Book Review: Waking Lazarus
My favorite genre ? supernatural suspense fiction. In his debut novel, T. L. Hines creates a story about Jude Allman, cheater of death. He has died three times and lived to tell about it.
I must admit one of the main reasons I selected this story was to see how the writer could weave a believable story from this plot. T. L. Hines achieves this and more. Miraculous events are described in this story and faith plays a key role.
The main character, Jude Allman, first dies at the age of 8 years old. He wakes and we are left with a great story, a believable story. We have heard many stories of near death experiences.
At 16, Jude dies again. He revives once more. We find this interesting and yet we can hardly believe it. Still, we read on and find we are believing this strange story and identifying with the main character as our imaginations run wild at the thought of how would this change our lives if it happened to us.
Finally, at age 24, Jude dies and is resurrected once again. These death experiences have propelled Jude to unintended fame that he is ill prepared to face resulting in a hermits existence with conspiratorial tendencies.
Jude receives an unexpected visitor reminding him that he cannot escape his history. He will have to face his past, his paranoia, and the lies he created to quash the throngs of people that have sought him out for his strange gift.
Children are missing from the surrounding communities of Red Lodge, Montana where Jude lives. He may be the only person who can stop the killer. When Jude?s son is taken, he is forced to examine his past and his broken relationships to harness his gift to save his son.
Likable, well rounded, engaging characters and smooth writing of flashback events intrigue you as you read the story. Interesting dialogue and strong, spiritual overtones make this a well balanced whodunit, keeping you guessing to the very end and beyond.
Still, evil is described in this story. Many of the sections of this book reveal the thought processes of a child killer. In that respect, this is not a book for the squimish.
This book is recommended for those who hunger for fiction that reveals God?s providence in the face of madness. I look forward to reading more from T. L. Hines.
Keiki Hendrix
Vessel Project Book Reviewer
http://vesselproject.wordpress.com
