I was skeptical when I read author Ninie Hammon’s description of her novel The Knowing, it will “grab you in a reality so gripping you’ll decide you can fold the towels later and the lawn will still be out there to mow tomorrow”. About 50 pages in I realized it was way past bedtime and 50 pages more finally decided to put it down. It truly is that good.
The author describes it as supernatural spiritual warfare, or a paranormal thriller with a backstory that depends on “scriptural realities, though, that most Christians say they believe–but really don’t”, dealing with demons, hell, foolish and evil people that knowingly invite in the devil. Despite this there is no religion in it, no preaching, no reason that non-believers won’t enjoy the story and characters.
Characters
Jack is a cop called in to stop a school massacre. Daniel is a Protestant pastor who lost his belief but has his wife and daughter to care for. Theresa is an older lady, a crossing guard, whose husband died in the school shooting. These three struggle to understand what is happening to them, what happened about 20 years before when Jack and Daniel were 14 and best friends, what the evil is that threatens them and their families.
Author Hammond makes her people so real that you feel as if you know them. She lets us into their hearts and minds as we ride along, as bewildered and over matched as they feel. She builds sub plots, such as Daniel’s wife’s infidelity and Daniel’s struggle to understand his faith and its loss.
The bad guys are believable too, what appear to be normal (more or less) guys driven by demons. Hammond shows us what happens today and what happened 20 years before, and we see pain and fear and misery, that Jack and Daniel and the mystery girl Becca. Now the demons are back and want to pick up where they left off.
Be Aware
The bad guys are racist and cruel. Know going in you will hear some disgusting terms for people and animal cruelty. Several characters have horrible grammar; don’t use this book as a guide to the English language.
The Knowing: Book One launches a series, total book count unknown. You can read this as a standalone novel as it has a beginning, middle and end, but it’s easy to see where Book 2 will start.
I’ve not read anything by this author before and am fast changing that. She is exceptionally strong at building characters that are people and fast moving plots. Five Stars.
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