Letter from Hades

Sentinel Fanfiction
Title:	Letter from Hades
Author(s):	Demeter
Date(s):
Length:
Genre:	gen
Fandom:	The Sentinel
External Links:	Letter from Hades
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Letter from Hades is a gen Sentinel story by Demeter.

Reactions and Reviews

I normally shy away from Demeter’s stories. Not because they aren’t good – they are written very well. It’s the subject matter that I steer clear of. I’m not a big fan of psychologically wounded characters. Examples: "The Hunger" deals with a bulimic Blair and "The End" series has a depressed and suicidal Blair. Although it’s not an exclusive genre for her, it does make me cautious. I decided to read Letters from Hades because of the LMFA nomination this year. This story blew me away and I’ve been reccing it, although with very heavy warnings, ever since.

A former cult leader who focused on abducting, torturing and killing two decades before has escaped. The pattern of abduction has started again, and Jim and Blair have been assigned the case. Blair has personal reasons for not wanting to participate.

This has a fair amount of graphic description, but not overtly for the sake of it. Mostly, Demeter uses her considerable knowledge of psychology to unfold a story of how early child abuse leads to the development of Multiple Personality Disorder. It also shows how someone who has MPD can overcome their own personal hell with time and the right help. If you can bear to read the subject matter, I guarantee you will be blown away by her writing. It’s all the more astounding because she is German. She also does a very nice job of weaving in canon incidences, such as why Naomi mistrusts police and how Blair booked two dates for the same night, into this chilling tale. One last note on the style of writing. When I first started reading, I was a little annoyed that it wasn’t clear who was speaking or thinking some things. This is on purpose and will clear up as the story progresses – don’t let it put you off.

I can’t say that I will re-read this in a hurry, but I will definitely re-read it and it was well worth the first time.