Official Blurb
One e-mail. Five lines. 4,000 dead.
And it is only just beginning…
When a small boy in Iowa forwards a mysterious email from ‘God’ to a small group of friends, he unwittingly releases a trigger that sends blood pouring throughout his farming community.
Thousands more are dead across the country in dozens of simultaneous terror attacks and the government blames fundamentalists who want to trigger the Apocalypse.
FBI Agent Joe Unes reluctantly teams with reclusive Internet radio host Barney Ison (from Sharon K. Gilbert’s The Armageddon Strain) to expose the plot -- and discovers that he's not contending against flesh and blood.
My Review
I came across this book by accident. It was referenced in a blog or news report somewhere and that led me to go searching for it on Podiobooks. I've reviewed another book by the same author, a fantasy book called Iron Dragons, that I really enjoyed.. After listening to Iron Dragons I discovered the author runs a couple of podcasts over at PID Radio which I instantly became a fan of. Oddly, despite listening to those shows I hadn't picked up on the existance this book!
Anyway, onto the book itself. The official blurb gives you a good overview that doesn't spoil too much. The story follows the view points of various characters until they merge into a single narrative. This works really well as it gives you the chance to get to know all of the players in this game, both the good guys AND the bad guys.
The story investigates a number of political angles as the terror spreads. This terror is rather close to home. Ordinary people, people from happy families suddenly turn into raving killers for no apparent reason. The political side of it is likewise close to home. The author has woven current real world political moves and activities through his story. This tends to make the events of the novel feel more real.
So with common everyday locations, events all too close to reality and the threads of real-world policies, and of course a fine fine cast of believable characters we have the makings of a very good novel.
I found I was drawn in to keep listening, and the excitement level was very high meaning that I found this book ending far too soon!
The reader has done a splendid job. As I said with Iron Dragons, the pace of the reading is very fast, but that adds to the excitment generated by the story.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 3/3
Total Score 7/9
Download it from Podiobooks
Listen to the prologue
BONUS :
I asked the author of "The God Conspiracy", Derek Gilbert, to answer a few questions which he has kindly done.
Q : What was you inspiration for this book, at first listen you seem to have drawn on the themes covered in your podcasts?
A : Exactly right. Sharon and I have always been conspiracy theorists at heart. It struck us that The X-Files was a lot closer to reality than most people realized, except that it didn't present an accurate--by which I mean Christian--worldview.
Q : How long did it take to write?
A : The novel took me about six months to write and another four months to rewrite. And then another couple of months to editing.
Q : How long did it take to record?
A : The recording took about an hour a week over a period of about six months.
Q : What's your recording set up?
A : The recording setup I used was a consumer-grade Plantronics USB headset mic and a G5 iMac. We've since upgraded to a quad-core Windows 7 machine with a Behringer mixer and mics. I'm looking forward to recording our next audio novel, which will be Sharon's Signs and Wonders.
Q : Why release it as a free audio book?
A : Marketing on a budget. People who've never heard of Derek P. Gilbert aren't very likely to spend $15 on the novel.
Q : Have you considered selling the audio book?
A : Not seriously. Same reason as above--nobody knows who I am, so why would they spend $10 or $20 to listen to something they might hate?
Q : What other audio projects have you done or got in mind?
A : My first novel, Iron Dragons, is also available as a free audio novel at PodioBooks.com. As I mentioned, I look forward to recording my wife's novels, which are far better than mine. Of course, Sharon and I produce the weekly podcasts P.I.D. Radio and A View From the Bunker, which I may turn into a live show soon.
Q : Do you have any other projects you'd like to mention?
A : I write weekly for the website HearkenTheWatchmen.com, and I'm toying with a non-fiction writing project to add to several unfinished novels languishing on my laptop.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
It's been my honor!
