Elijah

Author: Matt Schorr
ISBN: 978-0615424347
Publisher: Lone Coyote Productions
Purchase Link: Elijah
Source: Author for A Cozy Reader's Corner
Reviewer: Angela Holtz

About the Book
One Lord. One faith. One Baptism. These are the dictates that rule Antioch, a small rural community tucked away in the hills of Kentucky. There is no dissension. No discord or strife. All of Antioch's citizens gather each week without fail at one church. One church and no other: ChristPoint. The Rev. John Joshua Hutchinson serves as pastor for the church and indeed the entire community. As Antioch's sole spiritual leader, he holds near-absolute power over all who live there. But that's about to change. A mysterious stranger is about to enter Antioch, an unassuming man with incredible power all his own. His name is Elijah, and he wields a power like no one in history--save one. But who is he? What is he? Can he be trusted? Elijah's presence will challenge not only the power Rev. Hutchinson holds over Antioch, but also the mindsets of the entire community.

Review
Elijah is a mysterious character with a fantastic healing ability. He doesn’t know how he got it; he doesn’t even attribute it to God. It just is, with its own rules. He can’t heal himself and he can’t heal dead. He has been wandering searching for God or something when he walks into a Pizzeria in the town of Antioch. This is a very strange town. The waitress, Lori is an outcast in town, along with her friend Marcus. The characters are actually really deep, considering how fast the story moves. I fell in love with Lori and Marcus, and just wanted to give Elijah a hug. There are other less likable characters, such as Josh the minister of ChristPoint church, the ONLY church in Antioch. And Josh truly rules all of Antioch, well beyond the Sunday service.

Years ago, Lori was dating and even engaged to Josh. Something big happened between them that forever changed them. Elijah comes and makes a connection with her and offers to help. Even with all that is going on around Lori, Elijah has his own past too. It probably feeds into his reasons for helping Lori and honestly helping the entire town.

That a man could have so much charisma as to slowly take over a town is totally believable, look at what Hitler managed. It also highlights that while faith can give people hope and strength, it also has the danger of taking over in a much more sinister fashion through fear and anger.

My favorite thing about the story was the flow of the story. It is a really fast read, written simple and steady. Anything the characters dealt with never slowed down, he just wrote through adding thoughts and feelings and color where needed. The story is written from third-person point of view, but with the spotlight on Lori, Josh or Elijah.

The title of this story caught my attention, as it was nearly my 2nd son’s name. Plus Elijah is a pretty big character in the Bible as well. A well chosen name for this story. On the cover there is a young man hidden in shadow, the cover is very dark. It does intrigue you, when I received it in the mail, I dropped everything I was trying to read and read this cover to cover.

I am comfortable giving this book a 5. I came home late Friday night and spent another 2 hours to finish this book, even though I knew I’d pay for it the next day when my 2 small children were ready to start their day. It was that good!
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Angela is a contributing "Guest" reviewer for my blog.  You can also find her at http://lilacwolfandstuff.blogspot.com.