Cosmic Forces: Book Three in the Jake Helman Files Series

The Jake Helman Files #3

by Gregory Lamberson

Private investigator Jake Helman has battled a demon, his minions, the walking dead, and beings from the dimensions of the Sphere of Light and the Dark Realm, but now he faces the greatest evil the world has ever known in the third installment of this loosely knit trilogy. Jake is hired by the wife of New York City mayor Myron Madigan to prove his infidelity. Meanwhile, the ex-girlfriend of his old partner Edgar needs Jake's help when her son joins a cult that worships space aliens. And Jake's late wife, Sheryl, now an "agent of Light," asks him to locate a monster called the Destroyer of Souls--who may be responsible for the disappearance of the Biblical entity known as Abel. The investigation of Madigan leads to Karlin Reichard, a wealthy industrialist and political kingmaker--head of a cabal that has secretly manipulated world affairs for generations. In order to bring these men down, Jake must join them. With earthly and otherworldly forces marshaled against him, Jake battles human assassins and supernatural creatures in his quest to uncover the mystery behind the Order of Avademe and a monster willing to destroy heaven and hell to rule the earth.

Genres: Horror

361 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

Gregory Lamberson is an author and filmmaker who specializes in horror entertainment. He is a two-time winner of the IPPY Gold Medal for Horror and a three-time Bram Stoker Award finalist. A motion picture based on his award-winning novel JOHNNY GRUESOME will be completed and released in 2017,. Fangoria magazine called him "the hardest working man in horror."

Lamberson is the author of the six-novel occult detective series The Jake Helman Files (PERSONAL DEMONS, DESPERATE SOULS, COSMIC FORCES, TORTURED SPIRITS, STORM DEMON and HUMAN MONSTERS), the werewolf trilogy The Frenzy Cycle (THE FRENZY WAY, THE FRENZY WAR and THE FRENZY WOLVES). In addition to GRUESOME, his stand alone works include BLACK CREEK, THE JULIAN YEAR, the zombie novella CARNAGE ROAD, and the instructional filmmaking book CHEAP SCARES: LOW BUDGET HORROR FILMMAKERS SHARE THEIR SECRETS.

In 2016, Lamberson directed a feature length movie version of JOHNNY GRUESOME, currently in post-production. He previously directed the cult films SLIME CITY, SLIME CITY MASSACRE and KILLER RACK. He is currently hard at work developing his literary properties as films and TV series.

Reviews

[Allan · Rating 5 out of 5]

O.K. third book down in the series. I have just recieved the 4th part autographed in the mail from the author!! I am starting it tonight! This book keeps the incredible streak of keeping my attention maxed. I love this book. It has mythology from the bible. A bit of Lovecraft. Well maybe. All in all a perfect supernatural thriller. It's so refreshing not to have super soldier/Superman as the hero. Then again he really get's his ass handed to him. Fantastic!! 5 stars out of 5. If you have not read anything by this author. Hurry up. he is amazing. This is from a old horror fan. I started reading horror in the early seventies. This is refreshing, new and very, very good!

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 3rd installment of the Jake Helman Files we see several old characters making appearances as the story ties back into Tower Industries. This one focuses mostly on the religious/mythic story line of the first book.

The Mayor's wife hires Jake to follow her husband to find out where he is going and what he is doing when he goes on his monthly retreats. She suspects him of cheating on her. At the same time Jake is trying to help Edgar's ex-girlfriend find out what is going on with her teenage son. Martin has been sucked into a cult that worships aliens that sounds very similar to scientology.

Jake stumbles on a secret association whose members just happen to be very high-ranking, influential men. This group ties back to the "church" that has recruited Martin. Both of Jake's cases come together in a huge battle between Heaven and Hell. In this book we see the return of Cain and Abel as they work together for a short time to uncover where the lost souls are going.

Jake suffers one more loss in this book, like all the rest, but this one is hard because it's the 2nd time he has suffered this particular loss. I think in the end, though, he is better for it and it's left him in a place where he can finally move on and that will be nice to see.

This is a great supernatural read. It's got horror, science fiction and while I don't really want to say religion there are definitely aspects of that there as well. I really do love this series so much!

[Simon West-Bulford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third in the series and my favourite so far. Strictly speaking, I heard this rather than read this, as I decided to get the Audio version. There are few things more amusing than listening to a guy putting on a woman's voice when trying to do it seriously, but the reader did a good job (they so often do), and his abilities were stretched to the max when, at one point, he had to try and perform several voices at once!

Anyway, the book itself! It packs a punch right from the prologue which left me grimacing and astonished, if not a little sceptical about its credibility as an idea. I needn't have worried though - the story logic does justify it very well and it was a suitable set-up: gory, imaginative, mythic at its core, and enough atmosphere bleeding in from the previous Helman outings to remind you it's a classic horror romp. I especially liked the concept that underlines the series which was expanded upon a lot more in this instalment, so there's no doubt in my mind - if you're a fan of the first two books, you must NOT miss out on this one. Well done, Greg!

[Tanya Patrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! I am not familiar with this series - or even that this book was a part of a series - until I started reading. In the first few chapters, there is a lot of mention about what happened to Jake in the earlier books (I believe there are 2 before this one), but that didn't have much to do with this story so I didn't feel lost. If anything, by the end of this book, I wanted to go and get the first 2 so I could read more about Jake and what he had gone through previously.

This book will not only please fans of the supernatural/ paranormal, but it's also a fantastic detective novel as well. Jake is crazy tough and such a complex character - he's gone through a lot! Actually, this author makes everything complex - the characters, the plot, the supernatural beings ... & the monsters! And I ate it all up - I couldn't put this one down. Again - let me say, this is one amazing book - not one I've heard a lot about, but one I would HIGHLY recommend to anybody.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cosmic Forces is the third novel in Gregory Lamberson's Jake Helman files series and it is as good if not better than the previous two.
In an epic battle between Heaven and Hell, Jake is drafted by both to investigate a growing number of 'blind' spots that neither Heaven nor Hell can see into and is devouring souls at an alarming rate. Souls that are needed to keep the Cosmic Balance.

I can't go into this too much right now without giving away too much. So...trust me...you HAVE to read this, but be sure to read the previous books first. You don't HAVE to, but it will be a lot more fun!

Then when you're down with the Jake Helman Files, read Lamberson's Frenzy Way series. You won't regret it.

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've really enjoyed this series and have purchased the 4th book to read soon. Jake sure gets himself in a lot of trouble. Love the creative creation/evolution take; it's disturbing enough to piss off a few people. Haha! I can't help but compare this series to the Repairman Jack books, which are also very good. Lamberson is on to something fun for us horror fans!

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and gruesome series that reads like a hard-boiled detective series written by HP Lovecraft. The science fiction cult is a nice touch and the story moves at a nice clip. Might not be the best book to start with since there is a lot of backstory in the other two books, but well worth checking out.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Things just keep getting crazier for Detective Jake Helman.

[Paul Ohlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake Helman is a badass who just keeps getting badder!

[Kandes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read about 100 pages in this book before I had to return it to the library because it was due back & I've already renewed it twice lol. But I wanted to do a short lil review & encourage you guys to go check out this series, it's really great. I'm totally bummed I won't be able to finish this one for awhile BUT there's a fourth comin out in Oct '12 called Tortured Souls, so definetly be on the lookout for that! I only gave this book 3 1/2 stars because so far it wasn't super amazing or anything, but I'm not tryin to give the whole book a rating since I didn't finish it. The parts I did read were alright, they were a little wierd & I'm dying to find out what happens, so it did have that aspect to it. If you've read the first one & enjoyed the "wierdness" (is that a word?) of it, then this one is for you. It was beginning to have the "wtf" factor to it. Overall, I do recommend this book, or at least the parts I read. Be on the lookout for a full review probably towards the end of 2012 because I'll probably purchase this and book 4 together. Happy Reading!

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize until I started reading this book that it was book three in a series. That didn't matter the story was still easily followed as past books were explained enough that you knew what had gone on and how it related to the current story. I was impressed with the pace of Cosmic Forces and am excited to go to the library and get more books in the series.

[Cara Poggi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certain parts are great, certain were meh.