The Occupied by Craig Parshall

From "New York Times" bestselling author Craig Parshall comes a riveting story of supernatural suspense. As a youth, Trevor Black unleashed spiritual forces he couldn't comprehend. Years later, Trevor is a high-flying criminal defense lawyer in New York City, with a six-figure Aston Martin and a trophy wife. But in an extraordinary turn of events, he receives a burdensome gift: the ability to perceive the invisible. And the dark forces he now sees are all gunning for him.When one of Trevor's hometown friends is murdered, the MO is eerily similar to a shocking trail of murders that have already crossed the lawyer's path. So Trevor must return home to find the killer. . . and face not only his own personal demons, but supernatural ones as well.


My review:

  It has been a long time since I have read a book by Craig Parshall, but I remember liking everything I read by him. That made it an easy decision to request this book for review. And I was not disappointed.

  This book is totally different from his other works. It reminded me a lot of Frank Peretti's earliest books with the supernatural and the main character's ability to see demons in people. To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to like the book at first, but the further I got in the book, the more I liked it.

What I didn't like:
The first person point of view. It isn't a favorite of mine, and I think the third person pov would have worked better for this novel.

What I liked:
The main character. Parshall did a great job on his character of Trevor Black. His internal struggle to do what is right is inspiring, even though the book is fictional.

The suspense. This was a book where I couldn't tell what was going to happen next, and there were a lot of surprises.

The "supporting" characters. The book is full of interesting and colorful characters both good and bad. The dialogue and interactions between them and the main character were done masterfully.

The supernatural aspect. A book like this is a great reminder that there is a spirit world out there fighting Christians and all that is good and right. I felt Parshall did a great job of portraying and describing those beings in the book.

  I was surprised at the identity of the main bad guy. The author managed to keep that difficult to figure out.

  I found this a very enjoyable read, and am looking forward to more in this series.

I was given a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

About the author:

As a New York Times Best Selling fiction writer, Craig Parshall has authored or co-authored 11 suspense novels. His novels have been translated into multiple languages and have drawn high praise from the likes of veteran Hollywood filmmakers and producers Ken Wales and Phil Cooke, Publishers Weekly, and on his military thrillers, stellar marks from Lt. Col. Robert "Buzz" Patterson, USAF (retired) who carried the "nuclear football" for the President of the United States. In addition to his work as a novelist and magazine columnist, Craig is a constitutional lawyer and Washington insider who serves as Special Counsel to the American Center for Law & Justice. Craig has testified multiple times on civil liberty issues before committees of both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and before the Federal Communications Commission regarding the future of American media, and has represented clients before the U.S. Supreme Court. He speaks across the nation on issues of free speech and religious liberty, faith, culture & creativity, and law, and was the founding director of a groundbreaking effort to develop a First Amendment paradigm for Internet-based social media and communication platforms. Craig is married to nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Janet Parshall.


The Occupied is available from Tyndale Publishing.

Thanks to Tyndale for the review copy.