Are
these the shadows of things that must be, or are they the shadows of things
that might be? – Ebenezer Scrooge
After a mysterious encounter with an even more
mysterious individual, Clay Ryker finds himself asking that very same question.
After a decade away from his childhood home, he finds himself with a failed
business, a destroyed marriage, and forced to move back with his parents who
treat him like the kid he isn’t. The basketball star’s homecoming is less than
stellar, and he soon takes up a job working on creating headstones.
But after his encounter, things get interesting. He
discovers that he has the foreknowledge of the date that those around him will
die. He knows their Expiration Date. But are these numbers as set in stone before
they occur as much as they are when Clay is etching out the date for their
tombstone, or can the future be changed?
Theological answers will not suffice and lives hang
in the balance, propelling Clay to go after the serial killer who is making
Clay’s foreknowledge come true. In the process, he teams up with ex-cop and
Vince Turney – someone we first met in Dark
to Mortal Eyes – and is forced to face his troubled past.
Suspense and intrigue deepen as Clay discovers just
how much his past sins have to do with their present problems. And the stakes
are changed completely when he discovers that his ultimate enemy is not even of
this world.
In Expiration Date, Eric Wilson has
again crafted a wonderful novel that explores Earth’s tension between Heaven
and Hell. Very few authors can pull of a tale of the supernatural without
resorting to hokey clichés or sacrificing sound doctrine for a good story, but
Wilson pulls it off flawlessly, peeling back what we see as reality and opening
our eyes to the realm of the supernatural. It’s a novel that will leave you
thinking about its concepts and wanting more of the story, and thankfully,
Wilson provides both.
While Expiration Date can be read by
itself, you certainly don’t want to! After reading it, you’ll be compelled to
pick up his other books and see just how well Wilson connects this novel and
its characters in with his other works. Those that have previously read Dark to Mortal Eyes will gain even more
insight into what exactly the mysterious package is, and those that have read Haunt of Jackals will be in for quite a
major surprise.
Mini
Q&A with Eric
TCC: How was writing the second
novel to be published different than the first one?
Eric: We were living with friends, waiting for a house deal
to go through, and so the writing space was limited and stressful. I spent many
nights locked in the bathroom, sitting on the floor with my back against the
tub, typing on my laptop so as not to bug my wife, kids, or our gracious hosts.
I ended up writing Expiration Date in three months, while still working
30 hours a week at FedEx/Kinko's. It was very different writing under
contract, with deadlines, and reader expectations.
TCC: Clay discovers he can see the future, the exact timing of someone's death. What was your purpose in writing and discussing such foreknowledge?
Eric: If you knew someone's date of
death, their Expiration Date, would you try to change it?
Could you? Or is it already predetermined by God? I wanted to explore
the idea of fate vs. free will, of Calvinism vs. Armenianism. We tend
to put theological ideas into tidy boxes, but they often have elements of
both sides. The twist in the story is that our free will can also upset Satan's
plans.
TCC: This book ties to another of your books in a major way. What was it like for you to discover that you could interconnect these two novels?
Eric: Expiration Date is the bridge between my Senses
Series and my Jerusalem's Undead Trilogy. It has some elements from the first
series, some of the same characters, and then it adds a huge twist to that
in Haunt of Jackals, book two of the trilogy. I knew, as I started the
trilogy, that I wanted to weave in themes and characters from my earlier
books--everything from Addison Ridge Vineyards, Sgt. Turney, Josee Walker,
Rasputin, and WWII mysteries. As I started writing Haunt of Jackals, I
flirted with different ways of connecting the series, but the key came when I
realized that Kenny Preston, from Expiration Date, was thirteen years
old, the same boy-to-man age for the Concealed Ones in my trilogy. From there,
the rest was easy--and hugely fun!
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