Review: The Sounding by Carrie Salo

Title: The Sounding
Author: Carrie Salo
Publication: September 23, 2011
Publisher: 23 House
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Friend
Website |Goodreads|Facebook

Amazon
Synopsis:

In the Book of Revelation, a man named John has a prophetic dream. He dreams of the final prophecies that will come to pass – and the seven archangels that guard them. Each angel waits to sound their trumpet at God’s appointed time, preparing humanity to fight and win the final battle.

2,000 years later, Father Chris Mognahan is a member of the Hetairia Melchizedek, a secret society within the Catholic Church that studies Biblical omens. The society asks Chris to investigate an unusually grotesque crime – a murder on a college campus where the killer's hand literally burned off the victim's face.While the killing seems isolated at first, the society ties the murder to the final Biblical prophecy and a terrifying omen that the order of the prophecies is about to be disrupted. The final battle is coming too soon – long before humanity is prepared to win it.

Suddenly, Chris finds himself fighting against time and hell to keep the prophecies in order and stop an early Armageddon. He is joined by a band of unlikely allies, and together they find themselves in Rome above the Vatican Necropolis – the city of the dead – where the future is revealed to them in ancient texts.
They are not alone, however; an evil as old as time itself hunts them. As they travel across continents on their mission, the demonic force follows relentlessly, waiting in every shadowed corner, and every dark place.
As Armageddon descends, Father Chris finds that his only hope lies in a young woman within the group who has a secret gift – and their belief that God Himself may have sent her to keep the final angelic trumpet from sounding out the early end of the Earth.


Review:It took some time for me to get through this book as the author had the tendency to go into great detail of biblical and architectural background aspects. It is for the most part relevant to the story, however for me it was distracting and drawn out sometimes. Now, what I love about this book was the story itself. The action, intrigue and mystery make this an absolutely fantastic story. Elise, the reincarnate of the angel Remiel, struggles with her acceptance of who she is and what that means for her purpose in the world. She has to re-learn and understand some things as far as religion is concerned but once she makes the connection,she realizes where she stands with secret society and what they expect her to do. In addition to all this new information, Elise has an attraction towards Father Chris that neither can act upon because of his vows, though temptation is a test in itself. Even though, he is a priest, I wanted them to be together because I was able to feel the connection between them. The interactions between them were so sweet. Elise is easy to relate to , she is young, uncertain and just wants to live a normal life, yet no matter how she tries, her destiny just won't let her be. Especially, the dark evil that is hunting her down to stop her from saving the world from its early apocalyptic demise. What she discovers is that evil lurks in many places and is much closer, deadly and sinister than she could ever have imagined. Sometimes, you have to be careful, who you put your trust in. This book is really good, the semi-romance, action and mystery all make it worthwhile.