Taking Jezebel

by Patrick Kelly

Birch lost his mother.
Orson lost his childhood.
Meredith lost her innocence.
Jezebel lost it all.

At a beachside motel, a quarreling couple are the unwitting mainsprings of a terror that will forever change mankind.

Behind the walls of an isolated Arizona compound, an evil force is sprouting, creeping across the desert, and soaring toward California, where thousands will witness the first stages of a dark Order's earth-shattering vision.

A ragtag group of would-be heroes are unified by the special gifts they share. Together, they aim to root out the one man who would raze all the world's armies with a single, fatal word.

These are the characters of a novel whose themes are universal and whose subjects are taboo—fitting in or breaking the mold; free will versus destiny; good versus evil, and all the gray area in between.

Dare yourself to read Taking Jezebel—a bold, harrowing, and dangerous debut.

Genres: Horror

470 pages, Paperback

First published January 9, 2014

About the author

Patrick Kelly is originally from Florida, though he's a bit of a nomad. He recently moved to San Francisco, by way of New York City. When he isn't writing or reading, you'll find him running, doing yoga, or looking up vegan cake recipes. His favorite novels are Briefing for a Descent into Hell, by Doris Lessing, and Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov.

Patrick received his Interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts in Letters & Modern Languages from the University of Central Florida. With the release of his ambitious first work, he aims to share his love for horror and fantasy fiction with readers around the world.

Reviews

[Gregor Xane · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It rarely takes more than a page to recognize that you're in the presence of someone who can write, but it only takes a sentence to know you're dealing with someone who can't."

That's a quote from this article by screenwriter Josh Olson. (The spirit of that article has nothing to do with this review, by the way.) Upon starting Taking Jezebel it was readily apparent that Patrick Kelly can write, and very well. But the deeper I got into the book, the more I noticed that Kelly is a writer who also needs to learn how to kill his darlings. There were many pet phrases--while sometimes lovely--that really needed to be exterminated with extreme prejudice. For example:

The [batwing] doors swung--violently, at first--then slowly sank back into place, losing their momentum, and settling against one another like quarreling lovers who were finally ready to admit their unremitting interdependence.

Lavishing this much attention on a minor detail imbues the action of doors swinging shut with undue significance. This sort of thing happens fairly often throughout Taking Jezebel, and there are action scenes that get muddied with this type of overblown description.

The above passage also illustrates another thing I, at times, found distracting about Kelly's writing. Sometimes--sometimes--his word choices are a bit iffy. The word 'sank' has no place in the sentence above. Nothing is sinking here. Nothing is doing anything like sinking here.

Overall, I liked Kelly's writing and I liked this book. There are three or four really cool narrative twists that honestly took me by surprise. He's not afraid to play with reader expectations. And I like that a lot. This had some great things going for it story-wise. Yes, there were a few things I didn't quite buy. One character escapes too easily from a situation. A major event is never adequately revisited or explained. Everything stops so that the villain can give the obligatory villain-speech at the end. However, the good far outweighs the not-so-good here.

This book has a variety of satisfying horror goodies crammed into it, and I look forward to reading whatever Mr. Kelly unleashes next.

Note: I received an electronic copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest (non-reciprocal) review.

[Joel Kleehammer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Patrick Kelly is a newcomer to publishing, but he already has a well-developed writing style. His writing is full of witty and pithy expressions. You can tell that he is trained in writing. He uses ten-dollar words like he just robbed a bank. Taking Jezebel is very much written for the thinking reader who needs better descriptions than "very big," and "really ugly."

Taking Jezebel kept me wondering what would happen next. It is far from predictable, and Patrick weaves the story together slowly. I took some notes while I was writing, and it looks like about every 10% of the book (which is easy to gauge on a Kindle) had a new development to the story that kept it going.

I encourage readers to seek out this new author and enjoy what he has to offer to readers of horror and fantasy.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very impressive debut novel which is refreshing in every aspect. The book is well-edited, perfectly formatted and the writing is assured and confident.

The writing style reminded me of Stephen King, with the mish-mash of horror/fantasy and well-developed characters which hook you in from the first few pages, yet nothing is ever predictable and the storyline comes together very well.

Patrick Kelly is a very talented writer, who knows not only how to write but to also weave together all the elements that make a great story. I look forward to more of his books.

This is one of the must-reads of the year for anyone who enjoys horror and fantasy.

[Vykki · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a awesome horror novel. It grabs you from the beginning and keeps you to the end. What a new take on god and evil I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good horror novel. I won this book on Goodreads Thank you.

[Edee Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars across the board. What an outstanding debut novel from the very talented mind of an emerging author.

Full review to come.