Scream, by Mike Dellosso, Realms (Strang) Publishing, 2009, 303 Pages, ISBN-13: 978-1599794693, $13.99
Mark Stone, rebellious son of a preacher turned auto mechanic, grieves over his estranged wife Cheryl and their failing marriage on his long drive home to emptiness. There was little stability left in his life except for the impossible to remove grease under his fingernails. Strange as it sounded, he drew comfort from that predictability. He couldn’t know he would soon lose even that comfort.
Stone’s recent affair had blown his marriage apart, even though he begged Cheryl’s forgiveness. She was too hurt, too angry, and too disillusioned to forgive him. But, that too would soon change in an unforeseen way.
When his cell phone chirped the “The Dukes of Hazard” melody, he turned down the radio and flipped open the phone, grateful for the distraction. His best friend Jeff had called to check on him. Stone couldn’t know this phone call would change the direction of his life and turn the world as he knew it upside down.
Minutes into their conversation, the gruesome chorus of what sounded like millions weeping in “bone-crushing pain and agony,” drowned out his friend’s voice. Wails, grunts and groans shrieked into Mark’s ear drum and involuntary goose bumps crossed both forearms. He jerked the phone away from his ear as if it burned him. The hellish sounds lasted five seconds and then abruptly stopped. He quickly redialed. This time sounds of screeching tires, crunching metal and shattering glass interrupted their second conversation. Then only silence until the robotic voice said to leave a message when Mark redialed for the third time. Within days, Mark would join other mourners at his friend’s grave site, the first of many grievous moments, forecast by a screeching telephone call from hell.
Thus begins this engaging, deep, dark thriller that conveys a strong spiritual message, while delivering a terror filled, inspirational story. The secondary plot weaves the maniacal, serial kidnapper Judge, and his extreme agenda, against the backdrop of Stone’s supernatural telephone calls. Story lines converge when the Judge kidnaps Cheryl and she joins four other kidnapped victims in an abandoned barn. This time its Cheryl’s voice Stone hears on the telephone, Cheryl’s life in imminent danger. Stone has quickly learned what the bizarre, unexplainable phone calls meant for others—this time the bells chimed for his wife.
Dellosso delivers a challenging and relevant message through the vehicle of thriller fiction—the reality of hell. Although the message is clear, delivered without any sense of preaching, the engrossing story is fiction told with such subtlety, readers won’t fully grasp what the author has done until the last page is turned. This book does not disappoint! I look forward to reading more from this author.
