Spice up your summer reading with an intelligent and impressive dark thriller!
The Book of Paul is a new dark thriller by author Richard Long. The book has received great reviews and is currently on sale for 99 cents on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes! Download your copy now!
In addition, Richard is doing a HUGE giveaway, including a $100 gift certificate to Amazon, signed copies of his book, a Tarot Reading, and more! Make sure to fill out the Rafflecopter form at the end of this post!
If you have been following my blog for very long you probably read my review for this book a couple weeks ago. I originally requested the book to be part of the tour and my review was supposed to be part of my tour post, but once I read the book I didn't want to sit on the review for 2 weeks so I went ahead and posted it! I truly enjoyed this book. You can read the full review here. I am going to post just a portion of it below.
My Thoughts
I should warn you right up front that this book is going to take you on a wild and crazy, dark and dirty ride. I am having trouble even putting my thoughts about this story into words. It's just that crazy, I was struggling to describe it to a friend yesterday! It's not romance, but it does have a thread of a love story throughout it that really has the potential to change the course of history as Paul sees it. It's doesn't feel paranormal or supernatural, but really, in essence it is when you take into account the whole of the story. There is an underlying horror like feel to it, but it's not a scary horror, more like a creepy serial killer like horror. Suffice it to say, I can't really classify it other than to say that it has a little bit of everything in it. I also have to say that while it has a little of everything, if you aren't really prepared for the worst you probably won't enjoy it. If you have a weak stomach or you can't handle a torture, body modification, etc...then this probably isn't the book for you.
From the time the story starts until it ends only a couple days pass in reality, but a lot of back story is given in Martin's suppressed memories and the narrators journal entries. This part of the story, that I like to think of as "Martin's Story" really starts when he is a boy. The overall story goes back thousands of years, though, all the way to the beginning of time really. We get a sense of this part of the story from the narrators journal entries, he is giving us a pretty clear view of all the things that he is learning as he learns them from a number of sources. He is really the main character in the whole of the story, but since he isn't revealed for so long it's hard to think of him as such. This is just the beginning of the story and I can't wait to see what comes next.
This is such a unique story, at least it was for me. The whole time I was reading it I couldn't help but wonder where on earth this came from. It's a puzzle from the beginning, but once you hit the halfway point the pieces start fitting together in a beautiful if not psychotic way. There are still things that I wonder about, but I have every confidence that my questions will be answered as the story continues. At it's heart it's a supernatural thriller, but it's deeply psychological as well. It will make you re-think what you think you know about the "beginning", science and even religion. It will take you on a wild ride for sure, so buckle up!
About The Book of Paul
“Never alive…and never dead…”
In the rubble-strewn wasteland of Alphabet City, a squalid tenement conceals a treasure “beyond all imagining”—an immaculately preserved, fifth century codex. The sole repository of ancient Hermetic lore, it contains the authentic alchemical rituals for transforming thought into substance, transmuting matter at will…and attaining eternal life.
When a lusty, East Village tattoo artist has a torrid encounter with a battle-hardened loner, they are overwhelmed by the intensity of their feelings. Rose and Martin soon discover they are unwitting pawns on opposing sides of a battle that has shaped the course of human history. At the center of the conflict is Paul, the villainous overlord of an underground feudal society, who guards the book’s occult secrets in preparation for the fulfillment of an apocalyptic prophecy.
The action is relentless as Martin and Rose fight to escape Paul’s clutches and Martin’s destiny as the chosen recipient of Paul’s sinister legacy. Science and magic, mythology and technology converge in a monumental battle where the stakes couldn’t be higher: control of the ultimate power in the universe—the Maelstrom.
Read the first few sample chapters here >> http://www.thebookofpaul.com/excerpt/
The reviews are in!
The Book of Paul has been well received by reviewers who enjoy dark thrillers.
“Intelligent, self-aware, and often amusing, while hitting all the markers for sadistic, salacious, and scary. Written in short cinematic bursts from multiple viewpoints, The Book of Paul…weaves in and out of the realm of alchemy, mythology, and ancient arcana. No ordinary writer of horror…Richard Long is doubtless going to build a large and loyal fan base composed of people just like him: literate folks with a bizarre sense of humor who prefer salsa to sugar, red meat to broccoli, and a bucket of blood to a bath filled with rose petals. They will be waiting for the next installment.”
-- ForeWord Clarion Reviews «««««
"Totally absorbing! The Book of Paul is moving, profound, funny, terrifying and never lets you go. The prose is swift and sharp...at times, even poetic. Masterful storytelling. Hats off!!"
--Henry Bean, writer/director of THE BELIEVER
“Elegantly written and original, Richard Long's The Book of Paul…is so suspenseful and entertaining that I could not it put down, reading late into the night, wondering what the next chapter would bring. I strongly recommend it. The reader will not be disappointed.”
-- James H. Cone author of THE CROSS AND THE LYNCHING TREE
“I was greatly impressed. It is extremely hard, if not impossible, to put down.”
--Michael Rips, Author of PASQUALE’S NOSE
"Twisted, outrageous, relentless -- you won't want to miss The Book of Paul."
--Greg Lichtenberg, author of PLAYING CATCH WITH MY MOTHER
About the author
Richard Long writes to exorcise the demons of his past and manifest the dreams of his future.
He started life in the school of hard knocks and worked to create his own rags to riches story of troubled kid turned successful advertising executive.
His debut novel, The Book of Paul, is a dark, thrilling, and psychologically rich supernatural horror/thriller that blends mythology, science and mystery into a page-turning addiction.
Richard is also writing a YA novel, The Dream Palace, primarily so that his children could read his books.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife, two amazing children and their wicked black cat, Merlin.
Connect with Richard on the following links:
Website: http://www.thebookofpaul.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RichardLongNYC
An Excerpt from The Book of Paul
Exercises
He practiced smiling.
Looking in the mirror, Martin pulled up the corners of his mouth, trying to duplicate the expression of the blond-haired man on the TV with the big forehead. Something wasn’t right—the eyebrows? His eyes darted back and forth f rom the mirror to the television, posing, making adjustments here and there…lips down, more teeth…comparing…nope. After a few minutes, his face started to hurt and he gave up.
He did push-ups instead. Push-ups were easy. He did two hundred before he had to stop and change the channel. A show called The Nanny had come on and he leapt up like a cat as soon as he heard her whiny voice. He pressed the remote button with blinding speed-click, click, click, click, click-until he found an old black-and-white movie. Good. He liked those. He went back to his push-ups, his face tilted up so he wouldn’t miss a thing.
In the movie there was a woman who was worried that this man didn’t love her anymore. She didn’t know it, but the man was worried that the woman didn’t love him either. They spent all this time (he couldn’t even count how many push-ups) trying to make each other jealous, hoping that would make the other one love them again. Martin didn’t understand any of it. He looked at them laughing and smiling while they tried to trick and embarrass each other, then went to the mirror and practiced again.
It still didn’t look right.
Giveaway
Tweet, like, follow, share, blog and grab a copy
of his book to enter.
The Book
of Paul is
the first of seven volumes in a sweeping mythological narrative tracing the
mystical connections between Hermes Trismegistus in ancient Egypt, Sophia, the
female counterpart of Christ, and the Celtic druids of Clan Kelly.
Thanks Shelly! Great review. And thanks for supporting the giveaway. Hope you or one of your friends is a winner!
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