Tom PawlikReviews

Pawlik is definitely one of the Kings of Weird. This was an engrossing read. I'm a nighttime reader, and this book was quite the nightly bedtime story.

I loved this book. This is the best book I've read this year. Its the first Christian novel I've read that isn't trying to shove religion down your throat. Damn good book. I'm an atheist and it makes me really think about rather God is real or not. Makes me wonder what its like after you die. Is there really a Heaven and Hell? Is there really a purgatory?

I originally thought this was an alien book but there more like demons. More of a come to terms with your personal demons kinda thing. The book also made a very good point, people worship god and praise him but the second something goes wrong in their lives they immediately blame him, no one want to take responsibility of their own lives. Stop blaming God for your mistakes.

Surprise ending.

Title: Beckon
Author: Tom Pawlik
Pages: 399
Year: 2012
Publisher: Tyndale
Beckon is the story of three very different people who all arrive in the small town of Beckon, Wyoming for very different reasons. George Wilcox has been contacted by Tom Vale, the man in charge of Beckon, to bring his wife for an experimental treatment to cure her Alzheimer’s. George had planned to retire and enjoy his hard earned money with his wife traveling, but her illness changed that. He has always put up with Miriam’s faith, not really making a commitment himself. They arrive, but soon discover there is more to the treatment than they were told and more that Vale wants than to cure Miriam Wilcox. How far will George go to save his wife? What will it cost?
Elina Gutierrez is a young woman recently suspended from LAPD who also arrives in Beckon as she has followed her cousin, Javier. Her cousin’s wife called Elina frantic when Javier disappeared. Elina knows Javier was picked up in a white van that appears once a month in Las Vegas to pick up people looking for work. She knows Javier got in the van a month ago, so she follows the van this month and winds up in Beckon. She soon discovers that all is not right in this town. What have the townspeople done with her cousin? Elina soon finds out and has a chance to use her rediscovered faith.
Jack Kendrick is on the trail of his anthropologist father who disappeared near Beckon 12 years ago. Jack also is an anthropologist and has taken up his father’s obsession with an alleged pre-Colombian Indian society that is rumored to live completely underground and has done so for thousands of years. Jack and his best friend Rudy meet an old Indian and hear legends of these strange people. He is told about a cave entrance, hires a guide and begins his adventure. What he discovers is so much more than he bargained for. The strange legends don’t come close to the horrors he encounters. Jack meets Elina and reverts to his upbringing of faith also.
This story is filled with action, tension and is very entertaining. Hold on to the edge of your seat because this story will take you for a ride! Each person discovers the cost of playing God. God is in control and doesn’t leave them alone is also a theme. This is my first book by this author and I thought it was great! I look forward to reading more of his books.
My rating is 5 stars.
Note: The opinions shared in this review are solely my responsibility. Other reviews can be read at http://seekingwithallyurheart.blogspot.com/. Also follow me on Twitter @lcjohnson1988, FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/lisa.johnson.75457

I am so ashamed of myself for not getting to this book earlier! I received a pre-publication of this book from Mr. Pawlik last spring, and just got to reading it today. So, to Mr. Pawlik, I apologize.

What a treasure!!!

From the first page to the last, the book is rife with emotional turmoil, danger, intrigue, and the premise that life, good or bad, has a way of touching so many individuals.

I found the book a rare treat. In a world where so many novelists seem pleased to toss out some garbage and expect us to proclaim it a literary winner, Mr. Pawlik really gives us a novel we can put our teeth into, stay on the edge of our seats, and yet come away with a tear in our eye!

Already a Christy Award Winner, Mr. Pawlik has a talent that I hope to continue reading for many years to come.

I highly recommend The Way Back for readers of 15-years and older.. There is some graphic content [an animal killing humans, and racial bias] that may be too mature for the very young.

I give this book FIVE STARS and a big THUMBS UP!

****DISCLOSURE: A copy of this book was provided by the author in exchange for an independent and non-biased review.

I can't believe I received this as a free Kindle download from Amazon. Great thriller and mystery full of symbolic overtures. The ending had a great twist involving redemption and grace. I have added a new name to my repertoire of favorite authors of fiction.

Excellent. Short, sweet, and full of mystery. It all comes together at the end. Very well written. After reading both Vanish and Recollection by Pawlik, he is proving to be an outstanding author. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

Really enjoyed this one. Moved quickly but not so much you got lost. A christian book with little doubt to it's message but not preachy. I could definitely see this as a movie. Reminded me a little of the "Left Behind" series. If you like Christian fiction, I would have no problem recommending this book.

"Nine-Three-One-One-One-Seventy-Five-Seventy Seven."

These were the same numbers that New York taxi cab driver, Adrian Colfax heard himself mumbling each time he drifted in and out of consciousness. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what they meant and why they were continuously on his mind. At 1:01 a.m. he ventured inside Java Cove, a coffee shop he used to frequent every night for a cup of joe back when he was a cabdriver in Manhattan. Back when he was working through the night shift to put himself through college. Back when...

Back when he was in love. Now as Adrian entered the coffee shop, he saw that his old friend Scotty Leonard was still managing the place. He still looked the same after all these years. Adrian felt like Rip Van Winkle waking up after decades of sleep to find that the world had passed him by. Only in Adrian's case the world hadn't changed at all. It just felt older somehow.

He find that by talking to Scotty about his dream and wonders just what the numbers 931117577 mean. Even Scotty can't make heads or tails of the message and refers him to his cousin Pam who is a physic palm reader that occasionally works for the police as needed. He takes Scotty up on his offer and persuades Pam to see him even though she has closed for the night because of Scotty. When she takes his hands across the table she sees something so horrifying and dark, that she immediately tells Adrian to leave. All she will tell him is that he seems to be out of place somehow. That he is unclear and out of focus. He feels that the dark cloud might be death and when he questions her further, she asks if anyone close to him has died recently. Someone he loves.

That's when Adrian realizes that this dream must have something to do with his girlfriend Kate, yet before he can locate her, he has another dream this time longer than the last one and in it the details become more clear. He meets a man who tells him that time is wasting. You just might be able to save her...if you can remember in time. Now if he can only remember what that is that he is supposed to do.

In the short story series, 7 Hours, Recollection is one written by Tom Pawlik and again we are visited by a man who provides an offer simply too good to be true. This one involves Adrian Colfax who is warned that he needs to be careful trying the change the past. You might not like how the future turns out. This is such an incredible series, I am inhaling each one like desserts. They are rich in detail, suspense and always a twist in the message that probes the reader to wonder if you were at the end of your life, and given a choice, to have an additional 7 hours to your life or to go back and revisit 7 hours of your life, what would you chose? That's just what you discover in this short story from Tom Pawlik, what the choice that Adrian makes affects his life and you'll have to read it to know how it all turns out.

Trust me, it's a great story and one I highly recommend. I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars! These are available as eBooks only right now through your local online retailer. So far, I've read three out of the 7 and am going to read them all. If you love stories like your classic Twilight Zone or Night Galley episodes, you will LOVE these!

Welcome to Beckon. You're not here by chance.

Just what would you give to live forever? Money? Security? Your loved ones?

In the town of Beckon, no one ever leaves of their own free will. There is a dark, sinister secret hidden in the mountains and caves. One that has existed since the beginning of time. One that seeks to devour any that wind up in the belly of the mountain.

Ancient legends called them Shadow People, other people call them murderers and killers and still others worship them and what they can provide.

In the latest supernatural Christian suspense thriller, Beckon takes the reader into a four part journey in this novel by Tom Pawlik through the eyes of three characters, Jack, Elina, and George who happen upon the town of Beckon for very different reasons but each will meet at a unique crossroads.

Jack is going in search of his father, an anthropologist named David who went missing and has never come home. While searching through his father's desk, Jack locates a brown envelope that may provide the clues no one has been able to uncover in the hills of Wyoming. He takes along an Indian guide and US Army Ranger, Ben Graywolf along with his best friend Rudy to search for the missing ancient civilization of the Caieche Indians. He receives a warning from an old man named Running Bear that they seek to tell them about the Caieche Indians and the Shadow People, that "If you go...death will find you there." Death does in fact find them there in the darkness.

Elina Gutierrez is an LA County police officer who is on leave and searching for her cousin Javier, who has disappeared. A mysterious white van roaming the neighborhoods and streets in Las Vegas promising jobs to the illegals that gather on the street corners in search of work and money. Only when Javier didn't return, Elina believes that there is something going on with this roaming van. When she follows it one day, it takes her into the hills of Wyoming and what she finds there in the dark woods will call upon more than just her police training if she expects to survive.

George Wilcox is about to lose his best friend and wife to Alzheimer's. There still remains no cure and George struggles to find a way to reunite his wife to her former life. When an offer from Thomas Vale arrives promising him the ultimate cure, he immediately wastes no time in driving them both to Beckon, Wyoming. What he learns is that this miracle drug does more than just heal whatever ails you, and the price is worth almost anything George has to offer.

I received Beckon by Tom Pawlik compliments of Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Tours for my honest review. There is something to be said for things that go bump and click in the dark. I didn't see this one coming but it truly is a must read for anyone that LOVES a great suspense thriller with a Sci-Fi twist to it. I love how the author wove these three different but intricate story lines together to keep the plot moving along and to see where it culminates is worth reading every single page. This book alone will make me second guess ever going into a dark cave again. Well written, the characters are believable and have you rooting for them in the end. I rate this one a 5 out of 5 stars. I personally feel his books rate right up there with Travis Thrasher and Mike Dellosso and can't wait to read more!

Few books grab me in the first pages and don't let go. Beckon is just such a book!

Fast paced suspense that keeps you turning the pages as fast as you can. Breathless and breath-stopping the entire novel's length!

Think Steven Spielberg meets Stephen King, and you'll get the idea.
Lost Indian culture with weird shamanic practices that can promise miracle healing and the fountain of youth. Throw in giant blood-sucking, flesh eating, crustacean-like arachnids, and you've got a tale that will make your little heart jump around in your chest!

Love, love, love this book.

Great read! Highly recommend it for the pleasure of an exciting novel! Rate this T for teens and older. [If you like Indiana Jones movies, you'll love this! Hey Mr. Pawlik, when can we expect to see this in a film! I'll be the first to purchase a ticket!!!]

I give this book Five Stars and my Thumbs Up!

****DISCLOSURE: This book was provided by Tyndale Publishing in exchange for an independent and non-biased review.

Building upon the story begun in Vanish, Tom Pawlik surprised me by coming up with much more to write set in the otherworldly setting he so eerily created there. Vanish worked well as a stand-alone novel, and I wasn’t sure what else could be added to the work that he completed there, but Valley of the Shadow proved to be even better written and more compelling than the original.

Characters from the original novel (reading it first is recommended) meet again in the land ‘in-between’ spaces to struggle for the soul of one who is trapped between eternal destinies. Physical danger in the land of the living is juxtaposed against a stunning fight in the spiritual.

The pace is very fast, and Pawlik somehow avoids the clumsiness of the prose that Vanish opened with; it’s straight into the action, straight into the fray. If you liked the premise but were a bit turned-off by the writing (as I was), you should find Valley of the Shadow far more readable, and therefore, more enjoyable!

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com

Loved this book! Fast moving and exciting. Good hidden twist.

When Tom Pawlik’s sophomore novel Valley of the Shadow released this year, it piqued my interest enough to look into its predecessor, Vanish. When I read the synopsis online the story’s premise dug its claws into me and wouldn’t let go.

Selected as an Operation First Novel winner in 2006 by Jerry B. Jenkins’ Christian Writers Guild, Vanish was published in 2008 by Tyndale. It then went on the win a highly respected Christy Award in the Visionary category. With the scent of speculative Christian fiction wafting from every description of the book, how could I resist?

Lawyer Conner Hayden is a man obsessed with his work. The emotional distance he cultivated between himself and his family following the backyard drowning of his young son Matthew have resulted in divorce from his wife and alienation from his daughter. One night he watches an immense black storm roll towards his house, containing strange flashes of light within it. When he wakes he finds himself alone in a deserted city.

It isn’t long before he encounters strange, inhuman creatures – watching, following, and waiting. Conner soon encounters other travelers through this barren landscape – a boy who won’t speak; a Harley riding mechanic; an aging, small-time actress; a couple of young thugs; and an elderly farmer. Each struggles with burdens from the past that appear in the form of incredibly vivid hallucinations as they are pursued by the mysterious, relentless, and increasingly malicious beings.

After first noting the excellent book design (eerie-contemporary within and without) the next thing that struck me was the limp prose. After barely making it to the storm scene, I was struggling through pages intended to develop character — but didn’t — stilted dialogue, and a resulting lack of interest in the story. However, after Conner’s discovery of an empty world and the introduction of the strange grey figures with spider-like fingers, the pace picked up significantly.

While Pawlik’s opening chapters were weak, it’s the suspenseful pacing that found me finishing the novel inside of 24 hours. He had my train of thought dashing down all of the expected rabbit trails given the scenario laid out. In truth, I was surprised by the unfolded revelation as the book reached its climax.

The Christian message found in Vanish is likewise largely hidden in the first portions of the novel. While initially only present in the conflict between Conner and his Christian wife and daughter, the unmistakable themes of forgiveness and redemption are clearly revealed by books end.

Pawlik’s premise is undeniably unique, despite what could be misunderstood as plot devices held in common with other “Where did everyone go?” titles such as Offworld or Left Behind. If you can endure the first five chapters or so (they are admittedly brief) while you’re waiting for the action to kick in, Vanish will provide an entertaining, fast-paced read filled with suspense, mystery, and even a few goose bump raising, heart-pounding moments.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com

Vanish is a short and simple supernatural tale, borrowing elements from a myriad of sources. It's not completely derivative in it's content, Tom adds a fairly impressive twist which will increase your favour with what is an otherwise average book. This short read, which has a definite TV screenplay feel, is an easy way to pass a few of hours.½