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Title: Ezekiel's Shadow by David Ryan Long ISBN: 0-7642-2443-3 Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.09 (11 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Keep an Eye Out...
Comment: If you're looking for Christian fiction that delivers a message without preaching, you'll love "Ezekiel's Shadow."
David Ryan Long subtly builds the suspense, while bringing us deeper into the tortured world of horror novelist, Ian Merchant. Merchant, though, has had a change of heart: he wants to follow God. This presents a problem as he begins working on his newest novel, with a deadline hanging over his head. And that's not all that's hanging over his head! Merchant begins receiving disturbing messages that indicate his past is coming back to haunt him. He ends up keeping an eye out vigilantly for this mysterious intruder.
David Ryan Long draws us into his character's world, and we relate to his struggle for something deeper in his walk with God. Despite Merchant's decision to turn to a new life, it doesn't all come easy for him--and that makes it seem real. Though Merchant's marriage might come across exceptionally peaceful to many readers, and his lack of courage to face his stalker head-on might seem a bit pansy-ish (at least it did to me, once or twice), I related to him and related to the steps he took to find answers. The ending seemed a bit rushed to me and didn't totally pay out on the suspense that seemed to be building, but the pieces all fit satisfactorily.
I will rush to store when Long's next book comes out. This is one author I'll be keeping an eye out for.
Rating: 5
Summary: Engrossing and enlightening
Comment: Imagine you are Stephen King. Any horrific novel you write becomes an instant bestseller. Every horrific thing you write earns you more and more attention. Now imagine, as Stephen King, you undergo a life altering experience. The sick, scary stories are no longer inside of you. You think, for lack of a better description, that you are suffering from writer's block. The page stays blank. You fear you've lost the ability to write. Could something like that ever happen?
It happens to Ian Merchant in David Ryan Long's Christy Award winning novel, Ezekiel's Shadow. Merchant is a best selling horror novelist who finds salvation through Christianity. It is not that he suffers from writer's block, as much as he no longer believes the desolate and deranged notions he once believed, and so he can no longer write about them. Not with passion.
If not for his amazing wife, Rebecca, this new chapter in the fictional author's life would leave the main character alone to struggle trying to figure out what he's supposed to do with this newly changed life. But the heat is on. His long time friend and editor is anxious to read the next Merchant manuscript, especially since sales have been down and a new book would re-spark reader interest and generate some revenue. To make matters worse, someone is stalking the famous author, forcing him to suffer for past sins ...
But this novel is about far more than the horrors of being stalked by an unknown assailant (and hounded by an eager, anxious editor). David Ryan Long writes the terrifying tale of how lost people can be without knowing they are lost at all. He scares his readers with a story that is riddled with His truth, and ways. Good vs. Evil. Man vs. Himself. Man vs. Man. Man vs. Nature. Betrayal. It's all in here.
The characters are so well defined that you don't want the story to end. You care about Ian and Rebecca and their dog, Cain. You care about what happens in their lives, and in the lives of the other characters involved in the tale. Long writes about friendships and love. He writes about restoring faith in a humanity many have given up on. And he does so, not by preaching, but by using powerful, eloquent and gripping prose. Ezekiel's Shadow is the kind of engrossing novel that a reader savors page by page. Next? I look forward to absorbed in David Ryan Long's, Quinlin's Run.
--Phillip Tomasso III, author of Johnny Blade & Third Ring
Rating: 4
Summary: Good for the most part
Comment: This book starts out STRONG! Very few books catch you from the prologue, but this one does. Unfortunately, it starts to slow down in the middle and the ending is unsatisfying. Basically, it seems like Mr. Long just got tired of writing the book and decided to end it. The payoff you're waiting for (and I won't go into it here because I don't want to spoil the ending for you) never occurs. It all just suddently wraps itself up neat and tidy - game over. While this could be excused for a short story, a huge novel like this deserves more. I have to admit that the character development of Ian and his wife are realistic, and I loved the way things turned out for them at the end. The picnic director/planner was another great character, but he was only in a few pages. If you're looking for a great suspense novel, there are certainly many suspenseful pages in here - but don't look for a satisfactory payoff on all of it. If you're looking for a good story about a man's wrestling with his faith in view of his old life, you've found it here. I mean, think about it: if Stephen King became a Christian, what would he do about his writing? Definitely worth a read for that aspect of it alone.
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Title: A Rush of Wings by Kristen Heitzmann ISBN: 0764226061 Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Pub. Date: 01 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: The Still of Night by Kristen Heitzmann ISBN: 076422607X Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: Quinlin's Estate by David Ryan Long, David Long ISBN: 0764226622 Publisher: Bethany House Publishers Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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