Thursday, January 16, 2014

Don't Kill The Messenger / Joel Pierson


Reviewed by: Pete Barber

Genre: Paranormal Suspense

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: NO Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“Joel Pierson is the author of numerous award-winning plays for audio
and stage, including French Quarter, The Children's Zoo, The Vigil, Cow
Tipping
, and Mourning Lori. He also co-authored the novelization
of French Quarter. How he has time to write is anyone's guess, as he
spends his days as editorial manager at the world's largest print-on-demand
publishing company. Additionally, he is artistic director of
Mind's Ear Audio Productions, the producers of several popular audio
theatre titles and the official audio guided tour of Arlington National
Cemetery. If that weren't enough, he also writes for the newspaper and
a local lifestyles magazine in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana.
He stays grounded and relatively sane with the help of his wife (and
frequent co-author) Dana, and his three ridiculously loving dogs.”

Description:

For a number of years, Tristan has been receiving psychic messages accompanied by great physical pain. The pain continues until he follows the directions he’s given (under a time constraint), which lead him to a place of impending doom for some victim. His job is to warn the victim so they can save themselves if they choose.

Appraisal:

The premise is an interesting one, offering the author the chance to include diverse scenes and characters (because the ‘message’ can be about anyone). This kept the action fresh and the situations interesting. 

The writing is light and easy on the eye. The character, Tristan, is likeable, often amusing. The story focuses on one of the ‘victims’ he’s sent to save, Rebecca, who he finds working in a Florida strip club. She’s also a well-drawn character and the interaction between her and Tristan is well executed. The story basically follows their journey—physically, spiritually and romantically.

The end was a little disappointing. A tad too much ‘deus’ was needed to tie off the threads, and the true nature of Tristan’s psychic mission isn’t revealed. Future installments are planned, so that’s probably why.

All in all, a fun fast read.

Format/Typo Issues:

No typos. One sex scene—nicely done, not too graphic, but neither is it YA-suitable.


Rating: **** Four stars

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I thank you for the honest and very kind review, good sir. There are, indeed, six novels in Tristan's story, and I invite people to jump in. My author website is www.joelpierson.com.