Centralia by Mike Dellosso

Peter Ryan wakes up on a typical morning only to find his house empty, his wife and daughter nowhere to be found. His world is shattered after a phone call to a friend confirms the impossible: his wife and daughter died in a car accident he does not remember. Haunted by faint memories and flashes of details, Peter becomes convinced that something isn't right and begins to question reality. When he discovers a note in his daughter's handwriting, strange memories begin to surface that cause him to second-guess nearly everything he once believed. Suddenly armed men show up at Peter's home, turning the mysterious puzzle of his past into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. On the run and unsure whom to trust, Peter has to discover what's real and what isn't . . . before he loses everything.


My review:
  This book starts out with the statement "Things are not what they seem." And then the story begins and you see that is exactly the case.

  Mike has been one of my favorite authors for quite some time, and every novel he churns out is a masterpiece, totally different from his others. This one is no exception. It is totally different from his previous seven books, and it  is so good  that he will have a hard time topping this one. The book has been described as a psychological thriller, and that is an excellent description of the book. Peter Ryan, the main character, has no clue what is going on for a lot of the book, and neither does the reader. He has all sorts of memories that flash in and out of his mind, often contradicting other memories that he experiences. There are people chasing him who he doesn't know, nor does he know why they are after him.

  Since the main character is confused, so was I as a reader....... but it wasn't a bad confusion. It was a confusion that made me want to read faster so I could get to the part of the book where it was revealed what was going on; the part of the book where Peter Ryan found out for sure who he was, and which memories were real and which were not.

  After a roller coaster of a ride, things start being made clear, and I found myself thinking, "Man, Mike is a genius for coming up with this plot!" It is a convoluted and complex plot, that is also exciting and full of drama and surprises. I loved the whole book, but especially how it reached its conclusion. I was sorry to see it end, and am hoping that what looks like a sequel may be in the works.

  The book has it all: suspense, drama. bad guys, good guys, chases, surprises, and faith. What stood out to me in the book, was although Peter had no clue what was real and what was not for most of the time, he could sense God and that He had had a close relationship with God before all of the madness set in. And although the book is fictional, that truth is not. No matter how rough life gets, no matter what condition our mind is in, whether it be things like in this book, or Alzheimer's and other mental illness, if we have a relationship with God, that will remain no matter what condition our mind is in.

  I highly recommend this book, and Mike's other books, if you enjoy good suspense.

  Centralia is set in the real ghost town like town of Centralia, PA, which has an interesting history. Read about it here.

About the author:

Mike Dellosso, writing also under the pen name Michael King, is the author of numerous novels of suspense, including Darkness Follows, Darlington Woods, and Scream. Mike is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and is a popular conference and workshop teacher. He earned his BA degree from Messiah College and his MBS from Master's International School of Divinity. He lives in Hanover, PA, with his wife and daughters. Mike is also a survivor of colon cancer, diagnosed in 2008.

  And might I add, from my personal interactions with him, an all around nice guy, in addition to being a great author.

Centraila is available from Tyndale House Publishers.

Thanks to Tyndale for the review copy.