T. L. Hines

The blurb attracted me to this book, although initially when I started reading it I was getting a distinct Kepnes 'You' vibe. This soon shifted though into something... well all together different.

Having finished the book I'm not entirely sure how to even describe the course of events beyond that it was certainly both interesting and an unexpected course of events that unfolded. Entirely and utterly unrealistic, but then realism isn't the goal of this book, so I can't fault it for that.

Overall, whilst it's a pretty quick read, it's a good story with an ending that whilst unexpected is entirely suited to the novel that comes before it.… (plus d'informations)

T. L. Hines debut novel, Waking Lazarus, has one of the most unusual plots that I have read this year. In the very first few pages 8 year old Jude Allman dies. It is a tragic accident. His father is there and after hesitating does pull him out of the icy water. He is definitely dead, no doubt about it. However, later at the hospital he is alive!

Jude dies not one more time but two more times and some time after the third death decides he does not want to be Jude Allman anymore. He shuts that part of his life off so completely he can’t remember most of it. Poor Jude is extremely paranoid about people ‘watching him’ and doesn’t even allow his house to have windows.

Ron Gress is born. Ron is a janitor at school in a small town in Montana. He has built a new life for himself and even has a son though he isn’t married. Rachel, the mother of his son has a strange connection to Ron but when his visions start she isn’t sure whether he is having epileptic seizures or if there is something deeper wrong. Can she really trust him? She prays for help because she is at a total loss as to how to help Ron and something deep inside her helps to relieve her doubts.

There have been young children abducted in the surrounding areas for the past year. Everyone is concerned. Chief Odum is on the look-out. He knows it’s only a matter of time before a child is abducted in Red Lodge. The Chief feels that there is someone close who is taking the children.

This is a fast paced novel that gives you glimpses into Jude Allman’s past while going full throttle forward as a ‘Hunter’ gets closer and closer to Red Lodge. Jude finally starts to come to terms with his previous deaths, his father and starts to remember his past. He is getting close to discovering who the evil person is and as that happens the danger around him mounts because know one could possibly guess who has been stealing and taking the lives of the children.

Hines’ does a wonderful job of building the suspense throughout the book while adding Jude’s spiritual re-awakening that is subtle but nonetheless there. Overall this is a great read and I can’t wait to read more by T.L. Hines.
… (plus d'informations)

I'm new to the genre of 'spiritual thrillers', and I'm still not entirely sure what to think about them, but this one was a far cry better than the last one I came across. The characters are believable and engaging, and the first half of the book especially is wonderfully creepy. Further into the book, things begin to get more predictable and didactic (which has, admittedly, been my problem with spiritual/christian fiction and thrillers in the past), so the book lost some of its momentum for me. As characters figure things out in this genre, the reader invariably figures out which characters are going to be fine, and the basics of what's going to happen, along with why...this might be unavoidable, but it does slow down the story and make it fairly predictable. If the characters had had more depth, they themselves might have compelled me more fully, but if there is one downfall to the book outside of predictability, it's that the characters could be far more interesting and complex than they are. Right now, all of their complexities are tied up in things which directly relate to the story, and with everything so perfectly neat and logical...well, it takes away what reality the story could otherwise hold.

On the whole, I loved the creepiness of the first half of the book, and even when I knew exactly what would happen (maybe 75 pages from the ending on page 314), I was still entertained enough to want to continue reading. And, really, it was well written--I just would have preferred a bit more depth to characters, and a bit less predictability. When you tie a supernatural thriller's plot to faith, however, my fear is that the end will always end up being rather predictable, along with climaxes and explanations. They may be surprises to the characters themselves, but no smart reader will be surprised by end results.… (plus d'informations)