Product Description
The Dark Man is a near-future thriller about a master of disguise working to eradicate Christianity in America. Charles Graves is haunted by his dead brother, his lost mother, and a phantom arising cryptically from a child’s puzzle. But sometimes he who persecutes the church is destined to serve her…. More >>
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OK, I tried twice to get through this book but I couldn’t do it. It was more or less unbelievable and the characters, especially the main charterer, behaved in unrealistic and at time ridiculous ways. Maybe that is because the author was suggesting they were possessed or something, I’m not sure. But I couldn’t make it through this book. I tried once, stopped, started over again, and again just stopped. It’s never good when you roll your eyes multiple times while reading.
I just can’t recommend this.
Rating: 1 / 5
As a believer in Christ that likes quality things, I am picky about the “Christian” things out there whether music, books, or movies. Most of the popular stuff fall flat for me. I’ve always been more of a “weird” one because I listen to the Christian bands that aren’t on Christian radio, I get into obscure films with Christian themes or symbolism that church goers think are from the devil, and in recent years I’ve started reading some of the Christian fiction found out there because it’s finally getting as good as the mainstream books I’ve been reading all along that I was always told I shouldn’t read since they weren’t “glorifying God” and often dealt with evil in very real ways instead of the cush way most “Christian fiction” did. When Marcher Lord Press came on the scene I was ecstatic. This was something I had dreamed about for sometime actually happening. I couldn’t have been more pleased. So when I initially saw the concept for The Dark Man, I was drawn to the concept of this puzzle box a master of disguise was taking around with him. Then I got the book.
As I started reading it, it seemed a bit more overt than what I would have preferred for my taste in Christian fiction. I like stuff that can be read by both believers and non-believers and this one seemed more like one just for believers to read. I was still drawn, so I kept reading.
Then it happened.
I was blown away.
The story just took off and kept getting better as it moved along. It went from having the Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins feel to having some Stephen King moments (like the dream Graves had on the ledge) to having a Clancy like military chase at the end with aircraft. All the while, Marc Schooley kept his own writer’s voice and didn’t sound like those other authors even if the scenes had the feel of them.
The psychological problems of the main character were handled well all the way to the end. The conversion was handled better than I thought it would. Especially the afterward time. He wasn’t suddenly a “perfect” Christian which I thought added very much to the realism. I would have put the book down if he suddenly had everything together.
The other characters were handled very realistically and weren’t dumbed down just because they were a bad guy or a minor one scene person. Lots of bait and switch along the way that kept you guessing until the end too. I was a little disappointed with one aspect of the ending, but I felt a lot of things were wrapped up quite nicely, so overall the ending was just right.
For an overt novel that I can recommend to any believer out there reading this, I was blown away and found that I can still find the occasional novel written mainly for Christians that I can enjoy. In fact, if anyone out there reads Christian fiction occasionally that isn’t a believer, if you can get past the overt beginning, I’d recommend this to you too. It’s very well written with plenty of mystery, intrigue, romance, action and explosions.
What more can you ask for?
Rating: 5 / 5
In Texas undercover agent Charles Graves, the man with a thousand faces, is assigned to destroy the last remaining powerful Christian leader in the United States, Reverend James Cleveland. As he gathers evidence, Charles goes to arrest Reverend Cleveland, but suddenly hears voices in his head insisting he heed the message his target proclaims.
This turns Charles from a cynic to a believer in God. He quits his law enforcement position and works to protect James and the word against his former associates, which includes his father. However, the Dark Man from his past urges him to forget this Christian nonsense and take care of himself especially when his former comrades are searching to assassinate him as a traitor. Charles has to choose between standing up for God or standing up with the Dark Man who haunts his breathing.
This is a fascinating but grim future tale that has Big Brother (and Sister) watching you ready to prance and harass. Charles is a terrific conflicted protagonist pulled schizoid like in two directions. Although The Dark Man inside his head also appears inside other people’s brains abating the issue of the hero’s sanity, fans will relish this profound look at persecution as religious tolerance is unacceptable.
Harriet Klausner
Rating: 5 / 5
In the America of The Dark Man, following Christianity will land you in a reclamation center, where the powers that be will use some pretty scary forms of “therapy” on you to attempt to bring you back to your senses. If that doesn’t work, you will probably end up dead. Christians sneak into utility rooms in malls and back rooms of businesses to meet with one another and worship. The Christians’ greatest fear is that one of them may not be who he seems, but might instead be the infamous master of disguises, Charles Graves.
Charles is sort of a modern-day Paul–or more appropriately, Saul. He pursues the Church stragglers with a frightening zeal, and the reclamation centers are full to bursting because of his undercover work. Since the book begins with a terrifying scene from Charles’s childhood when he sees his Christian mother dragged away by the agents, this is a little hard to understand at first.
But it’s soon obvious that Charles is a very traumatized young man, and he perhaps blames Christianity for taking his mother away from him. There’s also the mysterious “Dark Man” who haunts Charles, but also talks Charles through his missions and helps him achieve his brutal goals. Charles has a complex relationship with the Dark Man, who taunts him and makes life miserable but also helps him survive. Charles at times wants to be rid of him, and at times panics at the idea of life without the Dark Man.
Following in Saul’s footsteps, Charles has a sort of Damascus Road experience–only his occurs during a meeting of the underground church he’s infiltrating. Charles is astounded to find himself suddenly a Christian, fleeing from the agents he used to work with. He’s not nearly as surprised as his girlfriend, Julia, however. Because of Charles, she also ends up working with “the other side” and fleeing for her life, but without the advantage of his new belief.
Charles and Julia both join forces with the Reverend James Cleveland, the leader of the underground church in Houston and the city’s most-wanted Christian. They go on the offensive, attacking a reclamation center, attempting to free a well-known prisoner, and making some surprising discoveries about Charles’s family and past.
Rev. Cleveland helps Charles discover who the Dark Man is and how he can be rid of him. Of course, Charles first has to decide he wants to be rid of him–a struggle that tests the limits of his new faith.
First, the positives about The Dark Man. It’s fast-paced and exciting, with hair-raising capers and heart-pumping twists and turns. It paints a chilling and all-too-believable picture of an American city without freedom. Characters are well-drawn and believable. In fact, it’s disturbing to see that a nice, smart girl like Julia could be using her computer skills to track down Christians. But within the context of her world, it makes sense. Charles’s sudden conversion is all the more believable because it’s a rare case. Other characters start to question the way the world is being run or to show some interest in the Gospel, but they don’t start falling to their knees like Christian dominoes. It’s a real struggle for all.
The things I didn’t like were mostly stylistic and had to do more with my own tastes. I’ve never enjoyed dream sequences or bizarre visions, and Charles is prone to them. Even worse, he sometimes lapses into cartoon-like visions in the middle of one of their missions, which made me wonder how he had survived, let alone become such a successful agent.
I also had a slight problem with the ending. There’s a huge, exciting climax, so that’s not the issue. But during it, I wanted to scream at the good guys that they were being stupid, and felt that the climax was partly big because they were stupid, which made the ending one of the least believable parts of the story to me.
Overall, however, I truly enjoyed The Dark Man. It’s a unique story told in a unique voice–one that I think men and women readers would both enjoy. And those books don’t come along often.
Rating: 4 / 5
For some time, I’ve been enjoying the increase in variety in Christian fiction outside of standard women’s-fiction themes. However, I’m still finding it hard to get my hands on work that really diversifies away from some well-established obligatory points. This one’s a win.
This is not a book of behaving well in spite of sad things, such that everything turns out well in the end. It’s not a book of lessons in repentance from typical minor mistakes. It’s a book of broken, lonely people behaving in messy ways, such that everything turns out gritty in the end.
In that sense, it’s the classic idea of a tragedy. However, it’s a tragedy where God wins and eternity triumphs, even though the world rolls on. This novel gives deeper hope than the obligatory imaginary happy ending.
It’s also a literary challenger. It’ll probably take criticism till Kingdom come for its inversion and melding of internal and external events. Also for “rough voice,” something I particularly enjoyed about it. The author has a way of firing off his lines point-blank, blunt-worded, without worrying about making it pretty. It’s either to love or to complain about. I loved the rawness and the reality. It cuts to the core. The instinctive emotional clarity is a refreshing change from the studied lines that compose the majority of products.
This isn’t for-dummies self-explanatory fiction. It majors on gut-wrenching innovation in showing the human experience. At the same time, it carries a solid underpinning of relatable storytelling with unpredictable plot shifts that combine to build consistent action.
Great book, tons of ways to enjoy it. Has become an all-time favourite and one of a very few I’ll take time to re-read.
Rating: 5 / 5