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Exogenesis
When a respectable doctor mysteriously dies and his death is subsequently ruled a homicide, it sends shock-waves through the English village of Helmsley. As the investigation unfolds, few clues are found and only the local priest, Father Montgomery, and the doctor's daughter, Siobhan, seem at all affected by the man's passing. To make matters worse, the newspaper starts writing scandalous stories about the murder and to top it all off, the body, not yet cold in the ground, is stolen from its coffin without a trace.
When Siobhan starts suffering from terrifying, prophetic dreams and a collection of Satanic books are found in the doctor's closet, the investigation takes a paranormal turn and demonic forces they never knew existed come into play. As Siobhan tries to familiarize herself with this unknown world, she is thrown off-balance by two completely different men - both of whom strangers from out of town. But can she trust her feelings? Can she trust them? Lies will unravel and secrets are revealed as a showdown with her father's killer creeps closer.
Just when she thinks nothing can surprise her anymore, she is granted a visit from Satan himself (he prefers to be called Lucifer, which has a nicer ring to it), who is not at all as she imagined and makes her a surprising offer. Angels, demons and humans face off in this paranormal fantasy series that proves politics exist not only on Earth. 'Exogenesis' only shows the tip of the ice-berg. War is coming. An apocalyptic celestial war that will forever change the face of the Earth.
When Siobhan starts suffering from terrifying, prophetic dreams and a collection of Satanic books are found in the doctor's closet, the investigation takes a paranormal turn and demonic forces they never knew existed come into play. As Siobhan tries to familiarize herself with this unknown world, she is thrown off-balance by two completely different men - both of whom strangers from out of town. But can she trust her feelings? Can she trust them? Lies will unravel and secrets are revealed as a showdown with her father's killer creeps closer.
Just when she thinks nothing can surprise her anymore, she is granted a visit from Satan himself (he prefers to be called Lucifer, which has a nicer ring to it), who is not at all as she imagined and makes her a surprising offer. Angels, demons and humans face off in this paranormal fantasy series that proves politics exist not only on Earth. 'Exogenesis' only shows the tip of the ice-berg. War is coming. An apocalyptic celestial war that will forever change the face of the Earth.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
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About the author
Renate Linnenkoper
1 book10 followersRenate Linnenkoper was born in the small, country village of Winschoten, up in the North of the Netherlands.
During her youth, she soon discovered her love for creative endeavours and engaged in theatre and soon, writing. She loved reading the classics and preferred the greats - from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde.
Writing everything from poetry, to songs and stories, she looked for inspiration in the most unusual places. Having been a resident of three countries by the age of 25 (the Netherlands, Ireland and now Portugal) certainly taught her about different cultures, languages and customs.
Celestial Mists: Exogenesis is the result of over two years of hard work. It is her debut novel, but it will not be her last. She will soon start work on the sequel.
During her youth, she soon discovered her love for creative endeavours and engaged in theatre and soon, writing. She loved reading the classics and preferred the greats - from Shakespeare to Oscar Wilde.
Writing everything from poetry, to songs and stories, she looked for inspiration in the most unusual places. Having been a resident of three countries by the age of 25 (the Netherlands, Ireland and now Portugal) certainly taught her about different cultures, languages and customs.
Celestial Mists: Exogenesis is the result of over two years of hard work. It is her debut novel, but it will not be her last. She will soon start work on the sequel.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 8, 2011
This debut novel has a great concept, but the execution unfortunately falls flat. The author does have a lively voice and writes precise, evocative descriptions that set the stage well for her intriguing story.
The greatest technical problem is head hopping: readers are frequently left confused about which character’s head they are in. Switching point of view in the middle of the scene for as little as a paragraph before going back to the original POV, increasing the psychic distance from an internal view (what a character is thinking or could observe) to an external view (in some cases, into the author’s voice or what only an omniscient narrator could observe), and pulling out of any POV by presenting telephone conversations as simple dialogue exchanges that look like they were written for a screenplay.
The tendency to dump backstory information into the text and to have a POV character make rapid swings from one emotion to another (without an apparent cause) took me out of the story too often and kept me from empathizing with the characters. This is a shame, because the main characters are well drawn, and Siobhan’s quest to discover the truth about her father’s life and death makes for a compelling story.
Minor technique issues also hold the book back. The book is peppered with usage and punctuation errors, as well as distracting shifts between American and British spelling. In addition, although the time is specified as modern (by dates and times given at the start of sections), the English village in which it is set seems almost World War II era or even earlier, with most of its residents having old-fashioned mores and being tended by a single doctor; yet elsewhere in the book, it appears to be a good-sized modern city with a hospital and perhaps a university.
Formatting errors such as the frequent dropping of the indentation of the first line of a paragraph make dialogue, in particular, difficult to read. The occasional lengthy paragraph, which can work in a print book but drags on far too long for an e-book, might be an artifact of the same kind of formatting issues.
The stilted dialogue and stereotypes, particularly of elderly people and the police, might seem appropriate or even witty to some readers, as in the observation that “complaining and whining” is “the curse of the elderly.” I would have liked to see at least one older character described positively. My one upwelling of hope upon reading that Dr. Valerie Delaney is one of those “rare” individuals, “a handsome woman who has aged gracefully,” was dashed soon after, when I discovered that she wears stiletto heels and has a false manner.
My willingness to suspend my disbelief was challenged in several places, but not by elements of the supernatural. Indeed, the plausibility, as well as the suspense, could have been improved by an earlier introduction of the paranormal elements.
I expected to find a supernatural thriller, but the supernatural (other than dreams) doesn’t appear until three quarters of the way through the book. Up to that point, this could have been a police procedural, romantic suspense, or chick lit. Combining all three can work when the author has mastered the craft, but the attempt remains unfocused here, making the novel appear to be a work in progress rather than a finished product.
That's unfortunate, because this book holds a lot of promise for those who like to introduce some magic into their world.
The greatest technical problem is head hopping: readers are frequently left confused about which character’s head they are in. Switching point of view in the middle of the scene for as little as a paragraph before going back to the original POV, increasing the psychic distance from an internal view (what a character is thinking or could observe) to an external view (in some cases, into the author’s voice or what only an omniscient narrator could observe), and pulling out of any POV by presenting telephone conversations as simple dialogue exchanges that look like they were written for a screenplay.
The tendency to dump backstory information into the text and to have a POV character make rapid swings from one emotion to another (without an apparent cause) took me out of the story too often and kept me from empathizing with the characters. This is a shame, because the main characters are well drawn, and Siobhan’s quest to discover the truth about her father’s life and death makes for a compelling story.
Minor technique issues also hold the book back. The book is peppered with usage and punctuation errors, as well as distracting shifts between American and British spelling. In addition, although the time is specified as modern (by dates and times given at the start of sections), the English village in which it is set seems almost World War II era or even earlier, with most of its residents having old-fashioned mores and being tended by a single doctor; yet elsewhere in the book, it appears to be a good-sized modern city with a hospital and perhaps a university.
Formatting errors such as the frequent dropping of the indentation of the first line of a paragraph make dialogue, in particular, difficult to read. The occasional lengthy paragraph, which can work in a print book but drags on far too long for an e-book, might be an artifact of the same kind of formatting issues.
The stilted dialogue and stereotypes, particularly of elderly people and the police, might seem appropriate or even witty to some readers, as in the observation that “complaining and whining” is “the curse of the elderly.” I would have liked to see at least one older character described positively. My one upwelling of hope upon reading that Dr. Valerie Delaney is one of those “rare” individuals, “a handsome woman who has aged gracefully,” was dashed soon after, when I discovered that she wears stiletto heels and has a false manner.
My willingness to suspend my disbelief was challenged in several places, but not by elements of the supernatural. Indeed, the plausibility, as well as the suspense, could have been improved by an earlier introduction of the paranormal elements.
I expected to find a supernatural thriller, but the supernatural (other than dreams) doesn’t appear until three quarters of the way through the book. Up to that point, this could have been a police procedural, romantic suspense, or chick lit. Combining all three can work when the author has mastered the craft, but the attempt remains unfocused here, making the novel appear to be a work in progress rather than a finished product.
That's unfortunate, because this book holds a lot of promise for those who like to introduce some magic into their world.
June 19, 2011
Interesting read. The writing style was a bit confusing...as another reviewer stated, you couldn't really tell who's head you were in when someone was reflecting or speaking.
The story was good, though. It was a slow start and seemed a tad rushed at the end. It would have been nice to read more about the demons and the group Exogenesis.
The story was good, though. It was a slow start and seemed a tad rushed at the end. It would have been nice to read more about the demons and the group Exogenesis.
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June 12, 2011This book is no longer available. I'm working on a steampunk novel instead because my style is better suited to the Victorian setting.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews