Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Winlock Press
Publication Date: 10th Sept 2015
Pages: 281
MY REVIEW:
A copy of A Coin For Charon (Marlowe Gentry Book 1)
was sent to Confessions of a Reviewer by the author Dallas Mullican, in
exchange for an honest review. This is said review. This book is published by
Winlock Press.
Having so many
indie authors as friends on Facebook and Twitter inevitably leads to you seeing
other author names floating around that, you think you must connect with these
people because they seem to be interesting chaps or chapesses. Dallas Mullican
is a name I have seen around for a long time but for one reason or another
never connected with. That was up until a short time ago when he was looking
for reviews for A Coin For Charon. I
thought I would finally take the plunge and ask. Was it a good move or should I
have left well alone?
Marlowe Gentry is
a cop on the edge. The last serial killer case he worked on only ended when his
wife was killed and his daughter scarred for life.
Seraphim is the
latest serial killer on the loose. His real name though is Gabriel. Gabriel
believes he is killing to save his victims and finally set them free. The law,
and Marlowe, would dispute this.
With Gabriel
seemingly killing at random and Marlowe with no clue as to how to stop him,
what follows is a furious clash of personalities within their own minds as they
both struggle with their own demons and struggle to end the battle. But who
will be victorious?
OK, so how did
finally making contact with Mr Mullican work out for me? Well, I will review
properly but just let me say this: I would class this book as a brutal,
psychological thriller, verging on a horror but for book lists and suchlike, I
would put it in the thriller category. The date is the 11th January
2016. I will be hard pushed to read a better one the rest of this year.
Characters. A
book needs characters. It also helps if the book has characters that you can
believe in and connect with pretty early in the story. For whatever reason, I
connected with each and every one in this book immediately. Why would that be I
hear you ask? No idea. Must just be the way they are written. Tick one for
writing skills.
Marlowe Gentry is
obviously the main man in this, being the hero of sorts. He is a cop with a
vicious brutal past. You couldn’t get any worse. He is trying to rebuild his
life now, but it isn’t really working. He sees himself as a failure constantly
swimming in a lake of guilt. His partner, Spence, knows this, and would do
anything to help Marlowe out of this hole. He is a really good man to have at
your back. Likeable and loyal. Dr Drenning is a woman with a past that, again,
could not be any more brutal. The problem for her is that it is also her
present. Max is dying. He has no option on this. He needs to try and do it as
dignified as possible.
Gabriel is a
killer. At the same time though he is a person that you can connect with in
more ways than one. He is also dealing with the fact he is a failure in his own
mind and his lake of guilt is nearly as big as Marlowe’s. Put all of these
troubled people together in this story and they totally gel together like their
only purpose in life was to be in this story. Tick two for writing skills.
The plot has been
done before. Hasn’t it? Serial killer that is seemingly impossible to trace and
stop, with the main cop having a troubled past that interferes with his life on
a daily basis? Yeah I seem to remember a few books and films with a similar
vain. What makes this different then? Why does it hold your attention to the
very end? This would be where tick three for writing skills comes in.
When you connect
the characters and the plot and the atmosphere and the fear and the horror and
the intrigue and the blood and the psychology and the tenderness and the
sadness and the excitement all together, you get a story that not only takes
the old plots, but sort of rewrites them and ups the bar a bit as if Mr
Mullican was saying to some old writing dogs, “OK then I read yours, now read
mine and gimme a shout when you’re done!”
This story is not
just a thriller. To me it is an examination of the human condition of guilt and
the human trait of feeling a failure. The interesting part for me is the fact
that normally the killer OR the cop is the one that feels the guilt and is a
failure. The other one normally calls the shots. In this story, the cop AND the
killer are so alike they could almost be twins separated at birth. They are
both riddled with guilt. They both consider themselves to be failures. You see
these weaknesses from both sides of the coin.
I don’t like
doing spoilers and I hope this description of the characters doesn’t give
anything away, but this story is immense. It is so emotional from so many
points of view. There are so many times in this story that you will feel
totally sorry for someone and just want to give them a big hug. Even ones that
shouldn’t deserve the hugs. The villain in this one, for me, was one of the
most likable characters I have read in years. I felt dirty for liking him so
much. One thing he does towards the end of the book had me wanting to skin him
alive very very slowly. It was the most despicable thing I have ever read in my
life.
Marlowe is one of
the best cop characters I have read in years as well. He seems to think he is
invincible most of the time, albeit a bit misguided in this assumption as well.
This story verges on the supernatural at times. It hints that the character of
Gabriel thinks he is connected to the gods at times. I have never made this
comparison in a review before, probably because I think the other writer is a bit untouchable, but,
Dallas Mullican has written something here that fans of John Connolly would be
over the moon to read. Similar style, with similar likeable characters and
plots that, although done before, read as fresh, and perfectly paced and
perfectly enjoyable. Tick number four for the writing skills.
I could go on all
night about this book. I loved it. And it’s a debut. Wow. Roll on book Two!
To summarise:
Seriously? Just buy it.
General rating:
★★★★★ Superb debut!
Thriller rating:
★★★★★ See above!
If you would like to help support Confessions of a Reviewer,
then please consider using the links below to buy A Coin For Charon or any other books from Dallas. This not
only supports me but also lets me know how many people actually like to buy
books after reading my reviews.
Thanks.
Book Synopsis:
Gabriel isn’t murdering anyone―he’s saving them.
The media has dubbed him the Seraphim Killer. He believes
the gods have charged him to release the chosen, those for whom life has become
an unbearable torment. Gabriel feels their suffering—his hands burn, his skull
thunders, his stomach clenches. Once they are free, he places coins on their
eyes to pay Charon for passage into paradise.
Detective Marlowe Gentry has spent the past two years on
the edge. The last serial killer he hunted murdered his wife before his eyes
and left his young daughter a mute shell. Whenever she looks at him, her dead
eyes push him farther into a downward spiral of pain and regret. He sees the
Seraphim as an opportunity for revenge, a chance to forgive himself―or die
trying.
Gabriel performs the gods’ work with increasing confidence,
freeing the chosen from their misery. One day, the gods withdraw the blessing―a
victim he was certain yearned for release still holds the spark of life.
Stunned, he retreats into the night, questioning why the gods have abandoned a
loyal servant. Without his calling, Gabriel is insignificant to the world
around him.
He will do anything to keep that from happening.
After spending
twenty years as the lead singer of a progressive metal band, Dallas Mullican
turned his creative impulses toward writing. Raised on King, Barker, and
McCammon, he moved on to Poe and Lovecraft, enamored with the macabre. During
his time at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he received degrees
in English and Philosophy, Dallas developed a love for the Existentialists,
Shakespeare, Faulkner, and many more great authors and thinkers. Incorporating
this wide array of influences, he entices the reader to fear the bump in the
night, think about the nature of reality, and question the motives of their
fellow humans.
A
pariah of the Deep South, Dallas doesn't understand NASCAR, hates Southern rock
and country music, and believes the great outdoors consists of walking to the
mailbox and back. He remains a metalhead at heart, and can be easily recognized
by his bald head and Iron Maiden t-shirt.
And
for more about Dallas, visit his site or find him on social media:
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Amazon Page
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