Douglas Christian Larsen

Buddy Nicodemus is a modern-day David, a warrior for God, and he cannot wait to get his hands on the Goliaths of the world. Buddy serves the great cause of the most important religious movement in the history of the world, Jehovah’s Army, and if wet work is involved, so much the better for zealous Buddy Nicodemus. It is time to clean house, to usher in a new world, order in the heavens, and with power, and fury, Christ will be served, and the kingdom of the cults will fall.

Joshua and Michael, social misfits, laughable info geeks of the worst kind, are searching for truth. They are Sunday school teachers, and they run a website, Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing, and they are too swiftly running out of hope. They are growing more and more discouraged, as proof of a benevolent God is getting harder and harder to find in the world, and the evidence of a devil run amuck is all too prevalent. Not only are they questioning the validity of Christianity in all of its garish scams, cults and mean spiritedness, but they are beginning to wonder whether or not God even exists. Their website is as much a joke as their nonexistent social lives, as no one knows it exists, no one visits. No one cares.

But Buddy knows. Others, powerful others, have visited the site as well. And what Joshua and Michael are doing, what they are saying — in short, it must be stopped. Because they are demonic, these freaks, these liars. How dare they slander Jehovah’s Army? With their words, with their questions, these heretics are spitting into the very Face of God Himself. The world is poised for cleansing, eternal cleansing, for the very last apocalyptic Holy War, and demonic pagans such as Michael and Joshua must be the first example of what happens to those who would stand against God and His Movement.

Stacey Colton is a failure, utterly. Washed-up ex-boxer who never liked hitting opponents, fired, unemployed, losing his house, deserted by wife and children — the only thing vivid behind his eyes is an image of himself, speeding his horrible little car through the barrier of a ten-story parking garage, and plummeting into final darkness, all the ten stories down. Wee wee wee, all the way home. Devoid of hope, this solution seems the only solution, and he finds he cannot deny the compulsive suggestion.

Bronte Chaplin flees from her cultic family to her abusive boyfriend and back again, seemingly without choice or hope, it is either one darkness, or another. She is desperately hungry, but for exactly what she cannot say — true love, the elusive hint of a soul mate’s existence, true peace? Music has been her only escape, her compulsive prodigy service to music, but now even this is proving no haven.

Lines on a map swiftly converging, speeding toward a focal point — is it coincidence, or the mysterious workings of a higher power? The collision course will prove life changing, and deadly.

Deception is alive and well in the world, and given a mere half a chance, even the elect of God will be deceived. That is why the command has echoed through the ages: “Do not be deceived.”

FIVE STARS - I'm still surprised at just how much this novel is a sleeper. Quickening Dreams has to be the sleeper of the last 10 years, or more. It is engrossing and exciting, and far better than books like the Left Behind series. Better plot and characters and humor. I love the romantic thread that is throughout the book. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series and I thank the author with my whole heart for putting out this book, and I hope it comes out in audio next.