PARANORMIA by Paul Regnier

Do you remember those cartoons that featured a tiny devil on one shoulder and a tiny angel on the other of a character struggling to make a moral choice? The main character, a nice loser, has a devil and an angel playing tug of war on his emotions, only these are full size and he doesn’t realize what they are for a long time. He makes promises to everybody in his life, only to break them, not on purpose, but because he gets caught up in a chaotic life dodging assassination attempts.

This thriller is a metaphor, not real Bible facts, but the spiritual battle has real world applications and is a fun read. Chris has geek credentials. He gets upset when one of his superhero shirts is ruined. He has also just lost his bottom level job so his artist roommate must once again pay the rent on a run-down apartment. If only he could get his comic book work noticed by the world. The artist paints only gloomy pictures, but he gets sales. For all his submissions, Chris has received only rejections.

If only he could get his comic book work noticed by the world.

There is a pretty woman who lives across the hall from him. He desperately wants to ask her on a date. He is so desperate his tongue gets tangled whenever he sees her. She keeps inviting him to church and to the soup kitchen she works at. He finally agrees to help out at the soup kitchen but ends up not going when the most beautiful woman in the world offers him a simple job with high pay and the sports car that is supposedly the company car. She also promises to show his work to a comic publisher. All his dreams come true at once!

All his dreams come true at once!

Then the angel shows up but he doesn’t look or talk like any angel Chris had ever imagined. Chris keeps turning down the mission the angel offers him even though he doesn’t know what the mission is. When he keeps his promises to the neighbor, he breaks his promises to his boss. When he does what the boss requires, he breaks his promises to the neighbor. And suddenly strangers are trying to kill him. Life was chaotic before, but now he is living in a major maelstrom.

The writer has perfect comedic timing even as the story grows darker and darker. You’ll probably laugh at the character Finchelus who can’t get pop culture exactly right. I laughed a lot while reading this book even as I kept mentally yelling, “You idiot!” at Chris. The story moves at a fast pace.

I did think the climactic battle scene was over the top, much like in Perretti’s books, but again, the writer is illustrating spiritual truth in a visible way.

I received a free copy for the purpose of writing a review. I honestly loved this hilarious, exciting, and well-written book. If you like humorous urban fantasy with realistic characters, I think you’ll like this book. I would recommend the story for age sixteen and up.

Ratings

Heat: The hero notices women and their parts. There are a few sexual situations where the hero resists temptation.

Violence: shooting, chases, enforcers beating people, some supernatural.

Language: None I can remember

Available on Audible and Amazon 

Lelia Rose Foreman homeschooled her three boys for a total of fourteen years. They survived. She writes Christian science fiction.   Under the name of Rose Foreman, she  also writes general market science fantasy with her oldest son, Josh. The first  of these is The Scarred King: Exile.