CATALYST PRESS
BITTER PILL
ISBN 978-1946395-2-07 | trade paper | $16.00 | publication date Jun 2020
The final chapter in Peter Church’s dark web trilogy
Amid rumors of bartenders paid to spike drinks and then deliver drugged college women to paying, eager patrons, University of Cape Town (UCT) authorities move quickly to limit the damage—but the police don’t want to believe there is a problem.
A world away in Seattle, Carlos De Palma, the shadowy operator behind Dark Video, is plotting his survival strategy in the ever-changing Internet landscape. With his wealthy clientele clamoring for heightened thrills, Carlos begins tapping into a new service that blurs the boundaries between the real and virtual worlds. Meanwhile, UCT student Robbie is sent into a sinister underground world where no price is too high to pay to deliver every fantasy—no matter how twisted.
Bitter Pill, part of Church’s dark web trilogy, is a gripping thriller that sweeps through the intoxicating haunts of Cape Town’s nightlife to explode in an adrenaline-laced sprint through the violent landscape of stalking, sexual deviation, and murder.
REVIEWS
“Church expertly juggles the multiple story lines all the way to the sordid, frantic maelstrom of the denouement.” —Publishers Weekly
“The thriller accelerates to a climax where the strands come together in a way that’s satisfyingly natural, but still unexpected. Bitter Pill has a strong plot that keeps the pages turning, but it’s the insightful studies of evil that make the book memorable.” —New York Journal of Books
“Bitter Pill is a book built for speed. The chapters are short and the events fast paced. Church has a great handle on tension and escalation, on dialogue, the story and its protagonists. These pull together and keep you engaged. […] an enjoyable read and will surely have readers baying for more.” —LitNet
“Right until the end readers will find it hard to pin down who is the greater villain, leaving them with a pertinent question — has human depravity usurped the digital space or is it the other way around? Bitter Pill leads to uncomfortable sedation, and induces gut wrenching nausea at the perverted fantasies. It is definitely not offering a cure, rather giving a taste of bitter reality where proxy servers run and ruin lives. It is a gripping novel which remarkably holds readers’ attention with its taut narrative and escalating pace.” — The Mantle
“This story of crime gangs, intrigues and tensions makes you read to the end!”— Sarie Magazine (South Africa)
“A fast-paced and gripping thriller—expect several twists along the way.” —Cosmopolitan (South Africa)
“Church is a master storyteller.” —The Citizen
“You’ll want to read it in one sitting.” —Cape Times
Peter Church is a South African fiction novelist renowned for the dark and racy nature of his writing. His debut novel, Dark Video, was published by Random House in South Africa and Australia in 2008, and delved into a sordid world of online video sharing. This was followed up in 2011 with Bitter Pill, a thriller dealing with the scourge of drink spiking on the local club scene. Bitter Pill was long listed for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize in the same year. Church lives in Cape Town with his wife, the artist Paula Church, and three children. He is a member of SA’s PEN association of writers and his short stories have been published in a number of local anthologies. Learn more about Peter at his website and follow him on Facebook.
AUTHOR PETER CHURCH
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