the sarvant by douglass hoover

a small group of prisoners in the first world war held in a barbaric work camp where they are treated with the cruelty and sadistic brutality by their german captors are given a chance to be transferred to a neutral camp in switzerland by the mysterious officer who appears to have documentation from the Kaiser himself. 

escorted by a handful of men the prisoners find themselves stranded in a small town isolated by mountains and ice in the alps,  where they must cohabitate and make use of themselves with the community. 

the community are mostly females and seem to hold strange ceremonies and rituals based upon the ancient cult of mithras. 

this is the novel stephen king aspires to write, he is good at short stories but his novels are predictable and far to long winded. douglass on the other hand is detailed without being boring, his characters are very interesting with many dimensions to them, and the story is a page turner as we want to see what happens next as well as comprehend what exactly is going on. 

i really enjoyed this one, took me back into binge reading, where i could not put the book down. this belongs in any bestseller list despite it not being one, it really is fantastic, and would make a great film.

there's a supernatural element to it but it's not overwhelming or dominating, it's always there waiting to make it's appearance but the story is about characters and their survival against the more mortal enemy of war and how to survive it.

okay well now it's time for a good crime novel next, something pulpy and with snappy noir dialogue from interesting characters we hate at first but kinda want them to have a happy ending, yeah, that kinda trip.