top; plus the perspective of the book is not that of a naive, wide eyed urbanite - it's full on rural America. But it all makes sense in the end: the story is solid, the characters are well-drawn, the tone is dark and edgy at the same time. The scenes with the cryptids are extremely well-done, the plan of the cult-leader makes for an original, nasty and surprising interpretation of the End Times, and the ending felt cathartic, though rather sad. Exactly my kind of book! Stuart1,212 24

Really enjoyed this book, an effective melding of crime / mystery/ thriller and horror styles. Amanda Lane is a private detective in Boston, having been invalided out of the army after losing part of a leg in an IED incident. She is recruited to try to find two missing college students, who have disappeared near the village in Florida where she spent the first 14 years of her life. The father of one of the girls thinks that Amanda can do a better job than the local police, who have effectively given up on the search.
Unbeknown to everyone outside of the community, a strange cult is being pursued there, that involves almost medieval rituals of delivering local girls to the "swamp apes" of the Everglades Forest. (Think Bigfoot).
Amanda, though she wasn't aware of it at the time, was lucky to be sent away to boarding school at 14, and never to return till now. She initially encounters a hearty welcome as she returns to see people she hasn't talked to in 20 years, including her father, but as she asks more questions, the welcome mask slips and the violence begins.
The book is very well written, it sucks you in from the first pages, and doesn't let up. The cult setup is all too believable, the swamp apes, well, you can suspend a little disbelief in the service of a great story. I recommend. crime-mystery fantasy-horror Ghastly39 8

I want to thank NetGalley, the fantastic folks at Cemetary Dance, for the e-arc of “Dawn of Faith.”

This novel starts any missing-person detective story. Our detective is Amanda Lane, who lost her leg overseas during military duty. She gets hired by the powerful father of a college student who went missing in the area of Florida where Amanda spent her youth. It is a backward rural area, fully equipped with its own religious fanatics, local lore, and a cast of characters that will have you shaking your head throughout the 316 pages.

“Dawn of Faith” is an uncomfortable ride through the real horrors that exist in the forgotten back roads of America—cults, desperate folks who will do the unimaginable to survive, and that’s before monsters even enter the picture.

There are more trigger warnings than there are letters of the alphabet. If you can get past that, there is a deserving-to-be-read tale of horror here. The author brilliantly ties everything together at the end, something I didn’t see coming. I loved it.

I read horror to experience the uncomfortable. I want the narrator to shove me out of my comfort zone. In that regard, “Dawn of Faith” is a solid four out of five stars. Mattie Dee22 1 follower

What an interesting ride this book was. We start off with 2 college girls that have gone missing during a trip in Ocala National Forest. The father of one of those girls hires Amanda Lane, Afghanistan war veteran turned private detective. In order to help solve this case, Amanda must return home to the small, back water town of Mabscott, FL. Where while she works to find the missing girls, she also learns more about her past and the towns dark secrets that lead her back to a cult that's doing their bidding with the swamp apes.

Overall, I thought the story was good. I d the cult/cryptid aspect and the interesting story those two play with each other. There were definitely somethings I didn't feel were 100% necessary, but horror books are written to make you feel uncomfortable sometimes. There are definitely some major triggers in this book and would recommend researching beforehand in case there's something that might bother you. Megan Wintrip400 9

Wow this one had two Prologues! And boy did I get sucked in!

This book is a whole type of story I have never heard before, to me it is unique, different and enticing.

Lane is a PI (Private Investigator) looking into the disappearance of two college girls called Stephanie and Nicole. Who went missing when they went camping with their boyfriends. Lane must return to her hometown of Mabscott where the girls went missing 9 months prior.

In returning Lane must face some old demons and old "friends" to get to the truth. What could possibly be going on? Why does nobody seem to care? What is the big secret that the whole town seems to know?

I really enjoyed this story and The Interludes for the different POV which was nice to kind of see some other views on the story!

Absolutely brilliant. Amanda S.208 3

This book was fantastic. The subject/topic of this book isn't for everyone, but that's how shock horror is. when you take this book for what it is, it is well written, the suspense kept me turning pages. I had to know what the Faith of Dawn religion was about, and what was the deal with the Skunk apes. How was breeding them with humans part of it. I still have a few questions, what was the creature in the lake and where it came from/went. Overall, I really enjoyed this book.

I received an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Katherine Wetmore93 2

I would give this book realistically a 4.5 ?

This book surprised me in so many ways.. I originally thought it was going to be more of a sci-fi based horror book.
To my surprise, this was more of a murder mystery cult type of book.

I will tell you I was left on my toes just about the whole entire book and wanted to finish it in one sitting. I Love the writing style. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I will say the book does need some triggers though.

Dearborn did a fantastic job keeping me on my toes. Wanting more, feeling the suspense! Joan Smith486 13

Thank you, Kristin Dearborn


This is a fun action-packed swamp story with a cryptid. A skunk ape is the cousin to Big Foot. The main story takes part around the Ocala National Park deep in the woods. The protagonist is a veteran that suffers from PTSD among other things. I d the storyline. I recommend this book for crytid lovers and lovers of horror/ thrillers.

It gave me strong vibes of the 1972 movie Deliverance.


Dysfunctional Family Dynamics
Mental Health
Cosmic Horror


Ocala National Park in Ocala FloridaThis entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review Dave Stall10

Any story that includes kayaking is alright by me

Have to admit that I didn't have high hopes when I began reading this but was pleasantly surprised. This story is extremely well written, with engaging characters and plot points. The inclusion of Cthulhu mythos was subtle, also nice. Also enjoyed how Ms. Dearborn captured the environment of Florida. I look forward to reading more from this author. Wayne350 9

Wow. I really enjoyed this novel by Kristin Dearborn. First time reading her. This story had a great plot, and great pacing. Always wanted to keep reading, and not stop. The characters were also well developed and enjoyable. Will definitely be looking for more from Kristin Dearborn. #FaithofDawn #NetGalley Josef Hernandez655 3

An interesting story brought down by the weight of its leading characters

For a full review, please go to https://areviewerdarkly.blogspot.com/... and follow me on X @josenher Rhonda Bobbitt369 30

PI Amanda heads back to her hometown to find 2 missing girls. What she finds is a town full of secrets and deceit. The story was very well written and thrilling. I love a good cryptid horror, and this one was good....definitely not your typical monster story. Just the right amount of gore. Jennifer Dodson14 1 follower

Different take

Wasn't sure at first about this book. But glad I kept reading. Great story and a very different version of a Bigfoot story. The char where's were great and the story was really good. Well written book. Would read this author again! Lisa6 2

Gripping and wild

Once I started, I could not put this down. An insanely wild ride! This will definitely not disappoint, will be talking about this one for months! Ashley134

Ehh I almost put this one down I didn't think really anything exciting happened til half way threw ! Then the rest of it was okay good action just not my cup of tea. regular account70 2

not a story for me

Mutilation is not something I care to read about. Nor is mixed species sex. Going to take a hard pass on this one. Though grammar was perfect.
Brent Tripp5

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