Stories of a Condemned Soul (Volume 1)

Nathaniel Connors has written a engrossing book on what can happen when you make a deal with the devil. Depression, alcohol, grief, and being consumed with revenge will make you do almost anything. One shake with the devil can will make your regret your choice for revenge.

"My story is meaningless if not for the man that brokered my soul -- Jon Jacob

Although you should never judge a book by its cover, its the cover and the title that drew my attention to this story to begin with. With it being October and in Northeast Ohio where the weather has dropped dramatically to "sitting in front of a cozy fire reading" I wanted a book that would scare the bajeezus out of me. This book didn't do that but it didn't lack in regards to the story line. The story follows a man who essentially has lost everything. His wife murdered their only child and was sent to an asylum. Jon, with the help of an insane amount of alcohol, attempts to forget about the shit hand dealt to him. Until a stranger appears next to him in a dive bar offering him a deal that im sure, in a state of tremendous grief, alot of us would take.

The story is a great depiction of how much anger and grief can form into a nasty demon that essentially takes control of us. It consumes our thoughts and feelings and inevitably destroys us.

I enjoyed the story and would have liked it if it were a little bit longer but I would be content with even just a second installment to this.

Momentarily swept away with an urge to believe in the supernatural, I was taken by surprise with this paranormal storyline. It didn't take long for the presence of an evil puppet master to crawl up my spine. I couldn't help being swayed from my rock of solitude even when I knew I was reading something that was not of this world. Finding my senses captured by a human being of absolute power, it left me in no position to declare what's true or false.

Overcome with grief and rage, Jon Jacob had fallen to a devastating level of depression. Unexplainably, his wife, Jenna, had hacked up their daughter, Vanessa, to a bloody death. Now locked away at an institution for the criminally insane, all he wants is revenge. He'd give anything to see his murdering wife's final breath - anything.

At a local pub, sitting alone at a table, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, Jon is approached by a stranger. This is no ordinary stranger. He said he was intimately aware of Jon's inner turmoil and could help using unworldly power. For this, Jon needed convincing.

To substantiate his supernatural ability, the stranger had told one of the barmaids to crawl over the bar and perform a lewd act right in front of everyone. Without further ado, she did. To Jon's astonishment, not a soul in the crowded bar had taken notice. For all intents and purposes, they were invisible.

The stranger assured Jon that he could pass that gift on to him for a term of one year. He could do whatever he wanted with complete immunity. In return, at the end of the year he'd have to pass the gift on to someone else. It all just seemed too good to be true. Nevertheless, he agreed with a simple handshake.

At first Jon was a bit skeptical of this new given power. He didn't feel any different. After trying it out on complete strangers and making them bend to his ways, he was convinced. He was invincible.

Now, it was time to put part two of his plan into action. Long overdue, he would pay a visit to his wife at the hospital. Undoubtedly, she would be well guarded. In short order, he found he was able to just waltz right in to the hospital, even with the aid of one of the guards. The words he spoke had a magical power. It would be only a matter of time till he would get to his daughter's killer and exact his pent-up revenge. So he hoped.

I offer my thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I really enjoyed this paranormal thriller because it took man's greatest need for vengeance and then put a twist in there that I wasn't expecting but it definitely kept me wanting more. Jon is so wrapped up in his pain and dispair that when he meets a man that is unlike any other man, who can do things that no average man can do, he doesn't question his abilities he just agrees to a deal that gives him what he wants now. Little does he know it's a deal with a whole lot more vengeance then he needs when he finds out things aren't what they seemed to be when manipulation is put in the mix. I couldn't put this book down until I got to the end because I needed to know what was going to happen next. The only thing that I really didn't like was the way it ended but thank goodness it was the ending because I had to put the book down at some point. 😊

I give it four thumbs up🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼

My thanks to Books Go Social and Netgalley for this ARC.
To be honest, I'm not quite sure how to rate this book. It's awful. In that stomach churning way of awfulness. John Jacobs wife slaughtered their daughter. She's locked up in the loony bin, and John wants revenge. Enter the devil. Shake hands. Voila! This is probably a book that I'll have to read more than once, just because it was so horrible. Also, I'll admit I had a hard time with the main characters name. Sheesh, for a week I went around singing "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, his name is my name too. Whenever we go out, the people always shout, there goes John Jacob.....FA LA La la etc...so annoying!

The story and the characters in this book are interesting. It's like a story of how you can get revenge for someone hurting you and never having to pay for it.

Connors' story was a short, quick read that started off strong, but became jumbled in the middle and left me confused at the end. What appeared to be a linear timeline, suddenly seemed to lurch and travel through backstories. Very reminiscent of The Devil's Advocate, the story tells of damnation, salvation, and trickery.

This goes to show you why you should never make a deal with the devil. Nothing good comes from drinking and depression. However, you cannot help but feel for Jon because you know that you would do the same thing if given the opportunity. If you were offered the chance to get revenge on the person who murdered your family member without any repercussions per se.. We all would ponder the option at hand. Maybe we might toss the pros and cons back and forth. Or we just may be so engulfed in our own grief that we see nothing else and jump in headfirst.
Deal with the consequences of our actions later, right?

This is the first book by Nathaniel Connors that I’ve read and I guarantee it won’t be the last. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and read it fairly quickly.

The story centres around Jon, a broken man who has lost his wife and daughter and is ripe for revenge. The Salesman finds Jon with a bottle of whisky and promises him the revenge that he seeks. Jon takes up his offer however unknown to him there is a heavy burden that comes with it.

I loved this book, it was well written with great characters and I will definitely look out for the next volume as I really want to know how the story will progress.


Many thanks to BooksgoSocial and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.