Nephilim

by Jeb Kinnison

Mt. Hermon, Utah, is the ideal small town—until forces of darkness from deep beneath the mountain lead its people astray. Sara just moved to town with her divorced mother from a wealthy Long Island suburb; her Jewish roots don’t protect her when a relentless angel comes calling. Jared has lived there all his life, and his addiction to online games and porn has his grades tumbling and his Mormon family worried. Together, Jared and Sara fight the battle of their lives against spirits from the Underworld.

300 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 8, 2018

About the author

Jeb Kinnison grew up in the Midwest, studied computer and cognitive science at MIT, and wrote programs modeling the behavior of simulated stock traders and the population dynamics of economic agents. He went on to do supercomputer research at a think tank that developed parts of the early Internet (where the engineer who decided on ‘@‘ as the separator for email addresses worked down the hall.) Since then he has had several careers—real estate, financial advising, and counselling.

Reviews

[Ray Ritchey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mormon YA Sci Fi?

Great story that was interesting and full of action, a bit on the pg-13 side...

The story nicely intertwined real Mormon / US history, with two teens fighting evil and temptation. The story was much better than I expected, and I’m glad I read it. I’m not Mormon, so I did not expect to enjoy the story this much. Great read, no matter your religious beliefs / background.

[Nicholas Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found a paperback copy of this book on the free table at the LTUE (Life, the Universe, and Everything) Conference in February 2018. As a recovering sex and porn addict myself, I was intrigued by a story that dealt with the growing epidemic of pornography addiction mentioned on the back cover. I'm also LDS (Mormon) and was interested in a story that took place in small-town Utah and how the local culture influences the events in the story.

What I liked:
I liked the premise. A teenage Mormon boy struggling with addiction to online pornography meets a Jewish girl transplanted from the East Coast and find themselves entwined in a battle between good and evil.

What I liked:
For me, the story felt flat. After reading just 65 pages, I didn't feel any investment in the success or failure of the protagonist(s). I also had no idea who the antagonist(s) were. I could only visualize the small-town setting because of the many communities I've driven through in my travels through Utah. I never felt transported into this world.

I gave Nephilim by Jeb Kinnison 2 stars, but I wish the author the best of luck in all his future writing endeavors.