4 out of 4 stars
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If you want a book that will keep you from reading to the very last page in one sitting, read Raven's Peak by Lincoln Cole. That is, given the fact that you are interested dealing with supernaturals and fighting against demons.
The story begins with a man who doesn't know what to do with his life and just sulks inside the comfort of a library. Lost in the thought that he will never think about the crisis of his family, Haatim finds himself being offered to take photographs of an unknown woman. Unsure and depressed about his life with no source of income to sustain his needs, he accepts the offer. He never expects that stalking her will be the unveiling of the other hidden side of the world. He follows her the last time and finds out that he is also being followed by two undead bodies possessed by demons. When he finally meets her, she has some information he is not sure if he is able to comprehend. Her name is Abigail Dressler. She is a demon Hunter. She wants to delete all of her pictures in his gadgets. She will leave him after he does. But it turns upside down when she learns about his identity. With his faith gone and unsure of everything happening in his life, he decides to go to Raven's Peak with her.
Meanwhile, Abigail Dressler works for the Council to fight against the Ninth Circle. She is currently given minor task because she is still convincing the Council that she can be trusted again after she has been possessed. Her memory of the possession is lost but the Council provides her some details of it. Her task is to check a small town in the Smokey Mountains called Raven's Peak where the Council receives reports about unusual activities. She takes Haatim with her despite the Council's order to leave him behind. She discovers a way to link the connection of her father's location and how she can bring him back to the land of the living. She is desperately finding a way to bring his father back because he has been dragged down to hell by an extraordinarily powerful demon. She realizes that her memory is the key to restore his father and it has been purposely deleted from her. At Raven's Peak, she finds the church where she has been possessed and that the Council somehow fabricates what she believes about it. Is Abigail Dressler willing to pay the price of fighting for what she believes is right or is fate just carefully crafting her doom?
Raven's Peak perfectly depicts a situation of a man who turned away from God in anger because of unbearable pain--- death of a loved one. Haatim boldly says to Abigail, "It's almost worst if God does exist because then it means everything wrong about our world is intentional." Because he has been a fanatic of God all his life, perhaps that's why he studies Theology in the first place, he believes that God causes everything in life. Death triggers him to think that "everything" includes both the good and the evil. The conversation gets even more interesting when Abigail responds about free will. While Haatim is blaming God to be the cause of a situation, Abigail is taking responsibility of anything that causes a situation.
It is also interesting to notice that Abigail is raised by his father and Haatim by his mother. Abigail shows more courage and independence most of the time than Haatim. Maybe that's what he has been lacking his entire life so when his mother pleads him to come home, he rather chooses to go to Raven's Peak with Abigail.
With all honesty and without exaggerating, I love each page of the book! It keeps me sharply focus and vividly imagining through the authors clear depiction of imagery. I abundantly use my five senses while reading and really taste the "metallic taste" of the air. For some reason, the gory experience makes me feel something creepy about my real environment.
I incredibly enjoy reading Raven's Peak so I give it 4 out of 4 stars! I don't see myself giving any less because even the inconsistency of Haatim's character is perfectly tolerable because it is just his first time to experience a new world of supernatural and strangeness. Moreover, Lincoln Cole daringly exposes the idea that faith in God is remarkably subjective depending upon the people who own it. People can hold on to it, let it go, or regain it. We can either believe that God is the reason of everything that is happening to us or that we are the creator of our own lives through our free will and actions.
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Raven's Peak
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