Book Reviewed by Chris Phillips
Title of the review, where appropriate. Questions, answers and the trouble in between.
Black Mike presents a major conceptual change for beings that might be called angels and demons. The story follows Michael, a law enforcement agent with an unidentified agency seeking out terrorists and related organizations. He is also an orphan who grew up from a very sketchy background of family. Another active character is Sara who is a detective with the local police force. Then the third person heavily involved is Michael’s sister, Hannah. The plot revolves first around Michael truly discovering who and what his place in this universe is, Sara and her relationship with Michael and, at last, Hannah and where she is and how does she fit with the crimes and questions Michael and Sara have for her about her activities and motivations. Purchase Here.
The first scene is an undercover surveillance situation where Michael is trying to catch a terrorist who is trying to buy arms from illegal arms dealers. He finds the suspect and gives chase. Bright lights, supernatural beings and trips across the veil between worlds leave him completely blown away. Then Sara and he are introduced, and they begin a partnership that deepens as they each learn about these two-world existence.
These two worlds exist simultaneously and intertwined with each other. There are many gifts and magic as well as powers and principals in one or the other world. This is the whole point of the plot. To all questions there are answers, and the answers are big and little. Finally, when all is said and done the questions are more important than the real actions taken, and the answers all lead to more questions as the tale spins on.
In general, the plot is convoluted and complex in the extreme. The reader is only revealed answers as they are discovered by the characters in the telling of the tale. And, although the characters are well-developed and very realistic, their interconnections keep changing and morphing into something much more as the tale spins onward.
There is both depth and development of the characters and the plot, with many twists and turns. The length of the book is very much required to cover all the convolutions, so there is little frivolous content even though it sometimes appears differently. The twists and turns follow the questions, the answers and the revelations that each of the characters discovers.
The original concepts and the way that the battles between good and evil develop are frustrating not only for the characters within the storyline, but for the reader as well, until suddenly another epiphany arises opening understanding and making for a very satisfying means of story development.
Although Black Mike has some very original ideas and some different constructs to develop the plot, he does so with a sensitivity to the “people” involved.
This is highly recommended for those who like supernatural plots, mysteries, or battles between good and evil. This is a quality novel, good for any reader with the maturity to deal with life and death as well as those many gray areas in living in the real world.
The reviewer recommends this book. This is a great beginning for the first read by this author and the beginning of a good series here.