Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Falling Awake II: Revenant

SERIES: Falling Awake #2

AUTHOR: Kristoffer Gair

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 388 pages

RELEASE DATE: June 19, 2018

BLURB:

Andrew O’Donnell’s childhood friend, Thomas, was murdered when they were ten years old. Nightmares and guilt have plagued Andrew ever since. And he believes himself responsible for delivering Thomas into the very hands of the men who committed the atrocity.

Now, fourteen years later, Andrew is driven to uncover the mystery of what really happened to Thomas, the reason behind the brutal abduction, and whether the assailants—who were never caught—have set their sights on someone else.

Even the help of an unlikely ally may not be enough to stop the darkness, the threat of what it will do to them in this life…or the next.

REVIEW:

Ok. First of all, this is not a romance, it’s a thriller/horror/mystery. Second, there are some very disturbing scenes in this story so if it’s a trigger for you, please be careful. Third, you really need to read these in order. Things will make more sense.

If you’ve read book one, then continue. If not, go read book 1 first. 

If you’ve read book 1, you know they guys meet at an in-between and hash out a story to Daniel, because he can’t remember anything about why he’s there. And the guys help him understand what’s going on. But the one the story hits the hardest, is Andrew. Because Andrew was there when what happened to Daniel, known then as Thomas, happened. And this is the story of what happened to get them to the in-between in book 1.

Andrew hasn’t still gotten over the fact of his friend Thomas’s death. It’s been 14 years, and he still has nightmares every night. And he has to get to the bottom of what happened. He has to know the truth of that night. Because the police covered up a lot. He knows because he saw the crime scene after it happened. And he knows Thomas wasn’t killed there and his parents weren’t just shot. But as Andrew starts digging harder and harder, he’s warned several times that there’s only going to be one outcome, and it’s not going to be a good one. He even finds an unlikely ally, who’s been searching into roughly the same thing and has been trying to hide the potential victims. Only to have them all die. When they finally find where the murderers are, they are both in for the shock of their lives. Because what happened was something they were not expecting. And Andrew is in shock alone at who one of the killers is.

I feel for Andrew. Andrew has a gift of sight that allows him see things and have a clearer perception of things most people don’t. But what he sees when he closes his eyes at night, is something he will never get over. The guilt alone that he feels like he’s the one that caused his friend’s death causes his nightmares to be twice as bad. But what he doesn’t realize, is that those killers would have killed Thomas anyway. He was slated to die by them. But trying to find these guys and why they are doing this is almost impossible. But he does find them. But the truth of the matter, is no matter how guilty Andrew feels, these revenants are pure evil. They come back again and again and basically pick up where they left off. They are pure evil. They literally suck the life out of the places they’ve been. So yeah, I feel for Andrew. Because there’s no way for him to get past what has happened. He can’t find any closure. He can’t find a way to escape the guilt or anything else, because it’s a never ending loop. And they have to find a way to make it stop. Because for some reason, these guys are constantly after Thomas/Daniel, in any life form he’s in. 

I don’t know if I could do what these guys do. Come back time after time to try to stop evil in its tracks. I know cops and firefighters and such and what they see every day, it’s gruesome. I don’t know how they can compartmentalize so they can live from day to day. Matter of fact, I know some that can’t. Some cases send them to the bottle and they never come back, some commit suicide, some try to run away from it. It never works but they do it anyway. Anyway to get away from the horror. So I want you to imagine some of the worst crime scenes you’ve heard of and think worse. And you might get a glimpse of what these guys are seeing.

However, having said all that, I have to give credit where it is due. It’s one heck of a horror story. It’s got a great plot line to it, the characters are so real, because there’s no way anyone couldn’t be immune to this stuff. It’s just a great story. And I’m curious to see how book 3 is going to go. Because in book 1, they started on another journey and I wonder if book 3 is this journey they are going to go on. It’s something I think you thriller/horror fans will love.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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