The peaceful existence of the small-town coastal community of Murrell’s Inlet is shattered when a serial killer operating within its county decides to pay the close-knit community a visit.Detective Art Somers is a life-long resident of the town, an area of Georgetown County that’s steeped in deeply held spiritual and supernatural belief systems. When the killer abducts his son and evidence surfaces that the Mark of the Beast foretold in the Bible is a motive, Art realizes he must face an irrefutable truth – he must sacrifice his soul to save his son.
“A riveting and intriguing read.” - Clarion Review
Before publishing my debut novel, I served over 27 years as an information technology professional working initially for the US Navy, and then the Department of the Navy and various fortune companies. I'm a UCLA Writing Program alumnus, who writes mystery thrillers and children stories. After years of crafting and fine-tuning my story telling ability, 2016 is the year of the launch of my debut novel titled Trojan, which is based on a "what if" scenario I envisioned years ago while attending the Naval & Marine Corps Computer Science School at Quantico. My vow to my readers is to capture your imagination and keep you engaged, from the beginning of each story to its riveting conclusion.
The description of the book says it's "in the vein of Seven & The Devil’s Advocate" but I hadn't read those books or seen those movies so I was going into the book blinder than I expected. I did expect the supernatural and got that in spades. Art Sommers, is a detective, chasing down a serial killer who is kidnapping and killing 12 year old boys and finally his 12 year old son is kidnapped. Be prepared for a wild ride, trusting nobody, suspending belief, and descending into paranormal events because that's where the serial killer's trail leads. Thanks to Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members' Titles and NetGalley for this ARC.
Short Take: Readers are stupid, and editors are for sissies.
Man, y’all, I wanted to love this SO MUCH. There are valid comparisons to some of my favorite things, like Devil’s Advocate, and Seven, and after reading it, I can even see some echoes of Angel Heart (am I the only one who still remembers and loves that one? Anyway…).
But in the end, the author took the seeds of a fantastic story and suffocated them in layer after layer of fertilizer (if you know what I mean). The basic premise of the story is that detective Art Somers has a serial killer running amok in his small South Carolina county. The killer only targets 12 year old boys, which it just so happens is the exact age of Art’s son. There’s a lot more to this tale than just a straight murder mystery, however, there are also loads of supernatural elements and some sci-fi technology, and there may be more to Art than just luscious long but manly hair and a bitchin’ Camaro.
There are even some really fascinating historical elements, from ancient Israel to the Geechee/Gullah people. I could’ve loved this book, and raved to the heavens about it.
But the writing, y’all. The writing was so bad. Instead of a great book, I just spent hours reading a VERY rough first draft. A few examples…..
In one scene, we’re given a very graphic, disgusting description of the reason that Art won’t eat red sauce, and hasn’t for years. But just a couple of chapters before, his fiancee Angela was sexily feeding him shrimp dipped in cocktail sauce.
This sentence: "Her eyes seemed as if she didn’t recognize him and he sure as hell didn’t know the ones glaring back at him. They were all blue and her pupils had dilated to the point where they covered the whites in her eyes." Are the eyes blue, or pupil-black? If you can’t see the whites, how do you know where they are looking? Just, what?
Or this gem: "Angela’s flashlight shined on tall blades of sea grass intermixed with cattails, which were wetland plants that looked like a smoked sausage impaled on a long green stem." I think that most people know what cattails are, but really, slowing down the action of a tense scene to compare common plants to barbecue meat is just…. Ugh.
There is so much of that. Awkward phrasing, blatant contradictions, weird descriptions shoved onto lumpy misshapen sentences.
Art, our “hero”, is a moron. He repeatedly fatally shoots people who could give him information to solve the case. I wanted to pull a Lethal Weapon Danny Glover and implore him, “couldn’t you just shoot them in the leg?” Upon being the only first responder on scene when not one, but two people who have critical information on the killer are bleeding out, Art takes the time to do a little light reading, followed by a power nap and a few phone calls. I’m sure the ambulance will get there eventually, right? Plus, any half-witted cop would’ve handcuffed the bad guy before taking some me-time, so he couldn’t get away while said cop is chilling…. Oh. Never mind.
When his grandmother is attacked by a supernatural entity in a way that could have killed her, he decides to take the heroic action of…. Calling her twice a day to check her emotional state. Which is ridiculous enough on its face, but then he doesn’t even do that. Poor Grandma.
He finds his fiancee (who is also his partner at work, aka A COP) cutting herself while injecting illegal drugs and his reaction is a shrug of the shoulders and business as usual.
And can we talk about Angela? Look, I get that it’s hard for straight dudes to write women. They are mysterious and kind of scary, and like, all of them act different, and some of them smell good and some are kind of tall and whatnot. But the casual, rampant misogyny in Preordained is some next level male gaze grossness. For example, a slave girl is raped by a demon, but it’s cool, she likes it eventually.
Going back to Angela, she and Art’s ex-wife have some kind of history that could be interesting, but nope. They’ve always fought over men, of course, because that’s all women exist for in this book. Like, Angela is supposed to be Art’s equal, she’s also a cop, a PROFESSIONAL FREAKIN COLLEAGUE (when she’s not cutting herself and shooting up, I guess?), ostensibly a talented one, but she calls him Daddy and begs to move in with him. Oh, and Art takes pride in “standing by her through her addiction” and “keeping his engagement vow to be there for her always”. Note - the drug reveal & engagement happened early in the book, and those things lasted for the entirety of the book - about two whole days days. In a row. Ladies, are ya’ll swooning yet?
Of course, there’s a sex scene between the two of them, and I’m not going to even touch on that one other than to say I may have torn a cringe muscle.
Scenes shift, people randomly pop in and out of them, things happen for no reason and with no apparent results (in one dramatic scene, Art turns in his badge, and thus is no longer a police officer, in the next, he’s working away in his office at the police station). The supernatural elements just happen, there’s no build-up or foreshadowing or even emphasis on how strange something is, it’s just a thing that happens before the next thing that happens. There’s a lot of dialogue that I could quote, but I’m just going to say “painful”, and call it quits with that one. And the ultimate weapon against dark forces is Dumbo’s magic feather.
I think you all get the idea. Mr. Wallace definitely has some great ideas, and seems willing to do research for his books, but what he really needs is a team of tough beta readers and editors.
The Nerd’s Rating: ONE (MOSTLY SAD) HAPPY NEURON. (and some Metallica. Because you can’t throw a Satan party without Metallica.)
Wow, this book got really mixed reviews so far. But I loved it! I just thought it was a fun, entertaining, and exciting read. I liked the characters, Art and Angela were a good mix and they were believable enough for me.
I got to a certain point in the story and just wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen. It was a page turner that's for sure. I loved the supernatural parts of the story. This does have a strong evil element to it. I loved how the author tied it to the Bible - very interesting. I am a Christian and I liked it - I was not put off by it. But then again - I was reading it as a "Fantasy". I think some people get caught up in "it didn't feel real to me" or "that would have never happened in real life" well duh! This wasn't real - it was fiction/fantasy. Come on people... In Stephen King's Christine - would that happen in real life? There are just some stories you don't expect to be real and this was one for me. I liked it for what it was.
I enjoyed it, it was a fun book to read! I liked the author's writing style. It keep me interested every step of the way. I read the whole thing in almost one day. And, yes it did get a little crazy at the end, but a lot of Fantasy stories do. So that didn't even bother me.
If you enjoy a good, fun, supernatural Good vs. Evil type of book - give this one a try!
I voluntarily posted this review after receiving a copy of this book from Partners in Crime Tours ~ Thank You!
12-year-old boys are being abducted by the “star of David” killer. Det. Art Somers is on the case to catch this demented individual but in the course of investigating the case new information that ties back to a tragic event in his past comes to light and affects his future and that of his son. Preordained is a taut suspense thriller with biblical overtones. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as you read this as I was! I recommend Preordained to anyone who loves a good thriller. 5 stars for fantastic storytelling by the author.
Preordained is a mystery novel with supernatural twist to it. There is a serial killer, gruesomely killing 12 year old boys.
I love the mystery of it, slowly uncovering what was going on and all the pieces slowly fitting together, it kept me reading all night long. :) Best part was the supernatural aspect of it. I loved the way it was woven into the story. What I didn't like was the romance, especially his fiance, she was just... something else. :)
In Preordained, author David L. Wallace weaves a riveting paranormal/supernatural crime mystery tale that follows Georgetown County S.C. Sheriff's Office Detective Art Somers as he investigates and tracks down a serial killer called the Star of David Killer, who has been kidnapping and murdering twelve-year-old boys throughout the county.
Author David L. Wallace provides a complex and multi-layered storyline that interweaves a gritty crime murder mystery with a supernatural/paranormal twist and biblical references in a classic battle of good versus evil. This fascinating tale has enough mystery, suspense, drama, treachery, secrets, and intriguing twists and turns that keeps the reader guessing while weaving an intricate and complicated web of what the motive of the murders could have been, and how Detective Art Somers' troubled past is tied to the murders.
Preordained is an exciting crime murder mystery story that will keep the reader guessing the identity of the Star of David Killer, while the supernatural/paranormal twists and biblical references enhances the intrigue and engages the reader to follow Detective Somers as he tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together and solve the serial killer case before the number of murdered twelve-year-old boys increase, including his own son!
This story has rich descriptions of the South Carolina Lowcountry setting; a realistic cast of characters; and a fascinating intertwining of police investigative techniques and supernatural twists that immediately draws the reader in until the pieces of the murder investigations puzzle comes together and is solved.
Preordained is the kind of supernatural crime murder mystery that easily keeps the reader captivated, guessing, on their toes, and wanting more!
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours.
I had high hopes for this book when I began reading. I love mysteries combined with supernatural elements. However, this book was a huge disappointment. The author didn’t appear to do even basic research (or even have common knowledge) about employment practices of law enforcement (or any other) agencies. His investigator was dating his partner, which would never be allowed. This partner also engaged in several inappropriate, illegal behaviors, and the investigator continued to date her, despite being in a custody battle for his son (a son he claimed was the most important person in his life). There were other issues with this relationship which irritated me beyond all reason, that made absolutely no sense except to further the author’s plot.
In addition to the nonsensical relationship of the primary characters, the author included allusions to voodoo and/or voudon. He then implied that those religions were a form of devil worship. It was clear that he knew nothing about these religions. He also addressed these religions as if they'd actually have something major to do with the story (other than his implication that they were evil), and then never brought them into the story in any major way. Completely infuriating.
The book, instead of being supernatural, was more a religious battle between good and evil. So, if you're looking forward to lots of great supernatural action, don't look for it in this book, because it's not here.
There were numerous plot holes; the author contrived situations to suit his needs, making the book a chore to read.
The worst thing about this book is that the author had a wonderful core idea. With work and research, and without proselytizing, this could have been an outstanding story. Instead, it was just a colossal waste of time.
Such High Hopes Living just an hour and a half from the small town of Murrell's Inlet, S.C., I was excited to read Preordained by David L Wallace. This story that takes place just outside my back door is about a serial killer, who tortures and kills 12-year-old boys, and is targeting the son of the detective who is tracking him. A storyline, with much promise. If only greater attention had been paid to detail and editing, this could have been a great book to read. Trying not to be a spoiler, but the reason the lead character and his son's mother split up had to do with how she made spaghetti sauce. It is my opinion that since it was the reason for the breakup, of course, he's not going to eat anything made with "her red sauce" again. In fact, since she's his ex, why would he be eating anything she cooks? Another confusing scenario was "She'd helped her boyfriend overcome an addition problem and eventually married the guy. He now had her working the local hotels to support his addiction." First, maybe she should have used a calculator to help him with the "addition" problem. Second, why is she working to support his addiction if she helped him get over it? Then, there's this confusing statement, "There's there are internet companies the street thugs around here use to get stolen identity cards." Although I really wanted to like this book, typos and confusing details like these make this a difficult book to enjoy. With its originality and intriguing mixture of supernatural and suspense, this could be a great book. I implore the author to make revisions and invest in an editor. You have potential and guidance may help you reach it.
Art Somers is the sheriff in Murrell’s Inlet, SC that has his hands full with a serial killer that calls himself the Star of David. The killer targets 12 year-old boys and believes that his father has preordained the abductions and murders and is fulfilling a prophecy. Art himself has a 12 year-old boy and worries that he may be a target. There is way more than just a serial killer in the works. This is going to be a battle between good and evil.
Art doesn’t really believe in the local religious beliefs but is about to have his eyes opened quickly. But he does have his hands full with an ex-wife with a ton of drama and his partner/girl-friend that has a drug addiction. Of course he wants to stop the killer but it seems the killer is taunting all branches of law enforcement that are trying to catch him.
I have mixed opinions on this book. If you step back and just read the book, I liked the plot line of the story. It has a brutal killer, God and the Devil, and enough side plots to keep the story entertaining. But there is so much to this book that contradicts the story. Art can’t eat any kind of red sauce yet is fed shrimp cocktail? Art is proud of the fact that he has stuck with Angela despite her drug addiction and the fact that she is a fellow officer?
This story felt like a rough draft. With some revisions and editing and checking the continuity I think the story has a lot of potential, otherwise it falls flat.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.
Someone is killing young 12 year old boys in Georgetown County, South Carolina. Detective Art Sommers’ son Ben could be next, so Art is taking precautions to protect him. This serial killer is meticulous with his crime scenes. With no evidence, there’s no trail to follow. The FBI is no help either. Art seems to find more leads than they do. When Art starts having visions of unexplainable events, he wonders if he is going crazy. He never believed in the superstitious mumbo jumbo that so many in that area did, but for some reason, something or someone is trying to communicate with him.
This was the classic good vs evil story. I could feel the stress and anxiety that Art was going through, and it had me on pins and needles waiting to see how it turned out. I liked the main character of Art, but not many others, as I was suspicious from the beginning. That’s what made this story so interesting to me, not being able to figure the true killer out, or what will happen next. This version of biblical prophecy was a believable rendition of how it could happen. I like this author’s writing style and hope to read more from him.
I really liked this book! I normally don't read anything paranormal, but the description intrigued me and I'm glad i read it. This book actually reminded me of The Stand by Stephen King, which is one of my favorite books ever. Art, the main character is a divorced dad & detective looking for a serial killer of 12 year old boys, and he has a 12 year old son as well. He keeps having these visions and losing time and he is not sure how they connect to his investigation or his real life. As he slowly puzzles out the crimes and what has happened, the suspense really thickens and I could not put this one down until I finished it. I really had no idea what was going to happen--I thought it would be more of a witch craft twist rather than a religious one but it was totally gripping and I was GLUED to the end of the book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!
Carefully cunning plots, twisted but tasty in delivery. I loved the unpredictability and the fact that it was intense with suspense. Preordained beautifully presents an otherworldly experience with a seamless delivery. A Lovely literary work with every ingredient delicately in its right proportions and places. I really enjoyed it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book! How to describe it- different, unexpected, engaging. The story starts as an ordinary crime novel for a serial killer. We have the detectives, the FBI and the personal involvement but this is just about it that is typical for it. I promise you it will keep you on your toes most of the time. Give it a go
An intriguing blend of perfect paradoxes with an amazing plot. Gentle but wildly scintillating. Visually well-articulated in words carefully chosen to provoke the imagination, and exquisite in execution. Keeps you uneasy with suspense and its unpredictability.
The best book I’ve read in years could not put it down totally unpredictable edge of my seat suspense I’ve recommended this to numerous friends and they all agree just WOW