Title: Hallelujah
Author: Kim Fielding and F.E. Feeley Jr.
Genre: Horror
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Publisher: Self
Pages: 374
Reviewer: Pat
Get It On Amazon
About The Book
Can you hear it?
Whispering in the dark.
Secrets only the dark knows.
Joseph Moore, choir director for the First Baptist Church of Lenora, Nebraska, has secrets of his own. Terrible, lonely secrets. One that involves natural human desire. One that calls forth powers he cannot begin to understand. Both with the potential to destroy him and those he loves.
Now the world is changing. The darkness, the shadows, the ghosts, are closing in—and Joseph and his lover, Kevin, are being stalked by a merciless demon, hell-bent on possession.
Can you hear it now?
There in the dark.
It’s whispering your name.
The Review
Part romance, part fantasy, and part horror, the latest from veterans Fielding and Feeley revolves around the life of a Midwestern farmer’s son and contains elements that will appeal to a huge audience of readers.
First Baptist Church of Lenora, Nebraska, choir director Joseph Moore has been frightened of the ghosts he has seen since he was a child even though none of them has ever tried to harm him.
Then on a seemingly bucolic summer evening, a dark menace, a black malevolent cloud in the form of a sudden tornado rolls toward a town gathering. Fortunately, Joseph feels it coming and warns the townspeople, saving them. He’s ambivalent about becoming a hero since he feels in some way he might have caused the event.
As he’s mulling his part in the near-tragedy, he’s first told that his lot in life is to help the troubled ghosts to cross over to the other side. After he’s helped a few, including the ghost in the church who loves to sing with the choir, he’s visited by a Cajun woman who says his real calling is to fight the evil pervading the world, a calling that terrifies him.
While all this turmoil of ghosts and a dark evil presence are going on, Joseph and Kevin, a town mechanic, fall in love, despite the fact that the Baptist church forbids same sex romances. Is their relationship causing some of the havoc in his life?
After the demon kills Kevin and nearly slays Joseph, Kevin becomes a ghost who lives in Joseph’s room, and Joseph retreats into farm work. But Cajun women and centuries’ old demons won’t stop until Joseph reenters the fight.
With Fielding’s and Feeley’s skillful weavings of endearing romance, ancient evil, and religious fervor, a story emerges that is apropos to our time and the current virus invading our world. Not only is this a wonderfully scary and romantic tale anytime, but it’s particularly creepy and cathartic for today.
The Reviewer
Pat Henshaw:
* Is a she, not a he.
* Writes MM romances.
* Has interviewed Arlo Guthrie, Big Bird, Fred Rogers, Liberace, and Vincent Price.
* Has lived and worked on all three US coasts and in the middle of the country, too.
* Has been a reviewer, costumer, librarian, and teacher.
* Has ridden an elephant, touched the pyramids, and stood at the edge of a volcano.
* Believes love is essential to everyone’s happiness.
* She wants you to remember: Every day is a good day for romance!