The Best People In The World!

Monday, September 24, 2012

The Telling


Some legends have no real basis. They are simply made up stories from an over active imagination. The stuff designed to frighten people or told by campfires. Then there are the legends that are so horrifying and true, you only wish they were made up stories.

In the suspense thriller, The Telling by Mike Duran, the lives of four unique characters are about to intersect at the crossroads of pure evil awakening from a long slumber deep within the hills of Endurance, a small isolated town just north of Death Valley off of Interstate 395. Only some have heard of the legend of the Madness of Endurance, a mass suicide of the residents of a small town many years ago that seems to be creeping it's way into the residents of a small convalescent home, Marvale Manor. It seems like one by one, the elderly are just not themselves any more and spend their nights walking the grounds and during the day, they are catatonic. When Annie Lane, begins to notice, she calls her granddaughter, Tamra for help. Like most, they simply believe this is just one of those life cycles all senior citizens go through, but one by one, the mumblings of a strange language and writings on the walls of those that seem to be changing, soon convince Tamra, all is not right in Marvale Manor.

Zeph Walker now lives his life in seclusion, partly because of a horrible scar that has disfigured his face and partly because of the unwanted attention he gets when people learn who he is and what he gift is. He refers to it as the "Telling," a gift he believes that was given to him from God, to become a modern day prophet. He can sometimes see into the lives of the people he comes into contact with, offer a word of advice from God, heal and even curse others with death as though God has spoken through him. But after spending a life being used by others, Zeph has resolved to simply operate a bookstore, called the Book Swap in return for some peace and quite on the outskirts of town.

Now as Tamra has been called to locate a book for her grandmother, she is told the only place she will find this, is at the Book Swap, if she can locate it. When she meets Zeph and reveals the book she is searching for, Zeph knows there is more to this than simply providing her with what she asks. He was told many years earlier that when the time is right, someone will come to him asking for this book, but until such a time, he is to keep it hidden. Only Zeph isn't ready for this. He isn't ready to face his past and contend with using his gift again. But when the shadows in his house, suddenly begin to speak and move, Zeph knows that evil has been set loose and it's only up to him to stop it.

I received The Telling by Mike Duran compliments of Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Tours for my honest review. When I saw the opportunity to review this one and read the back cover, I knew it would be one I had to read. Being a huge lover of Christian Suspense Thrillers, I dove into this one immediately when it arrived and literally inhaled it as quickly as I could turn the pages. Mike does an amazing job at keeping things hidden until the very end without giving too much away and I found myself second guessing what would happen at the end. By the time I was finished, I was left wanting much more than I got and felt that with such a build up through most of the book, the way it ended, was a bit confusing. I found myself going back to re-read the final chapter to see if I had missed something or had gotten a few pages stuck to one another. I felt that the author could have spent a bit more time with the climatic ending then he did, but perhaps that is just my perception in wanting so much more. I like more of a profound prophetic ending then the way it did but overall the book had a great premise. I would rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars, just based on simply how it ended not how it was written overall.

For more information on The Telling, Mike Duran and where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

The Telling by Mike Duran

You can purchase The Telling by clicking here. 

You can also read more reviews from the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Tour by clicking below:

http://tdtwr.wordpress.com"> Jim Armstrong

http://noahsreads.blogspot.com/"> Noah Arsenault
http://www.AdventuresInFiction.blogspot.com/"> Keanan Brand
http://rbclibrary.wordpress.com/"> Beckie Burnham
http://kittycrochettwo.blogspot.com"> Brenda Castro
http://jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.com/"> Jeff Chapman
http://www.theiemommy.com/"> Christine
http://tweezlereads.blogspot.com/"> Theresa Dunlap
http://vicsmediaroom.wordpress.com/"> Victor Gentile
http://www.thehahnhuntinglodge.com/"> Nikole Hahn
http://www.brucehennigan.com/"> Bruce Hennigan
http://www.spoiledfortheordinary.blogspot.com/"> Jason Joyner
http://www.molcotw.blogspot.com/"> Julie
http://carolkeen.blogspot.com/"> Carol Keen
http://emileightherebuilder.blogspot.com/"> Emileigh Latham
http://www.bloomingwithbooks.blogspot.com/"> Meagan @ Blooming with Books
http://rebeccaluellamiller.wordpress.com/"> Rebecca LuElla Miller
http://annamittower.blogspot.com//"> Anna Mittower
http://reviewsfromtheheart.blogspot.com/"> Kathleen Smith
http://www.mindsinger.com/"> Donna Swanson
http://jessicathomasink.com/blog/"> Jessica Thomas
http://christiansf.blogspot.com/"> Steve Trower
http://www.fantasyandfaith.com"> Dona Watson
http://www.shanewerlinger.com/"> Shane Werlinger
http://christian-fantasy-book-reviews.com/blog/"> Phyllis Wheeler

You can find Mike Duran on Facebook as well by clicking here.


5 comments:

  1. You said Mike does an amazing job at keeping things hidden until the very end without giving too much away I agree, Kat. I think that's one of his strengths as a writer. We have enough information to keep guessing and wondering and reading to see if we're right. ;-)

    Becky

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good review. I forgot to opt in but will post my review Wednesday night. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

    The ending puzzled me somewhat because I felt like Zeph was watching while the others around him were doing the real work...so I was left wondering why the others didn't get more credit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There at the end, I got the same impression: we were given the theatrical release of the movie, rather than the more complete version of the director's cut.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Do you think the way it ended that we should be expecting another book - like the start of a series?

    ReplyDelete

Please share with me your comments. I love to know what touched you about this post or how it has blessed you in any way.