This is a unique story line and a great story, but it gets a little lost in the telling. While I found many of the "side" conversations interesting, they did take away from the overall intent of the story. I would classify them as "totally useless pieces of information" and wish that the author had stuck to the story. Overall, it was a good story, just a little long in the telling.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this but found there was a bit too much information overload in places. Saying that some of it was interesting and I did enjoy reading this book. It came across as a mixture of the supernatural and a thriller with an interesting plot line. It delved into the realms of crimes perpetuated by a possible serial killer with ritual and macabre features.
The characters are well formed and for the most part realistic. The locations reflect well with the situations the characters find themselves facing . I would be interested to find out what happens next .. Could see this as tv series plot.

Kate Justice discovers hidden truths about her own past as well as the war between good and evil that has been raging for millennia.
This was a real page-turner. If you are into Christian fiction then this is a good read.
There's also an amazing amount of trivia (which you can skip through if it's not your thing) and a lot of background about the Bible, ancient civilizations and Native American culture.
As a Christian I found some of the logic suspect... which I won't go into here. But if you keep an open mind that this is fiction after all, it is definitely entertaining!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the free copy.

Ghost
The Justice Chronicles Book 1
by Michael Jack Webb
BooksGoSocial
Christian | Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 22 Oct 2020


I am reviewing a copy of Ghost through Books Go Social and Netgalley:


Kate Justice is the FBI’s youngest profiler and she has been assigned to find serial killers with supernatural abilities.




The killer is cunning, elusive and seems to be invincible.



Kate finds herself having to race against time to discover who or what is behind the gruesome murders and prevent another brutal killing. She soon fears she’s in over her head as stunning revelations about her mysterious ancestry surface.



Soon Hunter became the prey as the Ghost in the Darkness killer plays a vicious cat and mouse game, drawing Kate into a deadly confrontation.


Kate must uncover the truth will challenge her beliefs about the world around her and her understanding of what is real, what is a myth, and what is something in between.


This is a powerfully written novel!


I give Ghost five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Ghost by Michael Jack Webb follows Kate Justice, an FBI profiler investigating a series of murders of children. The killer leaves a distinctive mark on each victim and the books with Kate awakening in a hospital bearing the killer’s mark-his first survivor.

The book started strong, drawing me right into the action. The characters were developed and the dialogue moved the plot nicely. The problem with this book is the extensive description of triviality that. Is loosely related to the plot itself. For example, after the use of a well-known saying by a character, the author proceeded to explain the origins of the saying. This happens repeatedly throughout the book. While I found much of the information interesting, it served no real purpose to the plot and actually slowed the plot significantly. If this book was reworked to eliminate the trivia, it would flow much better.

Thanks go to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

An absolutely terrific read, I had a lot of fun with this story and am definitely looking forward to another all-nighter when book two comes out. For now, I get to go check out some of Mr. Webb's previous novels, looks like my evening just got a whole lot more interesting.

I'm afraid this book just wasn't for me. But it has tons of fabulous reviews so go for it. Thank you for the arc.

Ghost by Michael Jack Webb, Book #1 Justice Chronicles, is a supernatural delight. FBI agent Katharine Justice has been away from the FBI for almost a year due to a life-threatening injury on duty. She enjoyed her job and as one of the agency’s best, as well as, youngest profiler, but it was not just her body that had sustained injury, her mental health had suffered as well and she had her doubts that she would return to the agency. That was until her parents disappeared leaving only two small puddles of blood as the only clue and if that wasn’t enough, the serial killer she had been chasing when she was injured – the Ghost in the Darkness – was back!
Kate Justice, the main protagonist, is a strong personality with strange foresight and sometimes unconventional methods, but her success rate has afforded her some leeway in her investigations but even that may not be enough to save her this time.
A Ft. Collins, Colorado deputy Chris Schindler, assigned to the Justice case, also has an interest in the “Ghost” killings and he and Kate soon discover that the serial killer case and her parents case may actually be connected and agree to work together to find her parents and the killer before he has a chance to strike again.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. It had a few predictable events that are typical of the genre but also enough twist to keep the reader engaged and guessing. I give it three and a half stars. The only thing that kept it from being a four star in my rating was the one thing I found problematic for me and that was the authors tendency to be a bit over descriptive. Some of the in-depth and lengthy descriptions of food, clothing and locations sometimes broke the flow of the story. And while legend and lore of Native Peoples of the region, as well as, the numerous biblical refences were integral to the story, they tended to be a little too long to be entertaining and informative and bordered on an Anthropology lesson. But, with that being said, it was still well worth the read.

A young detective visits the victim of a serial crime in a hospital and even as she dies, does not register that the body on the gurney is hers, before being dragged down into a hellish underworld.

Fast-forward to the celebration of a milestone birthday with her beloved parents, and our heroine Katharine Justice falls asleep in the bath, only to discover that her parents have vanished into thin air.

There are the opening scenes of the forthcoming quest of Justice to catch the serial killer who had originally killed her, as well as to find her missing parents. She gets help: on reporting her parents as missing, another detective is to quickly bond with her as they join forces.

This is a supernatural thriller, where Justice discovers that she has a great destiny to play against the forces of Evil, though in this first volume, only so much of that is given away. She is certainly and mysteriously very well provided for.

Amidst the great danger that surrounds her and her new ally, Kate and Chris live glamourously, dining on top-notch home cooking, as well as at the hotel made famous in Stephen King's The Shining. This writer does not mind referring to the authorship of other gothic horror writers either.

The supernatural elements include references from the Bible and from Amerindian Shamanism. The evil on this case originates from the Mesopotamian era.

The writer appears to be well-read in many spheres, the jacket and page design also contribute to an overall impression of classiness, and this first volume hints at a great deal of promise. However, there are many questions here that are not answered - this writer clearly wants to keep their readership on tenterhooks for the next. There may well be sound marketing merit in that, though it might have been more satisfying if this story could have worked just as well as a standalone too. It also makes it more difficult to judge if the writer will on fact be consistent in revealing all the secrets put out here in the future.

Still, this definitely good quality fare.

It's hard to describe this novel. Spiritual warfare on steroids might be appropriate. It is not for the weak of heart yet Christians could certainly benefit from reading it. Webb highlights the reality of spiritual warfare and how evil spiritual beings might have been active for centuries.

The story got off to a rough start for me with a prologue event and then a plunge into current time. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. When I did, I was hooked. Kate is a troubled heroine being pursued by God and an ancient evil spirit. She is an unusual FBI profiler with the special gift of being able to make connections between seemingly unrelated facts. Chris is a police detective who comes alongside Kate. He seems to be a knowledgeable Christian yet also seemed to be ignorant of what a Christian can do and the authority one has when confronted with evil beings.

There is a ton of interesting information in this novel. Readers will learn about antique cars, histories of communities, facts about serial killers, and more. Most of the information fit well within the context of background revelation. Webb did a good job with the setting, grounding locations with good descriptions. Webb's narrative style is fascinating and kept me engaged in the story that flowed well.

Some of the content of this novel may surprise regular readers of Christian fiction. You'll meet shape shifting beings, skinwalkers, ghost hunters, the demon possessed and a slew of spiritual beings, good and evil. There is an exploration of spiritual legends from a number of religions, stories and experiences that may contain elements of spiritual reality. Traditional Christians may find their understanding of Christian spiritual experiences stretched a bit. I've not seen a novel challenge my Christian thoughts about the reality of the spiritual realm since the ground breaking books by Frank Peretti decades ago.

I recommend this book to Christians. It may well unsettle your life as you are faced with the exploration of the possible actions of evil spiritual beings in the past and today. Webb leaves readers hanging as the spiritual issue is not resolved at the end of this novel. I'm impatiently waiting for the sequel.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from the author. My comments are an independent and honest review.

I have had to stop reading this o e unfortunately. I have tried several times to get into the narrative and to find a connection with Kate but I am struggling.

A couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, the book jumps from past to present, current life to memory without any discernible difference. One moment you are in a kitchen or a bathroom and a sentence later you are thrown into a killer's lair. It kept taking me aback and I had to keep going back and forth to reread and get my bearings.

Secondly, the description and dialogue is just off, clunky and over written. Does anyone describe their own hair as long and lustrous? Did we really need a full page of backstory into how much she loves Chris Pratt and why just to set up a potential love interest?

I'm sorry, it is possibly just me as other reviews seem favourable but this one just isn't for me.

Did not finish it. Made it till 23% before I couldn't go any further. There is just so much over-explaining that doesn't do much to the story. I guess if you like to explore lots of side information up to the point where you think you are reading at least half a history book or encyclopedia this might be the right thing for you, for me it isn't.

great start to a series; a great mystery novel with interesting characters. I enjoyed going on this journey.

In this book we follow Kate who is an FBI agent, who has a reputation that precedes her as of the best there has been. Her most recent case is trying to apprehend the 'Ghost in the Darkness Killer' but all is not as it seems. Kate has a strange heritage unbeknownst to her and this has caused her to go from the hunter to the hunted. After a brush with death and a year sabbatical, she is forced to return to work after her parents go missing. After the police take her statement, a mysterious detective turns up at her door and they crack the case together.

The premise of this book is very interesting and is clearly well researched. There is a lot of general, historical, cultural and Biblical knowledge all throughout the book. I found this very fitting for the book as they're cracking a criminal case and so the knowledge displayed was relevant and woven in well into the story. At some points I didn't know where this book was going, I must admit it got stranger and stranger delving more into the supernatural.

Unfortunately, what I liked about the book is also what I disliked about the book at some points especially in the beginning. This book is extremely detail-orientated and you are inundated with a lot of information and there's also a lot of over explanation. I said earlier that this was fitting for the book and it was, in the criminal aspect. However, sometimes it really was not necessary. I'll give two examples, Kate gave an extremely detailed explanation of how Sudoku works, I mean it was around half a page or more long and it didn't connect to anything later in the book. Secondly when she and Chris were in a house, she described the floors as being 1/4" sawn wood. This happens in almost every new place they go she describes these things in such depth so this book can get a bit heavy at times.

Furthermore, in Kate and Chris' dialogue there is a bunch of general knowledge thrown in and sometimes I was thinking PLEASE can we have a normal conversation. I'll give one example of this. Chris said to Kate something along the lines of " Penny for your thoughts?" and Kate proceeds to explain the entire origin of this phrase. It was just too much at times and happens often.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy this book, the author does well to make sure that all the the knowledge shared is relevant to the case and to the story, so while it is too much at times - especially added with the over-explanation of things not relevant to the case - it's not irrelevant.

This was an amazing thrilling book, it had your basic police thriller intertwined with supernatural and native American mythology and legends.
I don't think I've read such a book, that took my breath away in the way this book did, for a very long time. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.
I hadn't even heard of Michael Jack Webb before, now I need to read more by him.
Thank you netgalley.

Ghost


First off, the scene is an operating room with the dead body of a young woman who'd been killed by a serial killer who was responsible for killing seven young boys. The emergency room personnel had tried to save her life but didn't, Kate suddenly realized the girl on the table was her double - but she was an only child - then she woke up!
Kate goes home to her parents house, greets them, and takes a long bath - when she goes downstairs, her parents are gone and there is a trail of blood to the refrigerator.
Kate, a year ago had been a Criminal profiler who was investigating the case of a serial killer who had killed 7 young boys and then had kidnapped Kate, blindfolded her, gouged her and shot her dead with her own weapon. She was pronounced dead and then resurrected 4 hours later!
A detective named Chris arrives at her parents house to volunteer to help Kate find her parents - he has sparkling amber colored "wolf" eyes that can see well in dark places, Amber herself has red eyes like an albino with double eyelashes.
Chris and Kate are investigating the murder of a couple when Chris startles Kate by telling her that he is a seer.....

this was a great start to a series, it was a great mystery novel with interesting characters. I enjoyed going on this journey.

"Do you believe vampires are real?" I was captivated by the story!
Ghost (The Justice Chronicles Book 1) by author Michael Jack Webb is the first in a new series. FBI Profiler Kate Justice is recovering from a traumatic experience that is medically impossible. During her last case, she was mortally injured and pronounced dead. She woke up four hours later and it has taken her several months to recover physically and emotionally. Kate knows she has a gift that has served her well as she profiles cases.
It is two weeks until she turns thirty and her parents have gone missing from their home. Kate has questions about the Ft Collins Detective who came to her home when she reported her parents as missing. Her parents have told her there is vital information they have to share with her on her birthday. Soon Kate will uncover shocking information about her life and purpose for the future.
Kate has recently been asked to come back to her unit and help solve the case she had started the previous year. The 'Ghost in the Darkness' serial killer is leaving a string of murdered and mutilated victims who are between ages eight and eleven. Kate requests that Detective Chris Remington be allowed to partner with her on the case. The investigation thrusts Kate and Chris into chilling paranormal situations that defy explanation.
I won't post spoilers, but this book is fast-paced, suspenseful, and filled with historical passages from the Bible and legends from the ancient tribes of Native Americans in the Colorado and New Mexico areas.
I read this book continuously from start to finish in one afternoon and evening. I do think if a reader is not familiar with Biblical scriptures, they may feel a bit lost. I have read the Christian Bible many times and I am familiar with the passages used in Ghost. Personally, I am thrilled to read a suspenseful book that delves into the supernatural forces which the bible teaches are present in our world. I anxiously await the next book in the series. *(There are a few edits which could be made)
Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Kate is one of the FBI’s top profilers, possibly one of the best ever. She is known for her unconventional methods for finding killers. However, the Ghost in the Darkness killer is stretching her abilities to the max.

This is by far one of the best thrillers I have read to date. The paranormal aspect makes it all the more enthralling. I found it entertaining, eerie and educational. I was especially excited to find it is a clean book free of foul language and sex scenes. It doesn’t lack in violence however. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good serial killer thriller and/or the paranormal. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series!