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Battle of the Soul

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Andy Lorenzo has no family, few friends, poor social skills, and drinks and gambles far too much. But in a time when demons are becoming increasingly more brazen and powerful, he has one skill that makes demons cower in fear from him—he is the greatest exorcist the world has ever known.

In Battle of the Soul, a supernatural thriller that is a combination of Constantine and The Exorcist, since graduating high school Andy has left a long trail of demons in his wake while priests are dying while performing traditional rites of exorcism. Andy is the Church and society’s ultimate weapon in combating this growing epidemic. He needs no bibles, prayers, or rituals. Andy is capable of going inside the person’s soul where he engages in hand-to-hand combat using his superhuman abilities that only reside when he is in a person’s soul. When eight-year-old Kate becomes possessed, Andy finds an elaborate trap waiting for him. He will do whatever it takes to win the most important fight of his life—the battle for Kate’s soul.

246 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 21, 2017

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Carl Alves

27 books176 followers

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5 stars
33 (39%)
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25 (30%)
3 stars
20 (24%)
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5 (6%)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for David Watson.
434 reviews21 followers
May 1, 2018
Life is not good for Andy Lorenzo. He’s overweight, has no friends, no social skills, he drinks too much and he gambles away his money. He does have one skill though. He’s the most powerful exorcist in the world and demons fear him. Unlike the old exorcism rites that priests use, Andy can enter people’s souls to fight and kill the demon possessing it.

Andy was raised by the church but he isn’t necessarily religious and some priests don’t like him, but they can’t argue with the results of his work. He’s destroyed hundreds of demons but his luck is about to change. His newest client is a young girl named Kate but as he enters her soul he finds that there is more than one demon waiting for him. He then finds out that the church has kept secrets from him which will change his life. He’s in for the fight of his life and he’s going to need all the help he can get as he decides what’s really important to him.

Battle Of The Soul by Carl Alves is a supernatural thriller that’s a little different from other horror novels based on exorcisms. While the church and religion does factor into the story it isn’t the main plot. This is about how a looser finds that he is much more than he thought and then he is left with a choice of what to become as he finds the secret to his powers. My favorite part of this book was Andy. He’s the ultimate underdog and he has just one thing he’s good at, killing demons. Andy reminded me of Ash in the Evil Dead movies but we do find out that Andy has a big heart and it’s his biggest weapon.. We hear of him bringing candy and comics to orphans and how he plays with Kate when she is in remission from her possession and we see that even though he is a misfit he cares. The author shows Andy as flawed but when the chips are down he always does the right thing. Andy is an easy character to relate to because he’s just a regular guy playing the hand of cards that life has dealt him.

As I was reading Battle Of The Soul I found myself thinking that this book has the feel of a superhero story. It looks and sounds like it would be a horror novel but it’s more of an action packed thriller. The fight scenes are well described almost to the point where you feel the author could have left a little to the imagination. Also the demons come across more like super villains and not overly terrifying. This isn’t to say that this was a bad read, it just came across as more action than horror. This book is a fresh spin on an idea that we see a lot in the world of horror. I think the concept of a man entering a soul and becoming a superhero is a great idea and I hope Carl revisits this idea in future books.
Profile Image for Maggies Daisy.
445 reviews29 followers
March 28, 2018
Being different has many drawbacks, but when you can enter the soul of a possessed person to battle demons, you are a Godsend to those individuals and their families. In this horror tale in the city of Philadelphia, we meet Andy Lorenzo a loner, junk food addict and demon fighter who is sent to exercise the demons in a young girl from south New Jersey who is not only possessed by one demon but four. How will Andy overcome the odds and eliminate the demons? With the aid of Andy's guardian Monsignor Curran and Lucus an experienced mercenary for the church, they fight the demons only to find out that Lucifer himself resides in the young girl. But why is Lucifer so interested in Andy? Could Andy be Lucifers, son? You are just going to have to read this book to find the answer. I hope that this author brings Andy back for more of his adventures while fighting demons in your soul.
59 reviews2 followers
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March 13, 2018
THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU WONDER IF YOU REALY KNOW WHATS GOING ON AROUND YOU.GOOD BOOK.
Profile Image for Tobyann Aparisi.
594 reviews55 followers
March 6, 2018
I won this book on Goodreads and Amazon for an honest review.

I found this very entertaining and a new look at this type of story. It was refreshing to actually touch on this subject with both humor and humility as well as the typical soul battle of good vs evil. The characters are very well designed and the scenes of each chapter are well thought out. I found this a fast and easy read that delivers one heck of a punch for an ending. I look forward to reading more from this author.
Profile Image for Tony Parsons.
4,156 reviews104 followers
April 13, 2019
Dr. Johnson (cardiologist), & Mrs. Johnson greeted Andrew “Andy” Lorenzo (24, exorcist) who was late as usual for his appointments.
Roy Johnson (son) behavior had dramatically changed over the last yrs.
Andy finally made it upstairs. Roy was in horrible shape, green skin, open sores, & as. he was tied to thee bed smelled like a garbage can.
Let the games begin.
Arusha (demon) wasn’t going to go away that easy.
Our Lady of Good Hope Church. Bishop Devlin was discussing Andy with Monsignor Curran (exorcist).
Monsignor Curran gave him a mouthful of statistics on exorcism.
The heated discussion had ended.
After their update Monsignor Curran had Andy deliver some clothes/food to St. Cecilia’s Church (N. Philly).

Monsignor Curran told Andy Father Christopher (St. Andrew’s parish, NJ) had died performing an exorcism.
Hammonton, NJ. Holly Bradford (mother) greeted Andy before he saw Kate (8).
The room had a glow to it & whatever it was she was shouting vile Akkadian curses at Andy.
Kra-lex (demon) was speaking now.
1 down 3 more to go: Asmodeus, Malachai, & Baphomet.
Andy could not help her there were 4 demons.
Lucas (handler, code name Ezekiel, US Army Iraq, US Army 75th. Ranger Regiment/Delta Force (Airborne) took care of Dan Cooper (Legion group, former USMC), & the other thug.
Those 2 wouldn’t be bothering Andy anymore.

What were Malachai, Baphomet, & Asmodeus up to?
What happened to Father Christopher?

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All thoughts & opinions are entirely my own.

A very awesome book cover, & great font/writing style. A very well written supernatural thriller book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great exorcism movie, or better yet a mini TV series. A very easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free End of Days Publishing; HiddenGemsBooks; PDF book
Tony Parsons (Washburn; MSW)
259 reviews3 followers
February 18, 2018
I received a Kindle edition of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway.

This was my first book by this author. It was a fast read. I probably would have finished it in a day if I had not started it on a weeknight. The premise was extremely fun and interesting. It's not your typical exorcism story. I will definitely be reading other books by the author.
Profile Image for Natalia Corres.
Author 21 books8 followers
December 1, 2017
Filled with action, on several planes - this book will entertain, and maybe even give you pause to think - for example, the rites of exorcism have gone unchanged in centuries, but what if evil, and the demonic that serves evil - evolves? What happens when the rites are no longer effective? Certainly this unlikely exorcist, Andy Lorenzo seems to have an uncanny advantage as well as an unorthodox method for battling the demons possessing various people. Finding out why coincides with Andy finding out who he is, and more importantly WHY he is... all while battling for the life of a little girl who is possessed by not one, but many demons. This will be the fight of his and her lives. If you enjoy action, horror, mystery and suspense - check out "Battle of the Soul".
Profile Image for Aly.
1,921 reviews74 followers
April 20, 2018
A book about exorcism, what a great idea for a book. This book was something different for me to read and I enjoyed it. I liked the author's twist on things and it worked for this book. I enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. You can never tell with books! Great job Carl! *This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.*
Profile Image for Anita.
94 reviews2 followers
March 25, 2018
First off, I really wish we could give half stars here because for me this was a 3.5, not merely a 3 star.

“Andy Lorenzo has no family, few friends, poor social skills, and drinks and gambles far too much. But in a time when demons are becoming increasingly more brazen and powerful, he has one skill that makes demons cower in fear from him — he is the greatest exorcist the world has ever known.”

Carl Alves is a new writer on the scene and The Battle of the Soul is one of his first published works. Please understand going in that this is a story that may require the reader to suspend their own beliefs for a time due to its Catholic religious overtones. Now, I don’t say that as a warning, I certainly do not mean it that way but this story does deal with the Catholic church and their belief structure, so if the reader does not have the same belief system simply be prepared to suspend your own personal beliefs for the sake of an interesting story. I did that, and I’m certainly not Catholic or even…Christian (I know…”gasp”, get over it.) What I found in this story is that we all believe that there is both good and evil in the world, regardless of what form it may take; and In many ways that’s what this story is about.

You see, Andy isn’t your typical hero, he is truly much more relatable than that. He is socially awkward and definitely not someone you would think could be the self-sacrificing type but when push comes to shove, he’s the guy you want in your corner. He is a terribly flawed person with addictions that get his butt in trouble and while others believe in him and his abilities, he truly sees himself as definitely less than worthwhile.

Poor Andy has NO game with women at all and is always saying the wrong thing in the most awkward manner possible; until he travels to the spirit world where everything about him changes, except for his heart.

You see that’s the great thing about Andy, his heart. He just cannot abandon someone who is being tormented by demons. Once he goes in he doesn’t come out until the victim has been freed….until Kate.

Kate is a sweet girl tormented by demons, what has she done to bring this on….absolutely nothing. She is nothing more than a vessel; a vessel meant to lure Andy back into the spirit world…..and that is all I will tell you in order to find out more you will simply have to read the book yourself.

I really enjoyed the idea for this book. I’ve read mean good v. evil books in my day, but they never really get old. That is the crux of good conflict often times. But here we have a deeply flawed individual who could be drawn in by evil…will he be? That remains to be seen. Will Andy give in to ultimate power or possible love? That could truly be a very difficult decision.

So why did I give this 3.5 rather than 4 or even 5 stars. I’ll explain. First, 3 stars alone means I like this story, and I do. 3.5 says I like pretty well; yet I see room for improvement with this author. That’s to be expected too with a fairly new author but the frequent stops and starts in his current writing style often lead to his voice not being heard effectively. Still, that is something that improves with experience; I was still able to read past that and enjoy the story.

The second reason I left my rating at a 3.5 is the climax of the story. That portion felt rushed to me, as though our eeeeevil villain was vanquished much too easily and quickly once it finally came down to it. For me, I just didn’t find that as plausible as Mr. Alves wanted me to as a reader. I guess you could say, in a way I felt let down by that final confrontation….yet, he did leave this story open for a potential sequel as well. Perhaps not with the same villain, but then again….maybe the same villain; possibilities abound.

The third reason I left my rating at this level is that there were too many times that my own mind had to fill in descriptions, particularly toward the beginning of this story. I wanted to know what someone looked like, how they spoke, or what the room looked like that the characters were in and I just didn’t receive that. I’ll never forget the old monacher when it comes to writing “show don’t tell”, too many times I found Mr. Alves told the reader about things rather than describing it to me and allowing me as a reader to really immerse myself in the scene.

But you know what? These for a new author are minor complaints that will improve with experience. They could also be completely subjective observations on my part, maybe you won’t see it the same way.

I can definitely recommend a 3.5 star rating for this book and also recommend others read it as well. Truly, if you read it I want to hear your opinions on it. I want to know if you noticed any of the same things or if you just really found yourself immersed in the story.
Profile Image for Jennifer Manley.
79 reviews14 followers
October 23, 2017
Off The Chain Crazy Good!!

I just now finished Battle of the Soul and let me tell you it is so good I read this thing in one sitting. I started early this morning and just finished it. Carl Alves has has a hit on his hands with this one.

Andy does exorcism's for the Catholic church. He is special however he is able to actually access the human soul during the event and fight the demons so it gives him a great edge, along with other supernatural powers. However there are some people who want him out of commission and that is where the little girl who is possessed named Kate comes in and an awful underground organization trying to kill him as well.


Carl Alves is a wonderful master story teller. This is my second book that I have read by Mr. Alves, the first one was Two For Eternity, which is a must read I have to say!! His description of the exorcism battles are extraordinary and very detailed. You feel as if you are there. The main characters are wonderful and you feel for them. The writing is solid. I highly highly recommend this book if you like a supernatural thriller.

Thanks Carl Alves for another wonderful reading adventure that you have given me.~A Faithful Reader
Profile Image for Bridgett Brown.
830 reviews48 followers
February 17, 2018
So Andy is a exorcist and he kills demons basically. But he’s not the pray over you type but more of the enter you soul and fight for it type of guy. In the soul world he is a god. Super strong and and materialize anything to help him fight demons. He’s pretty cocky about it because he’s never loss. But when a priest is killed during a exorcism he must fight harder then ever to save a 8 year olds soul.
Profile Image for Tamiko Rembert.
58 reviews5 followers
April 2, 2019
I received a free copy of this book from Hidden Gems Books in exchange for an honest review.

Andy Lorenzo is an exorcist, but definitely not a Catholic-Priest-Rites style exorcist by any means. Instead of performing the Linda Blair "The power of Christ compels you" kinda of act that some would assume, Andy enters the battleground of the soul of the possessed. A general lovable loser in the real world, in the world of the soul Andy is basically a badass (to put it mildly). He's been successful in defeating--and sometimes inadvertently vanquishing--every demon he's encountered, where even many experienced exorcists (priests, no less) have failed.

Until he meets cute, sweet eight-year-old Kate...

I found this to be quite an engaging book and rather enjoyed the premise and characters. Again, although he has many unsavory qualities, I couldn't help but love Andy. He's always been an odd man out kind of guy and drowns himself in alcohol and gambling. (And he's obviously pretty bad at gambling...) Cheering for the underdog is right up my alley; couple that with some serious demon butt-kicking, and I'm all in.

My only complaint, if I had to call it that, is that some of the dialogue read a tad cheesy. And I mean 1960's Adam West as Batman -esque type cheesy. Some lines were very reminiscent of that type of exchange for me, and I wasn't sure if it was awkward or awesome. I settled on awkwardly awesome because, honestly, I couldn't imagine Andy speaking any other way.

A very good story, with a hug-able outcast hero. I'd definitely read more from Carl Alves.
Profile Image for Laura.
172 reviews15 followers
April 13, 2018
An interesting and engaging story about a young man who’s a bit different. He has immense power in the realm of the soul - he vanquishes demons and preforms exorcisms, saving lives. But in the real world he’s kind of a loser with a gambling habit. Raised by a priest, he has strong faith and a good heart.

It’s an enjoyable and uplifting tale of faith and finding oneself. Well worth reading.

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways. My opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Pat Eroh.
2,629 reviews48 followers
January 22, 2019
Absolutely a jerk but someone you can really like and good to have around when you need him. This book is great from the start to the end. I enjoyed every page. I have not read this author previously but I am hoping to read more.

I received this book from authorsxp and am voluntarily giving my honest review.
1 review1 follower
March 14, 2021
Very good

Very good story. Atmospheric and real page turner. I need to check mr Carl other books. I wish he wrote the second part.
8 reviews
May 27, 2022
A good fast read that is predictable to a certain extent but fun
6 reviews
April 24, 2024
Entertaining

Really enjoyed this book. I liked the dream world\soul experience. Kept me entertained. Well worth a read. I like this author
2 reviews
April 17, 2023
Great read

Keeps your interest. You will not want to put it down. Wonder if there will be another like it? One can only hope.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews