Reviewed by Symon: 8.5 out of 10.

Rob Shields has just lost his wife and son. Battling depression, denial, and an irrational fear of darkness, Rob travels to the small town of Mayfield, MD to check out a house he has inherited from his great aunt Wilda, a woman he has never even met. There in Mayfield strange things begin to happen that lead Rob to believe his son, Jimmy, is not really dead. After a restless night and eerie dream, Rob is convinced the answer to the mystery surrounding Jimmy’s disappearance and alleged death is to be found in a village called Darlington, a town found on no map.

Teaming up with a quirky local waitress who insists she has been there, Shields begins his quest to find the truth about the town—and his son. In Darlington, Rob and Juli come face to face with the town’s secret, creatures called Darklings inhabit the night and instill paralyzing fear in Darlington’s citizens. Their search for Jimmy leads them into the woods surrounding Darlington where, once in, there seems to be no way out.

I sat down on the sofa this afternoon and read the last half of the book in a couple of hours – I didn’t even get distracted by the kids, the TV, or my boisterous parrot, which can only mean one thing: Darlington Woods is good…. real good.

This is Mike Dellosso’s third published novel and his best yet.  If you want to get an idea of the tone of this book, think ‘I am Legend’ meets ‘The Gremlins’ in a creepy forest.

Dellosso has a very unique style of weaving faith themes through his books – not preachy, clinched or familiar, but still punchy and profound.  Darlington Woods’ grand theme is about facing and overcoming fear and it achieves it’s message on a number of levels.  Not an obvious allegory, but the more I think about it  - a very powerful, and personal one.

Darling Woods would have earned Hall Of Fame status if it was longer, character development was deeper, and it was: ‘I Am Legend’ meets ‘Blair Witch’.

In conclusion Darlington Woods is fast and furious, never boring, original, and for once I didn’t see the twist coming.  Very clever Mike!  (I’m looking forward with intense anticipation to your next villain .)

Light The Darkness

Reviewed by Rachel: 8.5 out of 10.

For those of you who have read The Hunted by Mike Delosso, this book is very similar to it. I say that and not the other way around because I read The Oath second. However, I liked and disliked things about both books and I would happily read both again and don’t fancy one over the other.

This must be one of the very few novels I have ever read that actually scared me. Even though I read it during the day, I was still spooked by the smallest of sounds and had to keep looking around the house to make sure I was alone! I don’t think it was the ‘fantasy’ part of the novel so much as simply realising what atrocities that evil can commit through human beings when allowed. When the mind dwells on that instead of the saving power of Jesus, one cannot help but feel helpless and lost. However, Peretti certainly allows his readers to believe that things will certainly turn out better than they seem.

Superbly written and delicately crafted as have been the tradition of all the Peretti books that I have read so far.  He draws his readers in piece by twist-turning piece to gradually end up with the finished puzzle being not quite what you expected. A fantastic writer and certainly right up there with the best authors I have come across.

As you journey with the main character of the story, you find yourself feeling sorry for him when he gets hurt, cheering him on when he does the right thing and really drawn in to the story as if you were part of it. The way Peretti makes the characters come alive is quite spectacular and realistic.

All in all, a great read (certainly not at night though) and I would highly recommend it. If you like a bit of fantasy, drama, action, and spiritual themes all combined into one, then this book is for you!

Click here to visit www.frankperetti.com

Reviewed by Symon: 8 out of 10.

A Ship Possessed is Book 1 in the  J. D. Stanton Mystery series (trilogy) – A series in which a retired navy captain/historian (Stanton) is called upon to investigate paranormal occurrences relating to the armed forces.

Military + Paranormal + Christian worldview = Definitely my kind of series.

The Back Cover blurb from A Ship Possessed follows.

The USS Triggerfish–an American World War II submarine–has come home over fifty years after she was presumed lost in the Atlantic. Now her dark gray hulk lies embedded in the sand of a San Diego beach, her conning tower barely above the breaking surf. The submarine is in the wrong ocean, her crew is missing . . . And her half-century absence is a mystery that’s about to deepen. For the Triggerfish has returned, but she has not returned alone. Something is inside her — something unexpected and terrible. To J. D. Stanton, retired Navy captain and historian, falls the task of solving the mystery surrounding a ship possessed. What he is about to encounter will challenge his training, his wits, and his faith. Complicating his mission is a ruthless madman bent on obtaining a secret artifact stolen from the highest levels of the Nazi regime. And poised in the middle is a young woman, a lieutenant who must contend with invisible forces she never knew existed. A Ship Possessed is a story of faith, courage, and determination in the face of unexpected and unknown evil.

This book is a cleverly crafted mystery, alternating between 2 stories separated by 5 decades:  The happenings on a submarine during world war 2, and the happenings when the same sub suddenly appears 50+ years later.  The two stories eventually intersect, and all is revealed (as would be expected in a mystery novel), in the final chapters.

I cannot say much more than what’s on the back cover without spoiling the story, but suffice to say – this is a genuine ghost story, not the disappointing rational-explanation-man-in-ghost-costume-scooby-doo plot.

Gansky has an amazing knack for developing characters and atmosphere which are totally believable.  Some books, inbetween sittings, stay with you (in your mind) – and this story was definitely one of those.  It also single-handedly rekindled my childhood interest in submarines, resulting in another viewing of the classic Das Boot ).

A Ship Possessed is an intense read and has some genuinely unsettling/scary moments (depending on the readers’ imagination), and Gansky’s take on ghosts and other paranormal entities is thought-provoking to say the least.

Not an epic, nor classic, but a very enjoyable/engaging read nevertheless – and I’m looking forward to reading the other 2 books in the series (which are currently sitting snug on my bookshelf).

Reviewed by Symon: 8 out of 10.

A Texas serial killer called BoneMan is on the loose, choosing young girls as his prey, His signature: myriad broken bones that torture and kill – but never puncture. Military intelligence officer Ryan Evans is married to his work; so much so that his wife and daughter have written him out of their lives. Sent to Fallujah and captured by insurgents, he is asked to kill children not unlike his own. The method: a meticulous, excruciating death by broken bones that his captor has forced him to learn.

This would have to be the most anticipated book I have read. Thanks to fellow flannel friend Jon Dylan (who bought it while on hol in the US) I was able to read it before it’s release here in NZ.

Returning home after the ordeal, a new crisis awaits. A serial killer is on the loose, and his method of killing is the same. Ryan becomes a prime suspect, which isn’t even the worst of his problems: Ryan’s daughter is BoneMan’s latest desire.

Did the book live up to the anticipation? Close but… no. I’ll begin with the negatives.

• The book starts off well enough with a heart-pounding scene reminiscent of the feelings conjured by Dekker’s opening in Saint. Disappointingly the excitement stops abruptly and unfortunately remains in ‘PARK’ for approximately half the book. Not the Dekker writing I know and love.
• Very fortunately, the last half of the book is worth the slow meander through the first-half but once again the story comes to an abrupt end. I was left with an “is that it?” feeling.
• Dekker has begun to use some language which I question. I usually enjoy his pushing-the-envelope-of-Christian-fiction stance but I don’t think God’s name is a gray area.

Now to the story and redeeming qualities…

• Dekker is a genius. I really don’t know how he manages to conjure up such amazing stories with such amazing spiritual parallels at least twice a year. The only air-tight explanation in three words: gift from God. The story behind this story (the Father’s love) and how the two entwine is really quite incredible.
• BoneMan’s Daughters makes you really (and I mean really) appreciate your children. The video clip below makes you understand why the protagonist’s anguish seems so real.
• The story’s twists are very unpredictable (in the second half anyway), and at times I wondered just how far Dekker was going to take certain situations. I have never, and will never see any of the infamous ‘Saw’ movies, but scenes in this book reminded me of the trailers.

Not one of my favourite Dekker novels but original, fresh, and well worth the read, although not recommended for anyone under 16, anyone who is sensitive or squeamish (Kristy), or anyone who isn’t too fond of Dekker’s writing (Les).

Reviewed by Stephen: 8 out of 10.

Shane Johnson has an imagination worthy of any fiction writer. He jumps from fantasy and sci-fi to historical fiction with ease.

Chayatocha (pronounced “kie-ah-toe-ka”) by Shane Johnson, follows the tale of a wagon train bound for the Oregon Territory in the mid 1800s. Already struggling with the hardships of the trail, the group of pioneer families make a fateful decision when they turn away from a supposed Indian massacre and head for an uncharted pass through the mountains. There they discover something far more deadly than renegade Indians.

The first thing I was aware of, even as little as one paragraph into this book, was that Shane Johnson sure knows how to write. This carried on throughout the whole book, which was just as eloquently written as the first parts that initially grabbed me. This immediately gave Shane Johnson a headstart to a good reception of his work. The storyline itself was not particularly astounding, but the way it was written made it feel like it was.

In a horror story, the majority of the tension always comes from the unknown. As things begin to get more familiar, the tension ebbs. If a writer is not aware of this, they can completely ruin an otherwise great story by revealing the unknown factors that are keeping the excitement much too quickly. In Chayatocha, Johnson had to remove some of the mystery early on in order to tell the rest of the story. He does this in much of the latter part of the novel where he reveals Chayatocha’s origin and brings Daniel Paradine’s own spiritual journey to a climax. It almost worked, but I thought that the whole middle part of the book stretched out too long and I lost a lot of the tension that built so strongly in the first few chapters. It didn’t ruin the story, but definitely slowed it down.

The only other thing that brought the book down for me was the Chayatocha constantly referred to itself in the plural with words like “we”, “us” and “our”. It had to be done for various reasons which I won’t give away, but all I kept thinking of was Smeagol and his alter-ego, Gollum, whenever I read it! “It’s oursssssssssss, precious.”

*Ahem* Still, it was a remarkable story with a refreshingly different and remarkably interesting setting. So all things consider I would still say “highly recommended”.

Reviewed by Stephen: 9 out of 10.

Welcome to my house. These are the house rules:
1. God came to my house and I killed him.
2. I will anyone who comes to my house like I killed God.
3. Give me a dead body and I might let Rule #2 slide.
You have until dawn.

If you’ve read a few ‘Christian’ books in your time, then when you see the dual authorship of House by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker, you’ll be sure to nerd out. These two are the pioneers of good wholesome supernatural thrillers.

I went into House with around, let’s see, three different view points from three different parties. One, it was ‘psycho’. Dekker is psycho, Peretti is psycho, join them together and you get House: Psycho, psycho, psycho. The second view point was that it was simply great. The third viewpoint was that it was ridiculously scary and you should never read it at night. Well then!

Personally I thought that House was an absolute genius of a book, and despite people saying they couldn’t tell which author was writing which parts, I could wage a few good guesses as to who wrote what. The co-authorship worked really well, and I appreciated the Peretti influences and new flare he added to Dekker’s somewhat familiar style.

House brings to the surface many relevant issues, for example, how terribly dangerous it is to get involved with anything to do with the demonic realm. The book (but moreso the movie) has been put under heavy criticism for being too dark, and it is quite simply a very dark book. But in order to come to grips with just how desperately we need the remedy of salvation, we must first see how desperately lost we are without it. You cannot appreciate the water without first walking through the desert, almost dying of thirst.

In my opinion, the only downfall that kept me from giving this book a five star rating was there were a few things scattered here and there that felt a little bit ‘borrowed’ from Peretti’s and Dekker’s other works. I did however like the ending very much. There was a terrific twist in there that took me mostly by surprise.

One of my favourite quotes from the book would have to be this one:

“Most people are quite dense. They like little white houses with big stained-glassed windows and prefer to do their killing with looks and words behind one another’s backs. Welcome to my house. No secrets allowed. Here we all do our killing with guns and axes and knives. It’s more bloody than what most people are accustomed to, yes, but it’s far less brutal.”

Click here to visit teddekker.com
Click here to visit frankperetti.com

Reviewed by Symon: 10 out of 10.

Adam is one of Ted Dekker’s most compelling works to date, and also the most disturbing. If it were to be compared to a movie, The Exorcist would be the closest.

About Adam, Dekker states…

“This is one of the only books I’ve ever written, where, honestly, I was so disturbed by what I discovered that I had trouble going to sleep at night.”

“… by the way, I’m sleeping with the lights on as I’m reading this book. And when that doesn’t work, I’m praying harder.”>