Crossover, by John C. Dalglish (2013)
A private investigator discovers that God has bigger – and more dangerous – plans for him. His first clue is a hulking man who attacks him and threatens to kill him if he accepts a coming call to service. Then a second unusual visitor shows up at his office, essentially to tell him a calling is coming.
Crossover is book 1 in the Chaser Chronicles, a Christian-supernatural series which the author says up-front is not meant as a theological interpretation of the moments between life and death.
Although set in present-day Earth, the premise of the story is that some people, in the process of dying, are sufficiently motivated to turn back from the light and do more business among the living. Except the living can’t see them until they’ve lingered long enough to regain corporeal form.
Whether they’re resisting death to warn loved ones that God is real, to pass on another message, or to exact revenge, it’s the role of Chasers to stop them – and to either convince or force them to “cross over.”
The problem is, if one of these “runners” stays in the world too long, he/she becomes strong enough to be dangerous. Like Harbinger, the runner who confronts Jack in the beginning. Harbinger has killed Chasers before, and he wants to do it again.
Crossover is a light-hearted action adventure, and Jack is a wisecracking hero whose heart’s in the right place. There’s not a lot of depth to the characters, but that’s not the point of the story. This one’s for those times when you want something fun, fast, and at least a bit funny.
John C. Dalglish is also the author of the Detective Jason Strong series and the City Murders series. There are six books in The Chaser Chronicles, and I see on his website that they’re available as an ebook bundle. For more about the author and his work, visit jcdalglish.com.
[Review copy from my personal library.]