To Wrestle with Darkness-Alan D. Jones

To Wrestle with Darkness
Alan D. Jones
Rising Sun, Jul 2009, $19.95
ISBN: 978-0966667912

His mom tried to keep Michael out of the family mission however, her efforts prove futile. A junior at Georgia Tech, Michael’s cousin Akina text messaged him that something bad happened and he needs to meet her at Piedmont Park. He rushes over only to see Akina with blind Uncle Paul who must be a zillion years old; Michael has questions about freaky photos to ask his uncle about, but no time. Akina cries that her Mama Avis has Cousin Carla. Darnell, Carla’s twin, arrives agitated as does family friend Sandy. The family, in an instant, travels from Atlanta to New Orleans in order to confront Avis, who has turned to the dark side. Michael the atheist begins to understand there is a lot more out there as he finds his power to change the physical state of an object or a being’s body part during the effort to rescue Carla from Avis and her demonic horde.

Meanwhile as Michael begins to learn of his skills and that of his family, in the distant future Jonah and Monica struggle to survive in a suppressed world in which the Blue control everything. An inventor Jonah saw at what was once the Smithsonian the Heart of Mystery gem that belonged to his family. He risks his life to regain what he believes he should possess. However, he is unprepared for the Blue Lord horde, though he proves to be a poor sport.

This is a deep somewhat convoluted and extremely complex and enthralling amalgamation of religion, science fiction and fantasy into a terrific allegorical thriller. The ensemble support cast for the two subplots makes the powerful story line work as they seem real while Jonah and Michael share star billing. Fans will anticipate the blending of their subplots, but never figure out how Alan D. Jones cleverly achieves this. TO WRESTLE WITH DARKNESS is an excellent tale.

Harriet Klausner