Title: Ruler of Demons
Author: Scott A. Lerner
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Supernatural
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Only eleven shopping days till Christmas. And less than a week to save the world.
Three nuns—in Chicago, Paris, and Jerusalem—have been killed in a religious ritual. The choice of victims and the macabre details of their deaths indicate that someone is following a recipe provided on an ancient text—a recipe to unleash the forces of hell on earth. The final sacrifice must occur on the Winter Solstice.
Samuel Roberts, a small-town attorney in Urbana, Illinois, knows a bit about the supernatural, having triumphed at least once over the forces of evil. Thanks to a friend who is aware of Sam’s little known previous efforts on behalf of mankind, Sam is hired by a big Chicago law firm to take on a sensitive case. His mission? Nothing less than halting the impending apocalypse.
Sam and his good buddy Bob travel first to Jerusalem then Paris in a desperate race to save mankind.
I had no idea what to expect when I began reading Ruler of Demons, but the book turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Sam is a small-town attorney who has been having more and more trouble from the side of supernatural as of late, since he defeated evil once before. However, Sam is still traumatized by finding a chopped-off head in his fridge, and he wants nothing more than to stay away from the supernatural. Unfortunately, his reputation proceeds him and a wealthy Chicago law firm hires him on a sensitive case.
Three nuns have been murdered – one in Paris, one in Chicago, and one in Jerusalem – in terrible circumstances. The law firm suspects that whoever is behind it, wants to unleash the apocalypse on earth. They have an ancient scroll ready to prove it, and they fear the only man capable of doing the job might be Sam. Sam isn’t so convinced about that – until he finds a cut off tongue in his fridge, another traumatizing event. He decides he’s in, and invites his best friend Bob along, mostly because Bob has proven his worth before.
Sam and Bob go to Jerusalem first, where they visit an ancient site, where the nun was murdered in search for clues. They’re visited by an evil entity with sinister intentions, and narrowly escape the city to head to Paris. As the plot thickens, the two of them may be the only ones capable of saving the world from the impending apocalypse.
What pulled me in about this novel, were the characters. Sam and Bob have a great friendship. I loved how Bob always started about food, and how Sam managed to stay calm, no matter what. Their inside jokes made me feel connected to them. Sam was a bit of an average Joe, which made him all the more intriguing when he’s thrown in the world of the supernatural. He’s just a regular guy, and now he’s dealing with all this stuff he knows next to nothing about, all because of that one time he fought evil and won. The way they manage to keep being lighthearted, even in the face of danger, made this book unique.
When the author described Jerusalem and Paris, I felt like I was really there. I liked the added touch of how Sam and Bob travel across the world to unravel clues. The descriptions and wording were great, and the book was edited well.
If I had to say one pet peeve (and the reason why it’s a four stars and not a five stars), then it would be the “telling” instead of “showing” in the narrative. The author will tell us Sam or Bob is concerned, worried, hungry, scared, etc. instead of show us. It doesn’t happen all the time, but it happened often enough to stand out for me.
All in all, a great, enjoyable read. I’d love to read the first book, and I’ll keep an eye out for any follow-ups by this author.
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