The Palm Reader

What a unique and suspenseful premise, well-executed and packed with plot surprises, even for jaded readers like me. The delicious unraveling of a couple of sub-plots keeps you guessing what happens next, and I have to admit that there were a couple of curves I didn't see coming. What a great tale to read late at night with the lights off! Very recommended...

Wow! I absolutely loved this book. Even better than the first! The bestselling Devil in the Grass.

Jackson is back and still denying his Native American special gifts, despite his Grandfather’s best hopes. They are of Seminole blood and in the last book Jack took out a lot of very evil people and it’s not over yet.

Revenge is in the air...

I found the book paced up gradually (stick with these earlier chapters, trust me!) and pretty soon it was non-stop action. This is a thriller with supernatural and spiritual elements, it makes it really unique. I really liked the first book and gave it 4 big stars but this, this is even better!

Jack teams up with some great characters, working for a law firm and a case he takes on takes some crazy turns. Whilst this plot rolls out there is another fantastic plot yet again involving evil satanists. They are out for blood.

I really feel Chris has done a lot of research. His telling of satanic beliefs and rituals are so realistic but please don’t be put off. He doesn’t cross any lines to put off the squeamish. He tells the story well, using good and dark characters and my Adrenalin was seriously pumped in the latter quarter of the book!

In fact there are a few great plots all inter-weaving to big outcomes and keeping me, the reader thrilled and engaged. I was yelling at the book “Come on Jack!” - a few breathless moments whilst reading. Someone has to pick these books up for a great TV mini-series or movie. I can see it so clearly.

What did I love? Strong characters you’ll love to love or hate, different plot lines that really move along. fascinating combination of Native American, Spiritual and satanic beliefs. (I won’t give satan a capital letter). The ride to the ending and the final chapters were original, exciting and explosive.

This would appeal to many readers. I can’t box it to one genre, it’s just a really awesome novel. 5 stars from me, another one of my favourite books of 2018 so far!

Jackson is on the trail of a Russian ring of pornographers, thanks to a client. This client is just plain trash. He was arrested because of child pornography. This leads Jackson to the Russians. The whole time….strange things are happening. Jackson is blaming the Russians, but is it really? Could it have something to do with the Church of Satan?

I have not read the first book in this series, The Devil in the Grass.
I will go back and pick it up. If it is half as good as this one…I gotta have it.

I loved the strange characters in this book. I think Lolita and Jackson’s grandad, Nathan, are my favorite. Nathan is an Indian shaman and Lolita is a palm/ tarot card reader. Plus, there is Jackson. He is one tough lawyer. He doesn’t always play by the rules. That is what I like about him!

There are places in this story that are disjointed, especially at the beginning. I think it is the way the author introduces all the players. It takes a few chapters to actually figure out what is going on. But when you do…WOW!

Sometimes you just need a little change of pace. Well! This one is definitely a change of pace! Let me tell you, this book is evil, hypnotic and downright scary! This is not a read for every one. But, if you need a fast paced thriller…GET THIS ONE!

I love thrillers, but don't read them often. The Jackson Walker thrillers for some reason fell right up my alley at the right time.

Filled with a good amount of action, mystery, intrigue, supernatural mysticism and murder, The Palm Reader is a great Thriller to sink your teeth into.

Jackson Walker is back; fighting his demons and still ignoring his powers and the lineage he got them from.
The twists and turns were somewhat predictable, but still entertaining. I happily read through this in two nights. A great Thriller to read.

This is totally my kind of book! I love supernatural themed stories and this one was low-key supernatural, but still so satisfying to read! I adored Jackson and appreciated how the author made his personal conflict interesting and without the OTT angst that most authors do now-a-days. So, thank you for that, Mr. Bowron!
I wasn't crazy about Janie, but I was able to ignore her for most of the book, meaning whenever she was on page I read through it quickly just to get past it. I don't know why...I just didn't care for her.
I have not read 'Devil In The Grass', but I will be doing so now! This was a fantastic story from start to finish!

Thank you netgalley for a copy for review. I don’t usually read these kind of books but I wanted to try something different. I found this book haunting at times. It was hard for me to put down . I did enjoy this book.

Summary:
This is a Jackson Walker thriller. It’s a sequel to his previous outing “The Devil in the Grass”, and is set in and around the Florida Everglades, but it can be read as a stand-alone book.

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Main Characters:

Jackson Walker: The protagonist is a young Seminole Indian, former pro football player, and now lawyer-cum-detective who “is strong with the spirits”, but disavows this part of his heritage.

Mason Matye: French, and Head of a satanic sect that was destroyed by Jackson in the previous novel, now escaped and, pardon the pun, hell-bent on revenge.

Lolita: Eponymous palm reader, she aligns with Jackson to battle the satanic cult.

Janie Callaghan: forty-something cross between a PI and a lawyer, employed by Robinson, and assumes something of a maternal interest in Jackson, with whom she works to resolve this case.

Minor Characters:

Gramps: (Nathaniel Jackson) Jackson’s grandfather, a Seminole chief, who wants Jackson to come fully into his spiritual powers.

Eli: Local Russian Mafioso boss.

Peter Robinson: Jackson’s boss.

Plot:

The satanic cult leader wants revenge. Jackson killed most of his sect in the last book, (timeline 5 years previous), and had him imprisoned. Mason creatively gets himself out of the jail, and now aims to track down his nemesis, to sacrifice him in a Black Mass in order to get back into Satan’s good books (or should that be bad books??).

Meanwhile, Jackson & Janie have been called to do some preliminary preparation work, to help defend Robert Lopez. This guy is a peddler of porn, and was caught with some paedophilia on his laptop. He denies ever having it, etc., though admits he is in the porn business, and also insists he’s being framed by some local Russian criminals, who themselves are purveyors of porn and snuff films. Robinson feels there is more to this story than they are being told, however, and before agreeing to take the defence (but after getting a 10k retainer!), sends Jackson and Janie to find out more.

The two go to Aversions, the strip club owned by the Russians, to get more information, and naturally Jackson falls out with these dangerous and callous criminals, Eli the boss and Boris his enforcer.

This begins two parallel storylines, with both evil sides aiming to hurt or kill Jackson, and anyone else affected is just collateral damage.

Lopez goes on the run, and indeed there does seem to be more to him than he has let on.

Jackson is completely unaware of Matye’s lethal interest in him, and focuses solely on the Russians. He ignores the dreams he is having, as well as his grandfather’s attempts to get him to accept the powers, and the portent of the dreams.

Lolita then appears, a person who herself has visions or intuitions, yet when she intimates to Jackson that their lives will be closely interwoven and one or both may possibly die, she is rudely dismissed by Jackson. She meets his grandfather, and the two recognise and respect the power in each other.

Ultimately, after a few close calls and violent incidents, Gramps gets kidnapped. Thinking it was the Russians, Jackson and Janie attempt to spring him from the strip club, only to be proven disastrously wrong. Hooking up with Lolita, Jackson goes in search of Gramps. He begins to believe in his spiritual powers, and realises how horrible he has been to the people around him who were only trying to help.

He finds himself back on the farm where five years ago he destroyed the cult. There is a new gathering of Satanists now, there to witness the sacrifice of Jackson. These is quite a lot of action at this point, before Jackson & Mason finally face off.

What I Liked:

It’s well-paced, with the story moving faster as it climaxes.
The spiritual powers didn’t become a Deus Ex Machina that sorted out all the problems, but were merely pointers that could be followed or ignored.
Characters were well-written, if sometimes a little too predictable, but meshed well to give a strong impetus to the story.
What I Didn’t Like:

No real emotional development in the protagonist, which would be needed to grow the character.
There is some extraneous stuff at the start, while probably good for stage-setting, but doesn’t really grow the story.
Overall:

I don’t really go for this genre, as it can be formulaic, but when it works it can be amazing. This worked for me, however, as I was interested to see what would happen to this young, hot-headed yet likeable guy, whom Trouble has marked out for special attention.

I think this is a series that has great potential. It most definitely is not a YA audience (i.e. younger than sixteen), as there is a lot of violence, sexual abuse and exploitation, language and casual death.

Walker has potential to be a really strong protagonist, a champion for the minorities, an action-orientated guy, and coupled with the natural spirituality (non-religious!) angle, the focus on loyalty and importance of family, could really carve a niche for himself.

Suspenseful, fast-paced, multi-faceted, multi-layered, the plot keeps twisting right to the explosive end. It was an interesting read, with enough at the end of the book for the series to continue. I’d recommend it as an adult holiday read.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for a free copy of the book, in return for an honest and objective review.