BOOKWORM

BOOK REVIEW . Nephilim: Genesis of Evil

The past two months have left little time for extra-curricular reading, but now, with Summer officially hear, I have finally hit the books again. As promised, my full review of Nephilim: Genesis of Evil.

The debut novel from author Renee Pawlish concerns a small Colorado town plagued by murderous spirits. These monsters come in the form of Nephilim, an old testament evil originating from the carnal knowledge exchanged by angels and human women (Yah, I didn’t know about this either). In fact, according to the book, the original reason for the flood that affected Noah was to wipe out these monsters. Pawlish uses these entities as a sort of vampire menace in her novel, descending on the town of Taylor’s crossing every generation or so in order to perform a dark ritual that, if performed to completion, will render the world to darkness. Previous attempts have failed, but rendered the old mining town of Taylor’s Crossing a ghost town. Tasked with defending the town, and thus the world, from these monsters this time out are a small band of folks, lead by an intrepid journalist with experience in the supernatural.

While the book draws from old-testament evils, it does so only in the hope of creating a more believable contemporary monster. Devout secularists and Christians alike can enjoy the book’s tale of a menaced town as a straightforward horror tale. The book never preaches any sort of Christian dogma, but instead concerns itself with fate and personal integrity. The closest thing you’ll find to preaching is a simple discussion regarding the struggle against good and evil. In fact, the narrative surprisingly seems to evidence some Buddhist inclinations.

But then as a horror novel, does it work? Well, for the most part yes. Pawlish’s Nephilim are threatening, and their mode of increasing their ranks is sufficiently spooky. The novel starts off very strong, with Pawlish conveying the mood and atmosphere of the small town, slowly increasing the eerie element. As stated in my precious article, she has a clear, direct, and efficient prose that I much enjoyed. It’s simple enough for teen audiences to enjoy, but knowledgeable enough for adults to respect. But toward the middle of the novel, Pawlish seems to be juggling a few too many characters. It’s not that the time spent with any of them is wasteful or confusing; it’s just that the main character seems a bit lost in the shuffle for a time. Furthermore, some of the problem solving dialogs uttered by the book’s characters seem a bit superfluous, as in many a case the reader already understands the situation and its solution from a previous paragraph, only to have a character provide a cliffs note version — in case you missed it. That said, this criticism may not be entirely valid, as the book is intended for a broad audience rather than just the literati adult. Furthermore, Pawlish does recover, ratcheting up the action for the end finale…only to wrap things up a bit too quickly,providing somewhat of a sequel teaser. Still, I’d like to find out what happens next.

In the end, Nephilim: Genesis of Evil is an admirable first effort. It’s a very fast and straightforward read, and should entertain its targeted audience. I wish Ms. Pawlish the best, and hope she continues the story.

Note: Nephilim is a self-published novel. If you are interested in Nephilim: Genesis of Evil, you can order a copy from Amazon, here, Barnes and Noble, here, or go through Renee Pawlish’s website, here.

About the Author:

Chris Nelson is a rabid reader, usually tackling three books at once. His favorite authors include Kobo Abe, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, and Haruki Murakami. He is currently reading The Face of Another, by Abe (still), The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova (still), and Shadow Family, by Miyuki Miyabe.