Violent Night

Byron Justice
Lone Tree Publishing (2006)
ISBN 0970179340
Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (5/06)

“Violent Night” in set in the not too distant future when God is finally fed up with mankind's evil deeds and exacts his punishment on the evildoers. Everyone is given a choice.....they can repent, accept the Key and be sent to The Other Side, a tranquil place where evil has no foothold, they can continue their evil ways and stay in The Forsaken World, where evil runs rampant, or they can go to The Place of Judgment, a lonely world with no measure of time.

This story starts out fifty years earlier, when two young boys have a falling out that leads one on an insane path of revenge with his son to carrying on his campaign of death.

There are six teenagers from the Temple Shadows Youth Group who start out on the journey to The Other Side together. With the clear direction to always drive into the squall, they know the Time of Reckoning is here when the earth is almost destroyed by the forces of nature.

Although I enjoyed the book very much, there is one thing I would suggest. You should go to the website, www.violentnight.com and read the background of the characters and the entire synopsis BEFORE starting the book. None of that information is in the book, I would think because of space limitations.

I don't know if this book is going to be continued, but if not, you will be left hanging if you want to know anything about The Place of Judgment, since that is barely mentioned.

But don't let those two little things put you off. The book is well- written; clearly Byron Justice has a lot of insight into the teen-age mind. Even though the grammarian in me winced over the speech of the children, it's how they talk.

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