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Title/Author

The Sinful Man

Keith Rommel

Average Review Rating Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)
Book Details
 

Publisher : Sunbury Press

Published : 2014

Copyright : Keith Rommel 2014

ISBN-10 : PB 1-62006-265-8
ISBN-13 : PB 978-1-62006-265-4

Publisher's Write-Up

Than•a•tol•o•gy | noun

The scientific study of death and dying and the practices associated with it, including the study of the needs of the terminally ill and their families.

DERIVATIVES thanatological | adjective thanatologist|-jist| noun ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from Greek thanatos 'death' + -logy.

Headaches. Hunger. Pain.

Leo needs something... his stomach growls, but it can wait. That’s not hunger he must feed. He has to get to his next high, but without money he knows he can’t buy what he needs to sate the voice inside telling him to get more, get more.

Voices. Visions. Addiction.

No luck asking his father. His mother is in no position to help. After failing to steal the money he desperately needs, Leo must appeal to his dealer, the dangerous and infamous Saint Nick—despite the inevitable beating he’ll take for showing up empty-handed. Still, anything to keep the voices and flashbacks at bay

Demons. Addiction. Death.

Leo soon learns that everything has a price - not just money for drugs, but that every choice he makes has a repercussion. Suddenly caught between a world where he can see the sins of his past and a new consciousness that he doesn’t fully understand, Leo finds himself not only chasing the dragon, but being chased by demons of a whole different kind. He must learn the finality of being past hope - all while reliving his missed opportunities for second chances - and truly come to understand that he is responsible for his own undoing before he runs out of time. After a lifetime of bad choices, this Sinful Man discovers the consequences to his actions and the mortal responsibility of exercising free will.

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Reader Reviews

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Review by Nigel (310714) Rating (8/10)

Review by Nigel
Rating 8/10
The Sinful Man is Keith Rommel's third novel in the Thanatology* Series, the first being The Cursed Man and the second being The Lurking Man.

The Sinful Man continues the theme from The Lurking Man, questioning who we are and what will become of us ‘after’ and how we delude ourselves to justify our actions.

Leopold Conroy finds himself in a strange forest at night chased by unseen horrors; struggling to escape he comes upon a wooden shack and desperately seeks sanctuary. An old woman allows him inside and Leo gratefully accepts the respite from his demons only to find an even stranger world waiting. It soon becomes apparent all is not as it seems as events unfold and we learn about Leo and his life as a sinful man… and the consequences of his choices.

To say any more would give away too much of the plot so I’ll leave it there. Suffice to say I enjoyed The Sinful Man as I have with the others in the Thantology Series, it is a great piece of atmospheric writing that gets you questioning your own fate and future… will we have to atone for our sins and stand to be judged? If so, what form will this take? Scary no?

I have to admit the ending was abrupt for me. I was reading an ebook version so had no sense of coming to the end until I pressed to turn the page to find no more. I reconsidered what I had just read and was left to ponder my own interpretation, which is fine but I felt there could have been more answers. While I’m personally not a great fan of the ’leave it to the reader finales’ it seems to be a fashion and it is done well here... it certainly makes you think!

Another fantastic book from an author that deserves a much wider audience.

* Thanatology is the scientific study of death. It investigates the mechanisms and forensic aspects of death, such as bodily changes that accompany death and the post-mortem period, as well as wider social aspects related to death; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanatology
Nigel (31st July 2014)

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