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Thursday 23 March 2017

Book Review: The Occupied by Craig Parshall

The Blurb
From New York Times bestselling author Craig Parshall comes a riveting story of supernatural suspense.

As a youth, Trevor Black unleashed spiritual forces he couldn’t comprehend. Years later, Trevor is a high-flying criminal defense lawyer in New York City, with a six-figure Aston Martin and a trophy wife. But in an extraordinary turn of events, he receives a burdensome gift: the ability to perceive the invisible. And the dark forces he now sees are all gunning for him.

When one of Trevor’s hometown friends is murdered, the MO is eerily similar to a shocking trail of murders that have already crossed the lawyer’s path. So Trevor must return home to find the killer. . . and face not only his own personal demons, but supernatural ones as well.
My Review
Trevor Black is a highflying criminal defence lawyer in New York. And he gets to defend people who have committed some heinous acts.

Through a series of circumstances Black's life is turned upside down. He loses his job, his marriage and his NYC lifestyle. And then he finds God.

Told in first person across three sections: The Flesh, The World and The Devil, we see Black's life from when he was a kid through to his high-flying days and finally to being chased by evil which takes him back to where it all began: his home town. Evil chases Black in the form of a series of copycat murders that lead him from NYC to his hometown and draw him into a web of small town politics and satanic rituals.

This is a classic detective story but with a supernatural add-on. Black along the way develops the gift of seeing the demonic in people. Parshall does an excellent job revealing the thin veil between the natural and supernatural worlds. And he has a vivid imagination in creating some fabulously scary demonic creatures.

I liked Trevor Black and there's good development in his character through this story. It's a challenge for an author to write in first person as the entire story is told from the eyes of the one person. But Parshall does this really well and it adds to the feel of it being a classic detective story, which are often shown from the eyes of the detective.

Black develops a romantic interest that adds to the story and the lady in question Ashley is another excellent well rounded character who struggles with anxiety. I hope we see more of Ashley in the next story.

This is the first Parshall novel I've read and I'm excited about reading the second book in the series.




Ian Acheson is an author and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of speculative fiction, Angelguard, is available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Angelguard was recognised with the 2014 Selah Award for Speculative Fiction.You can find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter

2 comments:

  1. Hi Ian,
    This sounds like an intriguing, fast-moving plot. I'll put it on my TBR list. Thanks for the review.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for popping by, Paula. The Occupied is a good addition to the CBA market.

    ReplyDelete

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