The Dark Man
Master of disguise Charles Graves goes undercover to infiltrate one of the last Christian cells in the South. But sometimes he who persecutes the church is destined to serve her.
Marc Schooley | April 2009
The world has turned over.
The Dark Man is a near-future thriller about a master of disguise working to eradicate Christianity in America. Charles Graves is haunted by his dead brother, his lost mother, and a phantom arising cryptically from a child’s puzzle.
Charles goes undercover to infiltrate one of the last Christian cells in the South, only to find that someone is working to infiltrate him. In a world turned over by an oppressive government and a godless society, Charles strives to bring down the last Christian leaders.
But sometimes he who persecutes the church is destined to serve her.
I’m going to say it. The emperor has no clothes. Six out of the eight books I’ve read from Marcher Lord Press read like rough drafts or self published books with a low production value sold at retail prices. And The Dark Man is the worst yet. The pacing hurt, the voice was inconsistent, and the order of events and scenes was terrible. None of his characters’ motivations were communicated to the reader, and key pivotal moments in characters’ lives happened before the reader ever gets a chance to even know who they are, let alone care about them. I… Read more »
I kind of see what you mean. My ebook versions of The Dark Man and Hero, Second Class are formatted quite badly, with frequent misplaced line breaks. Different reviewers mention the book was “not a polished read” or it “pushes literary boundaries.” No, post-modern world, stop being pretentious. This is just bad writing. Maybe I should have complained more in my old review, to be more balanced and honestly critical. I originally wrote that review two and half years ago, and I was a little less cynical then, still just barely clinging to the belief that everything done by Evangelical… Read more »
The annotated Firebird was basically what Steve Laube had edited with Bethany House. But I hated the cover and the whole production value of the book felt like a giant step down from my original copies from BH, even if it did downplay the romantic look that the old series had. (Kathy Tyers is one of my favorite authors after picking up the Bethany House “Firebird” book one day.) BUT that said, I was disappointed with Daystar. Just like with The Dark Man, there was pacing and storyline issues. There were elements that should have been a bigger part of… Read more »
His cover “Throne of Bones” was also the first design put out by MLP that didn’t scream “self published.” Why? What makes all the other covers scream “self published?” If you’re going to imply that people who disagree with your criticisms are pretentious and relativistic, you’d better have some super-objective and enlightened reasons for your criticisms. I think the design work on the MLP covers tends to be better than average. Maybe the fact that The Dark Man‘s cover is completely graphically designed rather than derived from a painting might make it seem lower budget, but paintings are not the… Read more »