Review: 7 Hours Series

7 Hours Series

Tyndale House Publishers / 2012

About the series:

Death comes for everyone. But what if you were given seven more hours? Would you go back and relive a previous time in your life? Or would you live those seven more hours, starting now?

In this collection of seven full-length novellas, seven writers come together to tackle the questions of life, death, and time as we know it. Each author has taken the same concept, featuring a mysterious central character, and spun their own story.

Stories include: All of Our Dreams, Whole Pieces, Teardrop, Escapement, Recollection, Rear View, and The Last Night of Alton Webber.

7 Stories. 7 Writers. 7 Hours.

~

Rearview by Mike Dellosso

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:


In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

Professor Dan Blakely has it all . . . until a false accusation leaves him in financial ruin with nothing to fall back on and little hope.

In a moment of desperation, he decides to do the unthinkable. But when he loses control of his SUV and careens down the side of a mountain, his plans take another turn.

Trapped beneath the frame of his mangled vehicle, Dan is visited by a mysterious stranger who offers him three choices. Filled with regret, Dan makes a decision . . . but little does he know that his troubles have only just begun.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

My rating:

My thoughts:

I found Rearview to be a really good read! I did, at times, think it was a bit too descriptive/wordy which made it hard to get into the story. The characters were good and there were some surprising things that made the book all the more interesting to read.

Escapement by Rene Gutteridge

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:

In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

Mattie Bigham has lost his job, is losing his wife, and is not losing any weight. At just under four hundred and fifty pounds, he figures his doctor’s prediction that he's going to drop dead any second is about to come true. He is right.

When Thomas Constant appears, Mattie chooses murder—to carry out revenge on the bully who tormented him all through school. Except when he arrives for the showdown, he’s shocked to find this man in a scenario not unlike his own. Things get complicated quickly, and time is running out.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

My rating:

My thoughts:

I really liked Escapement! After reading Rearview, I thought I knew what to expect with the 7 Hours series (regarding Thomas), but Escapement was way different, yet still very good. I liked all the references to the makings of a clock and thought the characters were nice, although not that gripping to me.

Teardrop by Travis Thrasher

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:

In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

Mike Harden is living a comfortable life when he discovers he is going to die. Though skeptical of the stranger’s offer, Mike chooses to go back sixteen years to the day he married Ashley.

When Mike realizes this wish has come true, it doesn’t take him long to begin to make plans. He didn’t relive this because it was the happiest day of his life. Mike made this choice in order to go back to the moment when a man named Vince Levy first saw Ashley. The first and only time Vince saw the woman he would go on to kill ten years later. Mike has gone back to his wedding day to kill his wife’s murderer.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

My rating:

My thoughts:

Teardrop is my favorite in the 7 Hours series so far! I loved it! The characters were great and I loved the whole premise to the story (how a man chooses to go back in time to when his wife met her eventual killer to try and prevent the murder from ever happening). Great read!

Recollection by Tom Pawlik

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:

In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

New York City cabdriver Adrian Colfax awakens one night muttering a mysterious string of numbers and with the fragments of a bizarre dream in his head. He can’t shake the feeling there’s something he’s supposed to do. Something very important. He just can’t remember what it is.

Through a series of haunting visions, Adrian comes to believe he's been transported back in time to prevent the violent murder of the girl he loved. But he also learns that saving Kate could result in something even more catastrophic.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

My rating:

My thoughts:

Recollection was a wonderful story! I was surprised by a lot of things in this book - especially what all the numbers meant.

Whole Pieces by Ronie Kendig

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:

In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

After a brutal attack left him without a limb and his team dead, former Green Beret Haytham “Hawk” Wilson is angry at life and God. Bitter, he pushes everyone out of his life. Every day he relives his decision to send the Afghan boy home rather than following orders to kill any who came upon his hidden team. So when on his deathbed at age 36, eaten alive by grief and regret, he’s offered the chance to relive any seven hours, Hawk is determined to go back, kill the boy, and save his team. The decision is simple . . . until he gets there.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

My rating:

My thoughts:

I really liked Whole Pieces. I loved the whole military aspect and thought the story was well written. I liked the characters, but none of them stand out as a favorite to me. Thomas Constant's actions were very interesting in this installment and I was really surprised by something Hawk did. Overall, a good read.

All of Our Dreams by James Andrew Wilson

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:

In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

Luke Harrison is haunted by dreams of an imaginary past. Five years ago his wife, Arianna, fell victim to a horrifying degenerative disease, unraveling all of their dreams in an instant. Luke’s entire life is focused on her care and comfort.

But there is an approaching darkness, a malevolent Watcher who seems intent on taking Arianna from Luke.

Dreams and reality collide as Luke faces his own impending death. He doesn’t know what's real anymore, and time is running out.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

My rating:

My thoughts:

All of Our Dreams was another good installment to the 7 Hours Series. The story was interesting and I liked getting to see another side of Thomas Constant - and learn more behind what started the 7 Hours. While I didn't agree theologically with everything in this book, it was still a good read.

The Last Night of Alton Webber by Robin Parrish

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:

In each installment of 7 Hours, a character is visited by the enigmatic Thomas Constant, who makes a heart-stopping statement: “You are about to die. But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now.”

Thomas Constant ventures to a mansion on a remote island, where a powerful criminal empire is gathering to witness the final moments of one of their own and readying their latest dark and dangerous plot.

They weren’t always this way. They were once ordinary people like anyone else. But a lifetime of complicated circumstances and difficult choices slowly molded them into this shadowy organization.

Can their long, complex history be changed by seven hours? The end has come, but this last leg of Thomas’s experiment may be the most challenging task of his remarkable life.

The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

My rating:

My thoughts:

The Last Night of Alton Webber is definitely my favorite of the 7 Hours series, which is fitting since it's the final installment in the series and the best was saved for last (at least in my opinion). I loved how the story switched from present day to the past almost every chapter, and I have to say I did not expect some of the things that happened in this story at all - so surprising! As with the previous books, I loved getting to know more about Thomas Constant and some of the things he did in this book were fascinating.

Overall thoughts:

All in all, this was a very interesting series that I extremely enjoyed reading! I loved how so many of my favorite authors came together with this series and I really enjoyed all the installments, though my two favorites were The Last Night of Alton Webber by Robin Parrish & Teardrop by Travis Thrasher.

I recommend the 7 Hours Series if you enjoy quick reads with some intriguing and supernatural aspects.

*I received a complimentary eBook copy of this series for my review. I was not required to give a positive review, only my honest opinion - which I've done. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.*

Was my review helpful? If so, please click "yes" on Amazon. Thank you!!

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Review: Scream by Mike Dellosso

Scream by Mike Dellosso

Realms / 2009

Find on: Amazon, Goodreads

About the book:

Otherworldly Screams... 

A Madman on the Loose... 

This Time the Stakes Are Higher Than Ever

While talking to his friend on the phone, Mark Stone is startled by a cacophony of otherworldly screams. Seconds later, a tragic accident claims his friend's life. When this happens several more times--screams followed by an untimely death--he is compelled to act.

Battling his failure as a husband and struggling with his own damaged faith, Mark embarks on a mission to find the meaning behind the screams and hopefully stop death from calling on its next victim. When his estranged wife is kidnapped and he again hears the screams as she calls from her cell phone, his search becomes much more personal and much more urgent.

My rating:

My thoughts:

Scream is the second book I've read by Mike Dellosso and, like Frantic, I loved it! Scream was such a great suspense novel that had some supernatural elements. The book definitely made me think about how everyone has an appointment with death and the importance of trusting in Jesus alone for salvation.

I really liked the characters. I was surprised that women were kidnapped in Scream (I obviously didn't read the description well), but I have to say, I did guess who "Judge" was early on in the book. Still, I found myself "on the edge" of my seat in suspense a LOT (especially towards the end).

The whole screams aspect of the story was very weird, but it did make the novel more intriguing.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Scream and definitely recommend it if you enjoy suspense books that have some supernatural elements.

*I did not get this book for review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.*

Was my review helpful? If so, please click "yes" on Amazon. Thank you! :)

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Review: Frantic by Mike Dellosso

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Mike Dellosso

and the book:

Frantic

Realms (February 7, 2012)

***Special thanks to Jon Wooten of Charisma House for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mike Dellosso is the author of numerous novels of suspense, including Darkness Follows, Darlington Woods, and Scream. He is an adjunct professor of writing at Lancaster Bible College and frequent contributor to Christian websites and newsletters. Mike is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers association, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, the Relief Writer’s Network, and FaithWriters, and he plans to join International Thriller Writers. 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. Hometown: Hanover, PA


Visit the author's website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

Gas station attendant Marny Toogood thinks it’s just another ordinary day on the job until an urgent message from a young girl in the backseat of a car draws him into a daring rescue attempt. Now he is on the run with Esther and William Rose from their insane “uncle” who thinks it is his mission from God to protect William, a boy with incredible faith that gives him supernatural powers.

As they face kidnapping, underground cults, and other evils, can Marny trust the simple faith of a child and stand his ground against a power so twisted?

Product Details:
List Price: $13.99

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Realms (February 7, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1616384808
ISBN-13: 978-1616384807


AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

The night Marny Toogood was born it rained axheads and hammer handles.

  His grandfather made a prediction, said it was an omen of some sort, that it meant Marny’s life would be stormy, full of rain clouds and lightning strikes. Wanting to prove her father wrong, Janie Toogood named her son Marnin, which means “one who brings joy,” instead of the Mitchell she and her husband had agreed on.

 But in spite of Janie’s good intentions, and regardless of what his birth certificate said, Marny’s grandfather was right.

 At the exact time Marny was delivered into this world and his grandfather was portending a dark future, Marny’s father was en route to the hospital from his job at Winden’s Furniture Factory where he was stuck working the graveyard shift. He’d gotten the phone call that Janie was in labor, dropped his hammer, and run out of the plant. Fifteen minutes from the hospital his pickup hit standing water, hydroplaned, and tumbled down a steep embank- ment, landing in a stand of eastern white pines. The coroner said he experienced a quick death; he did not suffer.

 One week after Marny’s birth his grandfather died of a heart attack. He didn’t suffer either.

 Twenty-six years and a couple of lifetimes of hurt later, Marny found himself working at Condon’s Gas ’n Go and living above the garage in a small studio apartment George Condon rented to

1

Mike Dellosso 

him for two hundred bucks a month. It was nothing special, but it was a place to lay his head at night and dream about the dark cloud that stalked him.

 But his mother had told him every day until the moment she died that behind every rain cloud is the sun, just waiting to shine its light and dry the earth’s tears.

 Marny  held  on  to  that  promise  and  thought  about  it  every night before he succumbed to sleep and entered a world that was as unfriendly and frightening as any fairy tale forest, the place of his dreams, the only place more dark and foreboding than his life.

  On the day reality collided with the world of Marny’s night- mares, it was hotter than blazes, strange for a June day in Maine. The sun sat high in the sky, and waves of heat rolled over the asphalt lot at the Gas ’n Go. The weather kept everyone indoors, which meant business was slow for a Saturday. Marny sat in the garage bay waiting for Mr. Condon to take his turn in checkers and wiped the sweat from his brow.

^{“Man, it’s hot.”}

^{Mr. Condon didn’t look up from the checkerboard. “Ayuh.}

^{Wicked hot. Newsman said it could hit ninety.”}

^{“So it’ll probably get up to ninety-five.”}

^{Mr. Condon rubbed at his white stubble. “Ayuh.”}

^{He was sixty-two and looked it. His leather-tough skin was}

^{creased with deep wrinkles. Lots of smile lines. Marny had worked}

^{for him for two years but had known the old mechanic his whole}

^life.

^{Mr. Condon made his move then squinted at Marny. Behind}

^{him Ed Ricker’s Dodge truck rested on the lift. The transmis-}

^{sion had blown, and Mr. Condon should have been working}

^{on it instead of playing checkers. But old Condon kept his own}

^{schedule. His customers never complained. George Condon was}

^{the best, and cheapest, mechanic around. He’d been getting cars}

^{and trucks through one more Maine winter for forty years.}

^{Marny studied the checkerboard, feeling the weight of Mr.}

^{Condon’s dark eyes on him, and was about to make his move}

2

 

Fr antic 

when the bell chimed, signaling someone had pulled up to the pump island. Condon’s was the only full-service station left in the Down East, maybe in the whole state of Maine.

 Despite the heat, Mr. Condon didn’t have one droplet of sweat on his face. “Cah’s waitin’, son.”

 Marny glanced outside at the tendrils of heat wriggling above the lot, then at the checkerboard. “No cheating.”

^{His opponent winked. “No promises.”}

^{Pushing back his chair, Marny stood and wiped more sweat}

^{from his brow, then headed outside.}

^{The car at the pump was a 1990s model Ford Taurus, faded blue}

^{with a few rust spots around the wheel wells. The windows were}

^{rolled down, which probably meant the air-conditioning had quit}

^{working. This was normally not a big deal in Maine, but on a rare}

^{day like this, the driver had to be longing for cool air.}

^{Marny had never seen the vehicle before. The driver was a large}

^{man, thick and broad. He had close-cropped hair and a smooth,}

^{round face. Marny had never seen him before either.}

^{He approached the car and did his best to be friendly. “Mornin’.}

^{Hot one, isn’t it?”}

^{The driver neither smiled nor looked at him. “Fill it up. Regular.”}

^{Marny headed to the rear of the car and noticed a girl in the}

^{backseat. A woman, really, looked to be in her early twenties. She}

^{sat with her hands in her lap, head slightly bowed. As he passed}

^{the rear window she glanced at him, and there was something in}

^{her eyes that spoke of sorrow and doom. Marny recognized the}

^{look because he saw it in his own eyes every night in the mirror.}

^{He smiled, but she quickly diverted her gaze.}

^{As he pumped the gas, Marny watched the girl, studied the}

^{back of her head. She was attractive in a plain way, a natural pret-}

^{tiness that didn’t need any help from cosmetics. Her hair was rich}

^{brown and hung loosely around her shoulders. But it was her eyes}

^{that had captivated him. They were as blue as the summer sky, but}

^{so sad and empty. Marny wondered what the story was between}

^{the man and girl. He was certainly old enough to be her father. He}

3

Mike Dellosso 

looked stern and callous, maybe even cruel. Marny felt for her, for her unhappiness, her life.

  He caught the man watching him in the side mirror and looked at the pump’s gauge. A second later the nozzle clicked off, and he returned it to the pump. He walked back to the driver’s window. “That’ll be forty-two.”

 While the man fished around in his back pocket for his wallet, Marny glanced at the girl again, but she kept her eyes down on her hands.

 “You folks local?” Marny said, trying to get the man to open up a little.

The driver handed Marny three twenties but said nothing. Marny counted off eighteen dollars in change. “You new in the

area? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Lately, seems more people have been moving out than in.”

  Still nothing. The man took the money and started the car. Before pulling out he nodded at Marny. There was something in the way he moved his head, the way his eyes sat in their sockets, the way his forehead wrinkled ever so slightly, that made Marny shiver despite the heat.

 The car rolled away from the pump, asphalt sticking to the tires, and exited the lot. Marny watched until it was nearly out of sight, then turned to head back to the garage and Mr. Condon and the game of checkers. But a crumpled piece of paper on the ground where the Taurus had been parked caught his attention. He picked it up and unfurled it. Written in all capital letters was a message:

^{HE’S GOING TO KILL ME}











 

4

My rating:

My thoughts:

I had a feeling before I even started Frantic, that I would enjoy it - I just didn't know how much! As you can see, it's one of my favorite books now and I absolutely loved it! From the opening scene when Marny Toogood reads the note left by Esther, and then attempts to rescue her and her brother, I was drawn into the story.

Frantic had non-stop suspense and so many twists. Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen, something totally unexpected occurred! It definitely kept me "on-the-edge" of my seat!

Marny Toogood was probably my favorite character from Frantic. I loved seeing his character grow and I really hope there will be a sequel with him and the other main characters.

While Frantic is the first book I've read by Mike Dellosso, I now plan on reading his other books (especially Scream).

Anybody who loves suspense and/or thrillers has to read Frantic - it was great and I highly recommend it!

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via FIRST for my review. I was not required to give a positive review, only my honest opinion - which I've done. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.*

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