A Deafening Silence in Heaven By Thomas E. Sniegoski

by Terrance McArthur

Details on how to win a copy of this book at the end of the review.

Private detective Remy Chandler is really Remiel, an angel of the Seraphim who came to live on Earth, disillusioned after the War in Heaven with Lucifer. Now, God has offered to forgive Lucifer, welcome him home, and Unification is near, but not everybody is happy in A Deafening Silence in Heaven by Thomas E. Sniegoski.

Michael, the Archangel, doesn’t want to give up fighting Lucifer and his minions. Simeon, the forever man, still hates a young Messiah for stealing him from the peace of death, and wants revenge on God for letting it happen. Remy is near death, shot by a demon assassin. God, in the form of a kindly old man, sends him into another universe where Unification has gone horribly wrong, where filthy angels try to create a new heaven by punishing everyone they don’t like, and everybody seems to be blaming Remy for it. Remy’s friends and loved ones try to protect his body and retrieve his soul, while the killers send legions through shadows to finish their honor-bound contract to end the angel’s life.

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Events careen from the hidden depths of the Vatican to Boston, from the now-dangerous Garden of Eden to realms that are temporary metaphorical constructs.

It’s a time of chaos and Sniegowski presents it in a chaotic manner, bouncing between the two realities and the viewpoints of multiple characters. There are a lot of things happening to a lot of people (and a dog…and demons…and a golem…and a minotaur), and some sequences need a slowed-down reading speed to keep up with everything. The language is strong and coarse. You expect it from demons, but it’s odd to have f-bombs dropping from the mouths of angels, fallen and otherwise.

Image source: Roc

This is the seventh Remy Chandler book, and the series has transformed from a noir-ish paranormal detective opus to an explosive meshing of mythologies and cosmologies, rethinking religious truths and turning them into a tag-team cage grudge match. Now, the end is near, and who will win: Love or Hate?

A Deafening Silence in Heaven: It’s violent, sometimes revolting, and redemptive. If you don’t believe in God, it’s a comedy. If you do believe in God, it’s sobering. If you believe in ripping good reads, it’s there.

To enter to win a copy of A Deafening Silence in Heaven, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “silence,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen February 6, 2016. If entering via email please include your mailing address.

Use this link to purchase this book and a portion goes to help support KRL & it supports an indie bookstore:

A Deafening Silence in Heaven

Terrance V. Mc Arthur is a Community Librarian for the WoW! (WithOut Walls) Division of the Fresno County Public Library, roaming the Valley to meet the public's information needs.