Monday, January 21, 2013

The Delusion by Laura Gallier

Do unseen forces of good and evil actually exist? It’s a question that haunts Owen Edmonds. Literally.

By March of Owen’s senior year, eleven students at Lincoln Forest High School have committed suicide. Amid the media frenzy and fanatical onlookers, Owen remains levelheaded—that is until he encounters his own near death experience and wakes to a distressing new reality.

Everyone he sees appears shackled and enslaved.

While frantically seeking to cure his crazed hallucinations, Owen’s delusions become even more sinister when he witnesses what appears to be an unseen army of hideous, towering beings. These Creepers, as he calls them, are preying upon people, including his classmates and girlfriend, tormenting and inciting humanity to self-destruct.
Owen eventually arrives at a mind-bending conclusion: He’s not merely imagining forces of evil at work. Everyone else is blind to the evil that is.

He must warn others and rescue those he loves, but this proves to be no simple mission. He’s hard pressed to get anyone to believe him.

Experience life through Owen Edmonds’ eyes and decide for yourself: has he lost his mind or have we?


My review: 

    When I was contacted about reviewing this book, I read the description of it and watched the book trailer, and thought it sounded really good. After reading it, I can say it did not disappoint. The book is written for teens, but as I can attest, adults will enjoy it also.

      Frank Peretti has become a standard to compare Christian fiction that has supernatural themes to, and this book would fall into books similar to his earlier books, though different in ways. The main character starts to see people wrapped in chains, with labels on the chains of what binds them. He also sees angelic beings and evil beings he calls "creepers." I have never been a fan of the first person point of view, but this is the type of book that it works very well for, and possibly better than the third point of view would have worked. In this case, most of everything that happens is through the main character, Owen's, eyes, so the first person point of view works great.

   The book is very well written, has a great plot, and a very likable main character. I really enjoyed it and found it a hard book to put down, so I didn't. I settled in my chair and read it through in one evening, and it is a normal sized paperback, 337 pages. As I said, it is juvenile fiction, but any adult that enjoys reading this type of book will enjoy it. It is not a "dumbed down" book. The main characters just happen to be teenagers.

   The book does have a few language issues, which always bothers me in a Christian novel, but especially in one geared for teens. There were a few cases of God's name taken in vain, and also of hell being used as an expletive.

   The book is still worth reading, and is a great start into the fiction genre' for this author.

Check out the site for the book here.



About the author:


As a teenager and young adult, Laura appeared to be an outgoing young lady with a bright future. In reality, she was ashamed, confused and broken as a result of her sexually active lifestyle. It wasn’t until she experienced an unplanned pregnancy, followed by a rushed marriage and subsequent divorce, that she came to the realization that God’s biblical plan for sex and marriage is for our protection. She repented for her past and determined that, by God’s grace, she would live a sexually pure life.

Laura eventually met Patrick, and they honored Christ throughout their dating relationship and became husband and wife in January of 2001. They began serving together in student ministry, and Laura soon discovered that she possesses a unique ability to connect with teenagers and communicate in a way that resonates with young people. In time, the Lord placed an intense passion in her to clearly explain what the Bible has to say about sex and relationships. Realizing that purity training is most effective when parents take the lead through meaningful at-home discipleship connections, Laura authored a parent-teen purity study in 2009. Two years later, she developed a resource for parents and elementary-age children that lays a foundation for a life of purity.Laura continues to write books that bring a biblical perspective to issues surrounding sexuality, romance and relationships and frequently speaks to a variety of audiences including parents, singles, young adults and teens.

Patrick and Laura have an adventurous home life that consists of four children: a teen young man who loves to play football, a teen girl who “gags” at the thought of watching football, an elementary-age girl who thinks she’s a teenager, and an energetic little boy, whom Patrick lightheartedly says “brings balance to the force.” The Galliers live in Cypress, Texas, and attend Champion Forest Baptist Church.

Check out her website.


Thanks to the author for the review copy.

Book trailer:



have we?

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