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[Following is a volunteer review of "Raven's Peak" by Lincoln Cole.]

Raven's Peak is the first book in a supernatural thriller series called World on Fire. In the prologue, we're introduced to the Reverend, a mysterious character attracted to self-punishment and clearly dealing with a load of regret and guilt. He's in a prison cell, miles underground and visited by a woman named Freida who was partly responsible for his lockup. We're almost immediately thrown into a world of supernatural beings when they start discussing demons and organizations called the Coucnil and the Ninth Circle. This world is full of lies, deceit and the battle between good and evil. Freida needs the Reverend's help (or Arthur, as we soon find out) finding someone very important to him. Can either of them be trusted?

The main protagonist is Haatim Arison, a 30-something college graduate with a Theology degree, back in Arizona after the death of his little sister caused him to lose his faith and run away from his family in India. He meets Abigail Dressler, Arthur's 20-something protégé demon hunter and essentially adopted daughter, in the most bizarre circumstances. He's asked by a stranger to follow Abigail because the stranger thinks she's trying to kill him. Abigail is working for the Council but is ultimately trying to find the demon who took Arthur. After Abigail comes to Haatim's rescue, the two travel to the secluded town of Raven's Peak to figure out the strange occurrences there. As Haatim finds out more about the secrets of his family and Abigail's trust in her superiors is shaken, they will need to decide if they can trust each other as well.

This book caught my attention very early on because I really enjoy all things supernatural. The book itself reminded me of the show, Supernatural. Fighting demons, putting trust in strangers, tracking down strange happenings around the country. The storyline is very well balanced with chapters bouncing between the main characters and the goings-on in the intertwined organizations. The suspense builds very well without being too predictable and the character development is very well done.

My only complaints are a few errors not caught in editing and the sometimes too-formal dialogue. In one of the later chapters, a character's name changes within a paragraph or two from Derrick to Tim. Other errors were much more subtle and easily could have just been typos (i.e. using are instead of and). The dialogue just felt a little uncomfortable to me because of the lack of contractions. A character repeatedly saying "will not" and "do not" instead of "won't" and "don't" just doesn’t feel natural when reading.

The fact that two of the main characters are female and Indian makes for a very interesting dynamic when facing issues of strength and religion. When faced with issues like demons and the fight between good and evil, those become very important aspects of a character's life and experience. Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. I give this book 3 out of 4 stars due the editing errors. I spent the better part of a day reading over 100 pages of it and I very much look forward to reading the rest of the series!

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Raven's Peak
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Glad you enjoyed the book so well. Most people who don't like the supernatural have said that this book kept their attention right to the end. Thanks for your review.