Review: The Faceless One (The Faceless One #1), by Mark Onspaugh

Title: The Faceless One (The Faceless One #1)

Author: Mark Onspaugh

Format: E-galley

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "In 1948, when he was just a boy, Jimmy Kalmaku trained with his uncle to be the shaman of his Tlingit village in Alaska. There he learned the old legends, the old myths, the old secrets. Chief among them was that of a mask locked in a prison of ice, and of the faceless god imprisoned within: a cruel and vengeful god called T'Nathluk, dedicated to the infliction of pain and suffering.

Now all but forgotten in a Seattle retirement home, Jimmy finds his life turned upside down. For when an unwitting archaeologist pries the mask free of its icy tomb, he frees T’Nathluk as well. Stuck in spirit form, the Faceless One seeks a human to serve as a portal through which he can enter our reality. The Faceless One can control—and mercilessly torture—anyone who touches the mask, which means there is no shortage of slaves to ferry it across the country to its chosen host.

Yet the Faceless One has foes as well: Stan Roberts, a tough New York cop whose pursuit of justice will lead him into a dark abyss of the soul; Steven, Liz, and Bobby, the family of the doomed archaeologist; and Jimmy Kalmaku, who must at last become the shaman of his boyhood dreams." 

My Opinion: The Faceless One is an ancient evil, a "cruel and vengeful god called T-Nathluk." The shamans of the Tlingit tribe in Alaska have always watched over this evil and made sure it stayed buried and encased in ice. Unfortunately, there are no more shamans in the village and a couple of anthropologists have unearthed the mask that imprisoned this evil god, and all hell is about to be unleashed on the world, unless a group of strangers can work together to reimprison it.

I thought this book was a great horror story, written by a new name in the world of horror, Mark Onspaugh. This was a great debut novel that introduced a unique evil and a group of very likeable characters, with a delicious amount of sit on the edge of your seat possession and torture thrown in for good measure. Because this book was well written, it was a really quick read, with good even pacing that moved along quite nicely. Just when I thought I knew where the story was going, it would take a turn and go off in a whole new direction, and the ending was a nice twist.

In summary, I enjoyed this book very much and look forward to reading the second book in the series.

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: Point Last Seen (Last Seen in Gothic #1), by Christina Dodd

 

Title: Point Last Seen (Last Seen in Gothic #1)

Author: Christina Dodd

Format: e-book

Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "LIFE LAST SEEN

When you’ve already died, there should be nothing left to fear… When Adam Ramsdell pulls Elle’s half-frozen body from the surf on a lonely California beach, she has no memory of what her full name is and how she got those bruises ringing her throat.

GIRL LAST SEEN

Elle finds refuge in Adam’s home on the edge of Gothic, a remote village located between the steep lonely mountains and the raging Pacific Ocean. As flashes of her memory return, Elle faces a terrible truth—buried in her mind lurks a secret so dark it could get her killed.

POINT LAST SEEN

Everyone in Gothic seems to hide a dark past. Even Adam knows more than he will admit. Until Elle can unravel the truth, she doesn’t know who to trust, when to run and who else might be hurt when the killer who stalks her nightmares appears to finish what he started…"

My Opinion: Ok, with that synopsis, who can really resist this book? Not me, and I'm so glad I didn't try! Disclaimer: I'm a huge Christina Dodd fan. I was before I read this, and I definitely still am. This book, filled with lost souls, was also a mystery, a thriller, and a suspense filled ride. I absolutely love the town of Gothic and look forward to reading more about it and its inhabitants in the books that follow this one.

Adam leads a self imposed solitary existence, and he has no plans to change that, until he finds a dead body on the beach near his home. Enter Elle. After bringing her back to life, and realizing that she has no memory of who she is or how she got in the water, and after noticing that she is covered in bruises, he takes her home with him and promises her a safe place to stay until she is well enough to leave. That proves easier said than done when he starts developing feelings for her. The search for Elle's identity and the mystery of her death leads to violence not just for Adam and Elle, but for other residents of Gothic. It turns out Adam isn't the only one with a checkered past in the town.

I loved this book so much in part because I loved Adam and Elle so much. They were great characters with great chemistry. The other residents of Gothic were pretty great, too, and everyone's back story was detailed, which made it easy to get invested in them. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this book series goes.

The plot was interesting and the writing was superb, which made this a quick read for me. The pacing was also on point.

In summary, I highly recommend this book to readers looking for a good mystery to sink their teeth into. 

5/5 stars.

I received a copy of this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: If We Survive, by Andrew Klavan

Title: If We Survive
Author: Andrew Klavan
Format: ebook
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "They came on a mission of mercy, but now they re in a fight for their lives.

High schooler Will Peterson and three friends journeyed to Central America to help rebuild a school. In a poor, secluded mountain village, they won the hearts of the local people with their energy and kindness.

But in one sudden moment, everything went horribly wrong. A revolution swept the country. Now, guns and terror are everywhere and Americans are being targeted as the first to die.

Will and his friends have got to get out fast. But streets full of killers . . . hills patrolled by armies . . . and a jungle rife with danger stand between them and the border. Their one hope of escape lies with a veteran warrior who has lost his faith and may betray them at any moment. Their one dream is to reach freedom and safety and home.

If they can just survive."

My Opinion: In this YA book we find Will Peterson and three other young volunteers who go to Central America with their church group to help rebuild the wall of a one room schoolhouse for the members of a small,very poor village. Their group includes the four kids and their pastor. Everything goes fine until the day they are supposed to leave, when rebels take over the village and hold the group captive. Their only hope lies with the pilot who was supposed to fly them out, an ex-Marine by the name of Palmer Dunn, but will he help them or opt to save himself instead? 

I will say upfront that I knew this was a Christian book when I requested it so I was expecting, and looking forward to, the religious aspect of it. I thought the author did very well at portraying the Christian teens realistically: i.e. they were as scared as anyone would be in their position, and although they did pray, they didn't count on just that to get them out of their predicament. The book was more about how they had to rely on each other and on their own inner strength to find a way to get out of Central America alive. 

I liked Will a lot, and I found myself admiring Meredith's faith and strength and wishing I could be a little bit more like her myself. Nikki got on my last nerve, but I enjoyed watching her grow and come into her own over the course of the book. Jim annoyed the heck out of me, too, but that was because of his naive political views and his inability to see what was right in front of his face. He also grew quite a bit as he was forced to face the truth and realize that one of his idols wasn't who he thought he was at all. I would have to say that Palmer was my favorite character because he had the most going on under the surface which made him a lot of fun to read about and explore.

This book was definitely action packed; things moved very quickly throughout the whole story, which made it a very quick and easy read. I had a hard time putting it down at all because something was always going on! The characters grew immensely from start to finish, which is always something that I look for when reading a book that I know I'm going to review. 

In essence, I loved this book because of both the never ending action and the ever evolving and growing characters, and I highly recommend it to fans of Christian YA fiction. I am giving it 5 glowing stars :D

I received a copy of this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Review: The 13th Tribe (Immortal Files #1), by Robert Liparulo

Title: The 13th Tribe (Immortal Files #1)
Author: Robert Liparulo
Format: eGalley
Source: NetGalley

From Goodreads: "Immortals from the time of Moses roam the earth on a quest for justice . . . and heaven.

One man stands in their way.

In 1476 BC, the Israelites turned their backs on the One True God by worshipping a golden calf. For their transgression, forty were cursed to walk the earth forever. Banished from their people, they formed their own tribe, The 13th Tribe.

Now, three and a half millennia later, the remnant of this Tribe continues to seek redemption through vigilante justice-goaded by dark forces in the spiritual realm. They are planning a bold strike modeled on the Israelites' conquest of Canaan: the complete destruction of a major city-only now, they possess the horrific technology of modern weapons to ensure their success.

Jagger Baird is a husband and father…and security guard of an archaeological dig at the base of Mount Siani. Jagger suddenly finds himself in a fight for the future as he discovers the Tribe's plans. But towin this fight, he must overcome his own struggles with faith and self-worth - as well as his anger at God for a past tragedy.

This taut thriller by acclaimed novelist Robert Liparulo fuses tomorrow's technology with faith and non-stop action for a supernatural suspense novel unlike any other."

My Opinion: This book was a blend of a lot of the things that I love to read about: archaeology, fantasy, religion and thriller. The premise was awesome: How did God punish the people who were made to wander the desert and not enter the Promised Land after growing impatient with God when Moses went up the mountain to receive the ten commandments? Was that it, or was there more? What if he made them immortal so they could never enter heaven and be by his side? How would they react? What would they do? Robert Liparulo took this premise and ran with it!

Of the 40 immortals, only a handful remain together thousands of years later, and are known as The Tribe. They believe that after they have killed enough sinners, they will have earned the right to die and ascend to heaven. But therein lies the theological conundrum: The Bible clearly states in the New Testament that grace is freely given and freely received, and that you just have to accept it to be assured of your place in heaven. It goes on to say that you cannot earn your way through deeds, which is what The Tribe is trying to do. But what other choice do they have? Praying for forgiveness hasn't gotten them anywhere, so they believe this is the only other option for them. But what happens if that goes too far and the innocent start to suffer as well? Being a Christian, I absolutely loved all of the theological discussions in this book! For every question it posed, it gave a viewpoint for both sides of the argument, and only when you see both sides do you begin to understand it. 

I loved the characters in the book, too. Jagger, with his Robohand and his anger towards God after his best friend and his family were killed when they were hit by a drunk driver. Beth, whose trust in God never wavers, whose love and devotion to Jagger is the stuff that romances are made of. Tyler, their precocious son, who is teaching Jagger what it means to forgive God and find your way back into His grace. Owen, the doctor who they befriend after tragedy strikes, but who has a pretty big secret of his own. And then there's The Tribe, all of whom we get to know through the course of the book, who truly believe in what they are doing.  

This book has everything I mentioned before, and more! And don't even get me started on the awesome twist at the end of the book! I can definitely say that I will be reading the rest of the books in the Immortal Files series, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly to others who love a good theological discussion, with action, romance, danger, and yes, immortality all thrown in as well. :D