Idol Worship by Christopher Varaste

It’s shock at first sight when a young paparazzo almost kills a popular musician during a late-night chase.

Shay Duprés gives tabloid photographers a run for their money, stalking celebrities for pictures. Her latest target is Tristan Slaughter, a charismatic singer with the power to hypnotize his audience with music. When Tristan takes a liking to Shay, her response is to bolt and run due to a carefully guarded secret—she can’t express emotion. Unbeknownst to Shay, there’s an even bigger skeleton hanging in Tristan’s closet—his fame is the result of the blackest of magic. A magic dating back to his war duty in Iraq.

Erotic encounters, strange disappearances, and the depraved behavior of obsessed fans plunge Shay further down a twisted rabbit hole. As her reality collides with Tristan’s fantasy world, Shay discovers the horrific aftereffects of listening to his songs—and the dangerous pact he’s made for his superstar status. The past comes back to haunt Tristan when Shay accidentally summons the evil responsible for his music. An evil that wants her dead as she finally lets down her guard and succumbs to love.

A cautionary fable rich with plot twists and chilling surprises, Idol Worship mixes elements of modern supernatural fiction with classic Gothic romance set adrift in a quicksand of Shakespearean tragedy. The Hollywood sign looms large over humanity’s restless food chain as characters struggle to survive in a City of Angels lorded over by a demonic new host. Poignant and macabre, irreverent and funny, the tale exposes the steep price paid for placing ambition and success above all.