Into the Fire

Just as I suspected, Mike Dellosso’s second novel Scream demonstrates the improvement of his writing skills from his first novel reviewed here a year ago titled The Hunted. I felt The Hunted showed Mike’s potential in the supernatural thriller/suspense/horror genre but left several plot points dangling in his enthusiastic, ambitious plot. He’s tightened up as a writer and his second novel is stylish and well written.

Mechanic Mark Stone is separated from his wife because of an illicit kiss shared between him and a waitress which he concedes probably would’ve ended up in a full blown affair if his wife hadn’t happened to see him engaged in the kiss outside a restaurant in the parking lot. Now he’s living alone full of remorse and regret and not quite sure why he ventured into the attraction to the waitress when he loved his wife so much.

As he’s driving home from work one evening, he receives a call from his close friend, also on the road, when the screeching, outrageous, tortured screams of what sounds like a huge group of people intrude into their conversation. Both men hear the horrifying sounds and as they’re asking each other what they could be, Mark hears another terrifying sound which sounds like his friend has just crashed. He dials 911 as he rushes to where he thinks his friend might be. Thanks to his call, the EMTs, ambulance, sheriff and deputy are on the scene but with one glance, Mark knows his friend is dead.

So begins the occurrence of paralyzing, tormented screams which invade the telephone conversations between Mark and other people. After twice hearing the screams with other people on the telephone followed by their death, he now associates impending death with the screams. Having been raised in what he considers a hypocritical “Christian” home, he’s abandoned any relationship with God, transferring blame and accusations upon God for just about every human failing, including his own. But he is also sufficiently alarmed by the screams and wonders if they’re an indicator of the destination for those who have died following his conversations with them.

Running simultaneously with the screams, a determined and organized kidnapper with a misplaced sense of justice is seizing young women he has stalked in order to grab them without being noticed, hauling them off and depositing them in a deserted barn. The Sheriff is unwilling to call the perp a “serial” kidnapper much to the dismay of his female deputy even though the women were abducted without a trace of evidence left behind. The clues to this meticulous kidnapper, soon-to-be murderer, eventually lead the serious readers to his identity.

The different plot points collide when one of the kidnapping victims turns out to be Mark’s wife and in a second brief and sobbing cell phone call with her after he has contacted police, Mark hears the wailing screams and then silence as the connection is broken. With the limited information he receives from the tech guy at police headquarters, Mark takes off against the better judgment of the female deputy to locate and rescue his wife and the other women.

Mike Dellosso brings the frustrations of former believers and the scoffing attitudes of unbelievers into a harsh reality, challenging Mark to determine where he stands with God and to decide what he truly believes at the heart of it all. Is it heaven or hell? Is it Jesus or the devil? Why is he hearing these wretched screams and is his wife going to perish for eternity? All these questions are answered for the protagonist in the final few pages of accelerated action.

I will say I thought one portion of a final graveside address seemed too cliché. Not the burning desire in the protagonist’s heart after these over-the-top challenges he’d experienced, but his choice as to how to implement that desire. I much would have preferred he continued from where he was and carried on with his passion. But that’s me.

Good second effort.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1599794691

Father, you have Mike in your tender care. You know the ravages and “rewards”, by Mike’s own admission, of cancer. Please continue to touch his body and make him whole, and continue to supply stories for him to write with the messages you have for him to share. Bless him and keep him safe from all harm. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.