A Crack in the World: The Reckoning by James Mordechai
Paranormal Pandemonium
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
4 Stars
Buddy cop movie adventure? Check. A demonic dog that probably does more good than evil? Check. Howling severed heads? Check. Our heroes Geno & Carter must once again save civilization from their immortal archenemy, who’s bamboozled his jailors & escaped. However, along the way, they meet some rather particular strangers, battle hellish nuns with magic/bullets, traverse another dimension & employ a truly unorthodox weapon: the as grotesque as it gets severed head depicted on this tome’s cover.
Some enjoyable highlights: Interesting hexagram prognostications, the valiant duo’s teamwork & banter, and how bizarre occultism could get (“You should have stayed dead!”). Pictographic clues pointing to yet another extremely ancient, disembodied entity plus their friend’s supposedly schizophrenic symptoms subtly explained the mysterious but compelling ending. Apropos commentary: “Within a universe of wonder, only the doubter remains blind to its marvels.”The Reaper’s Quota by Sarah McKnight
Postmortem Deadlines
An Indie Book Review by Joseph Poopinski
4 Stars
This is a cute start to a trilogy with a pretty clever premise: Murderers in life must keep doing just that in the afterlife. Struggling in a workplace bureaucracy bereft of mirth & creature comforts (minus occasionally holding a warm mug in his boney hands), our hero Reaper #2497 procrastinates instead of completing his slaying assignments in a timely manner. But when the Big Boss cracks down… lookout!
I think the concept was a fabulous idea & well executed (pun intended!). Despite the dearth in Reaper #2497’s deathly duties, he exhibited creativity (in victim selection/termination & testing the status quo) & alertly made two friends in that unlikely climate. Of his frequently grisly entries into fulfilling the required monthly random death quota, no fatality repeated the same way & his paperwork always had a funny zinger.
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