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The Christian Noob (n00b)
born & raised Catholic, now going to a Presbyterian church & still learning
“The Soul Reader” by Gerard D Webster (book review)
Posted by on 01/12/2012
“The Soul Reader” by Gerard D Webster (2011, ISBN 9781449720513) is an interesting read. The main character (Ward) is a battered man — physically (recovering from an accident that was meant to kill him or, at least, break his character), emotionally (enduring the pain of having the woman he loved walking away from him) and spiritually (struggling not to seek revenge from those who left him almost handicapped and, most importantly, killed his father and). Without giving the story away, Ward needs to solve these issues while protecting the woman he loved.
It’s science fiction with many hints of Christianity (Catholicism to be exact) as The Rosary, Mass, prayer, church and faith. For example, the following’s one of my favorite quotes in the book while explaining the frustration of Ward’s father.
“Lord, give me patience — and give it to me right now.”
The story’s also mixed with the occult. The main character’s father had the “gift” of reading souls (hence the name of the book). This is a surprising topic since this “gift” falls under ESP — an occult trade/art, hence taboo in the Church (not that it affects me negatively).
Since I’ve been working on the finishing touches of my own book, I’ve taken much more time than I would’ve expected. In any case, I finished the book and that’s what counts.
The two things I found troubling are that there are other books with the name “Soul Reader” and the several references to the Catholic Church (as if I needed to evade everything I learned as a child) — not that they matter for the purpose of this review. By the way, the latter of the two’s a whole different topic all together.
Gerard D Webster is an independent (self-publishing) writer, which means that the story’s a without a doubt hit-or-miss story. You’d either like it or chuck it.
On a personal level, I liked it.
As I emphasized, it’s a good book. Nonetheless, as I mentioned, note that it might not be for everyone looking for a story of a man with super powers or for those looking for a book of praises.
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Thank you for the excellent review. I appreciate your concerns regarding the occult and ESP; so, before writing IN-SIGHT (my 1st novel) and The Soul Reader (its sequel), I researched the issue of the ability of some people to see the condition of a person’s soul. There have been such people–usually saints in the Catholic tradition–Padre Pio, the Cure d’ Ars, and Don Bosco–to mention just a few. I hope this helps to explain where the idea for a spiritual “insight” or the ability to see the condition of a soul came from. Thank you again for your kind words. God bless you and yours!
Growing up listening about metaphysics from my parents and seeing very bad things, I believe in ESP. I’ve got something (gift perhaps) that gives me a bad vibe when I meet people.
By the way, I’ve got a pair of questions for you.
What drove to write these two stories?
And most importantly, why did you opt for self-publishing?
I went on a silent retreat several years ago and one of the meditations was on the Gospel of the talents. We were challenged to consider what “talents” we had that we’d never used for the Lord. The one that stood out for me was my talent for “story-telling” and writing. So…as a result of the retreat…I decided to try my hand at it. That was in 2006. It took me two years to write IN-SIGHT in my “free” time. Which leads me to the second question.
After finishing the first novel of 422 pages, I spent almost a year and a ton of postage trying to find either an agent or a publisher. Collected tons of rejection slips. Many did not respond at all. However, several agents indicated they liked the work, sent suggestions for changes, and unanimously said it was “too long”–that a publisher would not risk the cost of printing a hugh blockbuster from a virtual unknown. Sooo…I looked for other avenues and self-published.
IN-SIGHT won several awards, which in turn helped me to find a publisher who was interested in the second novel. It sat at the publisher’s for six months. Towards the end of that period, I sent a couple of querries to the publisher to see what was happening with it. I received a response back–with an apology for holding onto it for so long–and informing me that they were in financial difficulties and would probably either go out of business or be sold. They released the novel back to me to find another publisher. By that time, I’d discovered Thomas Nelson and WestBow Press and decided to go through them rather than spend another six months to a year finding another publisher. WestBow and Thomas Nelson have been wonderful and I’ve learned a lot from them and their editors…so it turned out to be a good choice. THE SOUL READER was a finalist for USA Book News Best Books of 2011 in the religious fiction category.
Thank you, Gerard, for responding. I hope “In-Sight” (2008, ISBN 9781432737023) and “The Soul Reader” (2011, ISBN 9781449720513) continue selling or getting fans.