One Plus One

A psycho killer, several cops, and a suburban mom become intertwined with angels and demons in this faith-based paranormal thriller.

If a movie should ever be made of this final installment in Faggioli’s (One In A Million, 2016, etc.) trilogy, the Eagles’ “Hotel California” might be a contender for the theme song. Like the tune’s lyrics, book passages reference voices that call in the middle of the night, characters who are prisoners of their own devices, and spirits that could be in heaven or could be in hell. The trilogy’s main character, Kyle Fasano, continues to suffer the cosmic aftershocks of his act of adultery as he travels other realms unaware of his intended destination. The angel known as the Gray Man, who accompanies him, acts as a heavenly detective on the hunt for Kyle’s wife, Tamara. She’s been taken prisoner by the unhinged Troy Forester, a slave to the devil himself. Tamara grew up in Bolivia, where her missionary parents taught her that “God speaks to us in all situations.” That belief allows her to withstand recent events, including her cheating husband’s supernatural disappearance and her own kidnapping from the home in which she lived as a single mom with her two children. But they had not been alone in the dwelling; something had been hiding under a bed, and it wasn’t dust bunnies. It was evil that came into the residence through an old, rusted lantern a co-worker had left on the doorstep. The true star of this scary volume is Tamara. Hell hath no fury like this captured woman, a committed Christian and certified badass with a mean right hook and killer moves with a hose. Good and evil take turns in the spotlight, with the latter generally resulting in quicker page turning, such as the violent episode in which Kyle and the Gray Man encounter piranhalike, toothed demons, who split to multiply by regeneration (“They simply dug their fingers into their faces, through their own skin…as they tore themselves completely in half”). The pacing is swift and the dialogue believable. Loose strings from the first two books tie together, and there is no unnecessary prologue as in the previous volume.

This frightening tale of a Christian heroine battling satanic forces emphasizes the power of prayer, forgiveness, and love.