The Bottom Line: This bewitching young adult fantasy thriller was voted Best Fantasy Thriller of 2024 in the BestThrillers.com Book Awards.
Rande Goodwin’s award-winning novel The Witchfinder’s Serpent introduced us to teenager Nate Watson, who stumbled across the world of witchcraft in his Aunt Celia’s mansion when a powerful demonic bracelet permanently wrapped itself around his arm. In Goodwin’s second series entry, The Witchfinder’s Sacrifice, the relationship between Nate and the serpent is increasingly fascinating. While Nate has gained some measure of control, it also inflicts severe pain while also warning him of danger. It can be hard and metallic, but can also act as an on-demand flamethrower.
Nate’s growing powers will come in handy, as Aunt Celia’s nemesis – a 350-year-old Warlock named Malleus Hodge – is back. Part of Hodge’s evil plan is to unleash witch hysteria in Windsor, Connecticut. Unfortunately for Nate, the plan is already working.
Goodwin has created a right-sized cast of memorable characters and gives each of them singular stories to demonstrate the spread of the hysteria. For example, married gardening enthusiast Al and his wife attended a local Shad Derby (a town festival) in which fish fell from the sky while a stranger handed out pamphlets warning of murderous witches living among them. Later, he watches in horror as his pristine lawn is burned by a grotesque beast – leading him to the conclusion that his neighbor and professional rival must be a witch. But Goodwin’s characterization is at its most entertaining when drawing divisions between the world of teenagers and adults. For example, Shad Derby Queen Courtney Stevens – whose parents are away on vacation – is increasingly convinced that her housekeeper is a witch. Not only is the housekeeper trying to poison her with bewitched seafood, she also may have used a spell to extend her parents’ vacation. Meanwhile, teenager Regan’s fervently religious mother now believes that her daughter is “Satan’s progeny.”
It goes without saying that all this mayhem sets Nate up for an epic war with Hodge. Fans of Goodwin’s first series entry will rejoice at how Goodwin progresses Nate’s character development. While Aunt Celia continues in a mentor role, she once again needs Nate’s help for survival – as does the entire town. And as he did in the first book, Goodwin continues to create ancestral connections to Alse Young, the first woman to be hanged in what would be America for witchcraft in 1647. In doing so, it’s clear that Goodwin understands better than most of his contemporaries exactly how to build a world that readers want to escape to – while continuing to remind us how much it resembles our own. Highly recommended.
A must-read for fans of Annabel Chase and Stephanie Meyer.
