Songs in the Night Trilogy - Jack Cavanaugh

While Mortals Sleep
 
This is the story of the Hadamar Six - Elyse, Tomcat, Hermann, Viktor, Marlene, and Annie - Six disabled children who would have been marked for death in the era of the Third Reich. Life unfit to live, it was called...much better just to kill them rather than let them suffer...much better than showing that the Aryan race had imperfections.

But it's not really their story. The story revolves around them and their lives, yes...but it's not their story. It's the story of Josef Shumacher, a young pastor in Berlin who was passionate and filled with the conviction to stand against the rising of the Third Reich. It was his passion that put into motion the sage set before us.

But then again....it's not entirely his story. Rather, at the heart of it all...It's my story. It's your story. It's the story of how one life can reach so far and impact so deep. It's the story that reminds us that one man can stand against evil.

Josef Schumaker is a young pastor in Berlin, recently out of seminary and pastoring the church his spiritual father and father-in-law, Wilhem Olbricht, had just retired from. The year is 1939 and Hitler is on the rise in Germany. Amid the increasing brutality, Josef is conflicted with how to respond. Most of all he is concerned about the youth in his church - Lisette, Ernst, Neff, Konrad, Gael and Willi - and how they are being affected by the Hitler Youth.

Time moves on. When Josef had dared speak against the Third Reich, a couple members of the SS had rather forcefully reminded him of why Hitler was in power. Thinking of his wife - and unborn child - he began to accept the Nazi rule. But this would all change. Spurred on after witnessing an act of Nazi brutality, Josef joins an underground movement dedicated to thwarting the Third Reich. Their current mission involves a mental facility known as Hadamar, where children deemed unfit to live are brought to die either by starvation or injection. Josef's job is to free the children.

But the spectre of Naziism rises and very few are on Josef's side. His father-in-law, wife, and the youth of his church have all embraced or retreated in fear against the Nazi authority. The children of Hadamar are crying for a savior...but can Josef save them? And can he bear the cost of salvation?

His Watchful Eye

It's been three years since the events of While Mortals Sleep. Josef Schumaker and the Hadamar Six are living with Josef's wife Mady, and Lisette, one of the youth from Josef's now former church. Konrad and Neff are now part of the Waffen SS, a feared elite group of the Nazi machine. Konrad is an expert sniper and Neff is his spotter and photographer. Gunter Krahl, their captain, likes photographic evidence of the kills. Konrad's loyalty to the Third Reich has been shaken. Reality does not compare to the grandeur of the Hitler Youth movement. And so he turns his back on it all, deserting his company, forming a dangerous plan.

With the help of Josef, he comes to peace with his past. But the past will not let go of him. A trained killer stalks Konrad and he will use anyone or anything - including the Hadamar Six - to get to him. Things get more complicated as it becomes obvious that the Schumaker's must flee or be captured by the invading Russians. But when all hope is gone, an ultimate sacrifice will bring salvation.

Above all Earthly Powers

Things have not gone well in post WWII Berlin. The swastika is replaced by the hammer and the sickle but fear and oppression remain. It's now 1961 and over a decade and a half has passed since the Schumaker's narrowly escaped Russian rule. But here they are back in Berlin under the Soviet regime. Josef is dead. Konrad is presumed dead. The Hadamar Six have been taken from them. Only Mady, Lisette, and Elyse - Mady and Josef's daughter. and one of the Six - remain together.

But all is not lost. The Six have been regathered in a facility called K7 and are watched over by a kindly caretaker. With the help of an American colonel, Mady and the rest attempt to complete Josef's vision, and save the Hadmar Six once and for all. But it will not be easy. The impenetrable force of the Berlin Wall stands in their way. And ghosts from the past arise to either haunt or help in the mission.

In an intricate tie-in, the prologue and epilogue of each book takes place in 1989 right after the fall of the Wall. Foes of the past make one last rise to crush them, but freedom will prevail. The legacy of Josef Schumaker lives on.

Jack Cavanaugh is the best historical fiction writer I have read. He weaves a powerful story through the years like no other, beginning with the rise of Naziism and ending with the fall of Communism. The story is tightly-paced, the characters are compelling and many. More could be said about how each of the children mentioned in the first book play in the course of the second and third, but not without ruining the surprises that make the story so compelling.

Songs in the Night Trilogy - Jack Cavanaugh

The Aramis Black Mysteries - Eric Wilson

The Best of Evil

Don't let Evil

Get the best of you

Get the best of Evil

By doing Good.

Romans 12:21


"Live by the Sword" - "Die by the Sword" Aramis Black's former creed is tattooed into his hefty forearms. But he's forsaken all of that and put his violent life in Portland behind him. He's moved to the heartland of country music- Nashville - to live with his brother Johnny Ray, who's fighting for his shot to be a country music star.

Aramis opens a little espresso shop and begins to put his past behind him. Better a coffee junkie than what once was. But on a seemingly normal day in the shop, a man is shot and killed. His last words to Aramis: "I need the whip....Spare your soul and turn your eyes from greed." BLAM! A dead man in his coffee shop. But not just any dead man. A dead man whose last words were a direct quote of last word Aramis heard his mother speak before she was murdered.

Way too strange to be coincidental...especially considering that a handkerchief that belonged to his mother had arrived via FedEx earlier that day. Aramis finds himself thrust into a mystery. How does all this tie back to his mother? As the plot thickens, he unravels a centuries-old conspiracy involving a hidden treasure and one of his mother's famous ancestors, Meriwether Lewis.

But mysteries aren't the only thing unraveling in Aramis's world. He's forced to confront both his father, with whom he has a troubled past, and his uncle, who he blames for his mother's death. And what keys do they play in the mystery? But one thing is coming out of all this. In the wake of the shooting, he has found himself to drawn to one of his employees, Brianne. Sparks fly, and the two hit it off...a budding romance in the midst of so much mystery.

Aramis isn't the only one trying to unravel that mystery. The man in his coffee shop died for a reason. Someone wants the treasure for himself. Aramis must put together the clues and solve the mystery while keeping himself and his loved ones safe from the killer. Being thrown back into the violence of his past threatens his new-found life. Can he conquer evil? Or will evil get the best of him?

A Shred of Truth

He was a killer

From the very start

He couldn't stand the Truth

Because there wasn't

A Shred of Truth in him.

John 8:44

Black is back in a whole new adventure. Less than a year after the events of The Best of Evil, Aramis Black finds himself living with a bona fide country music star. Johnny Ray Black has finally hit the big time and is ready to take his show on the road. They were celebrating on the north end of Nashville's Music Row when Johnny Ray disappears. Aramis finds him lashed to a statue, with the intitals AX carved into his back. It quickly becomes clear that someone else is after the Lewis treasure, just as The Best of Evil. But this time the game is more personal.

And all of this just as Aramis was beginning to pick up the pieces of his life once again. He'd even enrolled in college, and was taking a class on truth and mythology. Now there's a killer on the loose and he is demanding one specific item. A ring. A Masonic ring belonging to Meriwether Lewis that may have ties back to the times of the Knights Templar. And he's holding the ultimate ransom: Aramis's mother.

Of course, it can't be Aramis's mother, right? Because he watched her die. Well, thought he watched her die. The body was never found. The killer and kidnapper leaves Aramis a string of clues in his attempt to prove he has Aramis's mother. He also involves a girlfriend from Aramis's past in his pursuit.

With an ever growing list of suspects, will Aramis be able to find the kidnapper and save his mother, if it's his mother? And if and when he does find him, will he react with the violence from his past or the new-found peace of the present?

---

Eric Wilson never ceases to amaze me. He writes with such a passion and precision that results in fully drawn out characters and realistic locations. But it's not just his descriptions that make his novels good. Sure, that's what you look for from a technical view, but when you go beyond that is when you discover his true genius.

The Aramis Black Mysteries are unique books. I've read very few authors that can convincingly and consistently pull off a book written in the first person. Wilson does this flawlessly. This unique approach gives the reader the mind and eyes of Aramis, allowing us to experience the mystery first hand.

His grasp of history (and theology) is immense. The hours of research show because he is able to tie his stories into so many true historical events. One is almost tempted to go to Nashville to look for Aramis's espresso shop.

Eric is also a master of the meta-arc. He draws together aspects from all of his previous novels and subtly ties everything together in a type of superstory. And somehow he does all this without sacrificing the individual natures of the books. If you've read one of Wilson's books and loved it, you will love it all the more when you read his other novels (and you must!). The tiny details, the little secrets, the small little loose ends....they all come together when you read his novels as a whole. From the standpoint as a reader, I find this absolutely mind-blowing. I'm not sure I could dream up ONE cohesive story, and yet Wilson has taken SEVEN threads and wound them into a yarn that I cannot put down.

I definitely recommend these books. The suspense is thick, the tension palpable, the conflict real. We can all put ourselves in Aramis's shoes. And Wilson's writing makes it all the much easier. Don't be surprised when the surprising happens, because this fast-paced plot will keep you turning pages well into the night and have you cheering for Aramis as he attempts to get The Best of Evil by finding A Shred of Truth.

Got your curiosity piqued? Gotta find out what happens now? Visit here and here to buy them now. Also you can check out Eric Wilson's website and visit the site of his current series Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy.

The Aramis Black Mysteries - Eric Wilson

Deadfall - Robert Liparulo

Written over the ovens of Auschwitz is the harrowing words of Hitler: "I want to raise a generation of young people devoid of a conscience, imperious, relentless and cruel." In Deadfall, Robert Liparulo explores this concept. What would happen if men without conscience, devoid of sympathy, desensitized to violence, and filled with bloodlust were armed with the Ultimate Weapon?

Declan Page just wants to have some fun. Him and his buddies trek up to Fiddler Falls in Saskatchewan, population 242, planning on doing some videotaping for a video game they're working on. But while they're at it, they're also going to test a technologically advanced weapon. They take the town hostage, using their weapon to call lightning down from the sky to literally obliterate whoever and whatever stands in its way. The gruesome deaths make for some sweet video effects that Declan plans on integrating into a new video game.

Had Hutch, Terry, Phil, and David known what was up at Fiddler Falls they might have thought about escaping from reality elsewhere. But within hours of arriving, they find themselves the new targets of Declan and his gang. Sparsely armed, but with no other recourse, they fight back and risk everything to save the town.

Along the way they team up with Laura and her young son Dillon as they run the gambit from flight to fight in an effort to outdo their pursuers. Can ultimate good defeat the ultimate weapon? Liparulo's carefully constructed character study goes deep into examining the struggle of man's inhumanity to man. The characters are deep and you feel pain and empathy for the heroes and utterly despite the villains. And all while maintaining a page-turning tempo.


There's a certain book on my to-read list. Deadlock. The sequel to this book. After reading Deadfall, I am quite eager to see how the story continues.

Deadfall - Robert Liparulo

Fearless - Max Lucado

The LORD is my light and my salvation—
       whom shall I fear?
       The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
       of whom shall I be afraid? 
Though an army besiege me,
       my heart will not fear;
       though war break out against me,
       even then will I be confident.  

(Psalm 27:1, 3. NIV)

Fear has a stranglehold on today's world. Fears about life. Fears about money. Fears about family. Fears about legacy. We have big fears (Will I have a job tomorrow, given today's economy?). We have little fears (Did the dog poop on the carpet while I was gone?). Perhaps most of all we fear for legacy.  

I'm writing this on a blog. It's my blog. I like it. I love being able to give my opinion on virtually anything to anyone who stumbles across this particular section of cyber-space. And yet the old adage about blogging rings humorously close-to-gospel-truth: Never before have so many with so little to say said so much. But it's all a part of a desire for legacy, a fear of not-mattering, a fear that we'll live our fourscore years or so and then vanish into dust to be remembered for a season - because our relatives are fighting about the will - and then be forgotten. 

In traditional form, Lucado masterfully weaves story, poetry, anecdote, and Biblical exposition around this and many other fears.  His conclusion? Jesus Christ has been there, done that. He has conquered fear. And if Christ is for us, who can be against us? That's not to mean we won't suffer trials or tribulations while upon this earth, but rather that our fears are made small and insignificant in the face of a big and loving God. So the trouble around us need not fear us. We can echo the words of the Martin Luther, writing A Mighty Fortress is Our God: 

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. 

Buy Fearless NOW!

Fearless - Max Lucado

Germ - Robert Liparulo

CDC: ..The exact origin, locations, and natural habitat (known as the "natural reservoir") of Ebola virus remain unknown.

Bio-terrorism. The very word should make your skin crawl. Right now you could be breathing in odorless, tasteless - and deadly - germs. Germs that could take your internal organs and make them ooze from your eye sockets. First it would start as a rash, you might even think it's a mosquito bite (are you scratching yet?), but you would definitely realize that your body was turning to mush long before you died...much too long. And what if those germs could be directed? Bio-terrorism is so messy. What if you could ensure that you would ONLY kill your enemies? This is the situation that Robert Liparulo brings to life in his page-turning thriller Germ.

Julia Matheson is an agent in the Law Enforcement Division for the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases. And right now she's tracking down a lead. A guy who says he has information on a bio-terrorism operation. But certain people will go to any lengths to keep that information secret. They really don't wanting this traitor from among their own ranks spilling his guts...well, figuratively speaking anyway.

In her journey to unwind the mystery, she teams up with Dr. Allen Parker and his pastor brother Stephen. Together they must stop a man named Karl Litt, the mastermind behind the attacks. Ten thousand lives depend on them. Standing in their way is the legendary and thought to be mythical arch-assassin known as Atropos. Legend says he's never failed and he has them at the top of his list.

Liparulo has something special with Germ. It is by far my favorite (thus far) of his novels. It explores the descent of one man into darkness, forever changed and obsessed by a disease that corroded more than his body. Germ will cause your pulse to race, your skin to perspire, and your eyes to twitch. You might even think you're coming down with something. But don't fear. Those are all symptoms of reading a top-notch thriller. And you know the antidote. Just turn the page.

Germ - Robert Liparulo

Jesus' Public Relations Slogan: ..My Works Testify of Me - Daniel Charles

I really didn’t know what to expect with this one. A little known author from a little known publisher talking about the most talked about book in history. With all the big name theologians and speakers and authors out there, it is oftentimes hard to find and easy to miss books like this. And that’s really too bad, because Daniel Charles has written a very solid commentary on the life of Jesus that concentrates with what Jesus did. His numerous references show that he is not only speaking his thoughts, but is backing it up with corroborating evidence from experts in the field.

Charles sets his book up as a series of essays, each drawing off a certain point in the Gospels. Because of this, …My Works Testify of Me makes for a great daily devotional reader, which is how I would recommend reading it. That pace would take you through a two month journey through the Gospels.

Perhaps the best aspect of this book is the maps contained at the end of each section that details the path of Jesus’ itinerant ministry as seen through the eyes of that particular Gospel. My only real criticism comes from a minor annoyance. Where is the book summary on the back page? Instead of a summary, we get a snippet of the foreward. I would have preferred that the back cover provided some sort of synopsis. And I only say because when I go out to a bookstore to buy a book, I read the back cover to see if it’s interesting and to get an overview of what the book is about. I think, just from a marketing end, a synopsis would have been better.
Overall, Mr. Charles has put together a solid piece of work. Quite the enjoyable read. I recommend it to those wanting to dig a bit deeper into the Gospels.

You can preview a sample of the book at the author's website.

- Review for Christian Review of Books

Jesus' Public Relations Slogan: ..My Works Testify of Me - Daniel Charles