SHEPHEEEEEERDS. This one will haunt you.
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00:00:18
Hey, guys, I'm Chris. And I'm Mike.
00:00:22
And welcome back to this week's No Limits, the other podcast.
00:00:27
How you doing today, Mike? I'm doing great.
00:00:30
I don't know how well I'm going to sleep though, after talking
00:00:32
about this book, but we'll find out.
00:00:35
How are you doing, Chris? I am.
00:00:37
I'm doing great. It's great to be back on the No
00:00:39
Limits Thriller podcast. We've been, we've been gone for
00:00:42
a little bit, haven't we? Well, yes, except for the
00:00:45
Knights Templar last. Oh, right.
00:00:47
Before that though, we were on a Scott Harvath kick for a couple
00:00:50
of months. Yeah.
00:00:54
But now, now we're back fully focused, one feed going forward.
00:00:59
This Is Us and boom, back-to-back books.
00:01:03
Love, love the recommendation for you, for Steve Berry.
00:01:06
And you've been you've been singing this since when did this
00:01:10
book come out? 2020-2021.
00:01:13
Probably around there, yeah. I mean, there's four now in the
00:01:16
series. I didn't read the newest 1.
00:01:18
So we're we're going back to Dark Intercept by Andrews and
00:01:21
Wilson in order to move forward on to the new release, the 2025
00:01:26
release Dark Rising. Chris, do you think you want to
00:01:28
read the next two or three now after this?
00:01:31
Hands down I have to read the next two.
00:01:34
I can't just jump to especially like the ending.
00:01:39
Oh my God, we got we got to talk about the ending of this book
00:01:43
leaves you. I haven't felt like this until
00:01:48
since I guess Andrews and Wilson another series with.
00:01:52
Sons of Valor. Sons of valor, they do like
00:01:55
that. Kind of cliffhanger Y it it is a
00:02:00
cliffhanger, but it's like a different kind of cliffhanger.
00:02:02
It's not like the Scott Harbath hit cliffhanger where like boom,
00:02:05
someone gets shot or but we've had the happen mobile multiple
00:02:09
times with with Riley or or with Tracy or like the scene at the
00:02:15
end of spymaster. I'm spoiling all these books,
00:02:17
but you know, there's there's like different kinds of of
00:02:22
spoilers, you know, and you get these like think about Marvel
00:02:26
and credit scene. Right.
00:02:28
Yes, it feels like that. It wets your whistle just enough
00:02:33
to like, oh I can't wait till next summer, man.
00:02:36
Yeah, totally. And these ones that these guys
00:02:38
pull off is always relational. It involves some bombshell
00:02:44
information about the relationships between characters
00:02:47
that they did so much for you to buy into.
00:02:49
And so let me tell you, Chris, Detective Perez comes back and
00:02:54
she comes back big. She has a role to play in the
00:02:57
Jedediah Johnson story. So if you like that ending, just
00:03:00
there's plenty more to come in the Dark series.
00:03:04
I mean, how could she not? I I, she kind of was minor
00:03:08
character in this, you know, like came on early, came on a
00:03:12
little late, but then boom, setting her up to be
00:03:15
quintessential like the villain going forward, you know, through
00:03:19
the through the the entirety of the series.
00:03:21
I would, if I had to guess, I would imagine it could go one of
00:03:25
two ways. Either he finds out that she's
00:03:28
working for Victor in the next one or like the entire book.
00:03:32
You don't, you don't know. So that's that's going to be
00:03:33
super interesting to find out. I don't know.
00:03:36
Like, are we still on the like? Don't tell me, don't tell me.
00:03:39
Like no, I'm not saying anything.
00:03:41
How long is is Victor? I'm intrigued like is Victor
00:03:43
still in play like going forward is or is there like an even
00:03:46
bigger or are we talking about like James Bond spectre type
00:03:50
type stuff? Because he's the big bad, he's
00:03:53
the big bad and he's an incredible big bad.
00:03:56
And when you add the spiritual component, which is something
00:03:59
we're definitely going to have to talk about, but you add that
00:04:01
and now you have a villain who basically represents evil
00:04:04
Incarnate, like evil capital E devil.
00:04:07
You know, that is just wild to put into a thriller and he and
00:04:11
they do it. So Florida State, and they do it
00:04:13
so naturally. And so we'll get to the
00:04:15
spiritual stuff. But you're absolutely right.
00:04:17
Victor has a role to play. I'm not going to say much more,
00:04:20
but yeah, he's a big bad. And you know how we like when
00:04:24
the big bad is around for a 2-3 book arc and that only elevates
00:04:27
them. Yeah, but I'm already starting
00:04:29
to think like, is this, have you watched what's that show on
00:04:34
Netflix? Stranger Things.
00:04:36
Stranger Things, you know how like you that I won't.
00:04:40
Well, you say what you're going to say, but yeah, I know I need
00:04:42
to see it. Where it's like, you know, you,
00:04:44
you're with a villain for the entire series, or even like
00:04:48
maybe let's say two seasons. And then you realize that you
00:04:51
know, there's someone else. Actually, you know, there's,
00:04:54
there's always a, you know, or it's Star Wars, right, You have.
00:04:57
I love. You like Snook and then you then
00:04:59
it's actually Palpatine and then it's actually Palpatine
00:05:02
reincarnated. Like, you know, all this crazy
00:05:05
stuff. Somehow Palpatine survive.
00:05:08
I love that meme. Let's not.
00:05:10
Litigate that one on this podcast that would take over
00:05:13
everything but. No, but even Vader, like Luke, I
00:05:15
am your father. It's kind of like the reverse of
00:05:17
that. We knew he was bad, but now
00:05:18
we're learning he's intimately connected.
00:05:21
Well, we've already seen characters intimately connected,
00:05:23
and then it's revealed that somebody's bad.
00:05:25
You know, I kind of, I kind of like both of those devices.
00:05:29
So I, I guess my first question for you is, was she controlling
00:05:33
the cop the the cop who died or where they just work, all of
00:05:37
them were in cahoots with Victor.
00:05:40
And you could literally get into a theological debate over this
00:05:43
of right, you're basically asking what's the nature of
00:05:46
evil? Is it 1 bad force corrupting
00:05:49
otherwise good parts of creation like that, that crooked cop or
00:05:54
even Kenny, right In the flashback scene to when they
00:05:56
were kids, when they were teenagers, the guy hosting the
00:06:00
party, they thought they were friends is all of a sudden doing
00:06:02
this to Rachel with that demonic looking in in his eyes.
00:06:05
I think they're pretty much establishing evil is the absence
00:06:10
of good, right? A very Christian, very Catholic
00:06:12
idea. Evil is the absence of good.
00:06:14
But through the fall man and individual men can allow that
00:06:19
evil to operate more openly through them, through their
00:06:22
devices and their choices and by turning away.
00:06:25
And so I, I kind of like how there's no answer to that
00:06:28
question, but we're getting the sense that they do come from,
00:06:32
obviously the, the authors are steeped in a Christian
00:06:34
background. And So what I think it is, is
00:06:37
that the spirits are entering into people like a, they're real
00:06:42
humans, but they're using them, they're manipulating them.
00:06:46
So I don't know if, like, Detective Perez is pulling
00:06:49
strings. I think it's Victor really.
00:06:51
I think it the be all end all is with Victor.
00:06:53
So I think it's part of his master plan.
00:06:55
All these spirits are kind of like sent out and sent forth to
00:06:57
go find corrupted humans and corruptible bodies that they
00:07:01
enter and then do all these things.
00:07:03
So I think they're all pawns in Victoria on Victor's chess
00:07:06
board. That's how I would read it.
00:07:07
But yeah, these these evil spirits are going out and
00:07:10
finding the wickedness that exists in the world and
00:07:12
exploiting it, you know, turning it to their advantage.
00:07:17
Yeah, no, it's, it's super intriguing and you know, it's
00:07:20
almost like, like you said, these, these corruptible bodies,
00:07:25
the crooked cop who was Perez's, I don't know, his partner or
00:07:30
what whatever, they work together, right.
00:07:32
He was so wicked that when the, you know, when he gets healed,
00:07:37
like there's nothing left for him, he just dies, right?
00:07:41
Because, you know, like his, he was completely absorbed by this
00:07:44
dark being. But the opposite with the friend
00:07:48
who was attacking Rachel, like the demon leaves him and he's
00:07:51
there and he's just a weeping SOB and, and Rachel's even like,
00:07:54
did you kill him, Jed? And David's freaked out thinking
00:07:56
they murdered him. It's like you can't murder the
00:07:58
innocent guy because he was possessed by the spirit.
00:08:02
Yeah. No, no, no, I know it's very
00:08:06
it's very psychological. It gets you thinking about like,
00:08:10
you know what, what is the line between good and evil?
00:08:15
I I guess we should start to talk about, you know, the whole
00:08:19
faith-based idea of this book. You know, we can kind of bring
00:08:22
up the the scores and, you know, talking to begin to talk about
00:08:27
like what people have said about it.
00:08:30
I know that friend of the pod Daryl loves these books, but I
00:08:34
will say, you know, you have to be, I don't think this book is
00:08:38
for everyone, but I think if you like through the novels and if
00:08:44
you're comfortable reading, you know, a faith-based book, then I
00:08:51
would recommend this to anybody. Like, I don't know, it's
00:08:54
freaking awesome. And also like just the
00:08:56
supernatural too, like, you know, not only combining like
00:09:00
this idea of God and, and, and the Holy Spirit and you know,
00:09:03
these warriors for God, but also this, you know, you know, you,
00:09:08
you could have you, this could be any story.
00:09:11
This could be, you know, aliens, you know, they just happen to
00:09:15
put their Christian spin on it. And you know, it's, it's, it's
00:09:19
cool. Yeah, I'm glad you were OK with
00:09:22
it because I was recommending the series so highly and I kind
00:09:25
of had a sense it'd be up our alley.
00:09:27
But I did want to unpack reading a faith-based thriller, yet one
00:09:32
that still captures, I would say all the elements of a
00:09:34
traditional military thriller. Like just look at your
00:09:37
protagonist Jed, and even one of the one of my favorite
00:09:41
characters in the series, Ben Morvan, Like they're coming at
00:09:44
this from the traditional military op perspective.
00:09:48
And even the shepherds as a whole, as we unpack throughout
00:09:50
the book, who they are, this idea of teams and watchers and
00:09:54
keepers, this is really, as much as it's supernatural and
00:09:58
faith-based and spirits and demons, it's actually grounded
00:10:03
in real operations. And these guys know best.
00:10:05
You know, Brian and Jeff, they both served, One was a surgeon,
00:10:10
served with SEAL teams, you know, in the field.
00:10:13
Another one was on submarines. That they have so many different
00:10:15
roles, military based, Navy roles, you can't help but notice
00:10:20
they're blending the faith and the the military operations so
00:10:24
seamlessly. You almost forget that this is a
00:10:27
faith-based or Christian book. It kind of melts away because
00:10:31
the operations are so seamless that there's Intel people,
00:10:34
there's the guy in your ear, they're, they're targeting, you
00:10:37
know, and, and they have these, these teams where Overwatch is,
00:10:41
is giving you live updates and they're directing the tactics.
00:10:44
Yet the guys on the ground, the warriors still have to make the
00:10:47
decisions based on reading the field.
00:10:49
You almost forget, even if you don't want to read any religion
00:10:53
in your books, you think someone recommends this book?
00:10:56
You think they're crazy. No way, that's not for me.
00:10:58
I'll never read it. I think you have to give it a
00:11:00
chance. And and another thing they do is
00:11:03
they keep it pretty non denominational interfaith.
00:11:07
It's kind of like the shepherds we learned they're an
00:11:09
international interfaith group. You don't really hear much about
00:11:12
Jesus Christ, the resurrection, specific things in the Bible to
00:11:16
1 sect of Christianity. They're kind of just referring
00:11:19
to this overarching deity who is love, who spreads love, who can
00:11:25
work through all creation. You can channel that love
00:11:29
through your choice, your freedom, your willpower.
00:11:32
So I think it's really a book about freedom and human nature
00:11:37
and willpower. And if you want to strip it of
00:11:39
all of the religious stuff, I think you you kind of can, which
00:11:44
is weird to say where it would have been different if they like
00:11:48
LED into each of the characters has a personal relationship with
00:11:51
Jesus Christ. Instead they just say God, you
00:11:53
know, And I think that kind of opens it up.
00:11:54
It kind of widens the borders a little bit to, to be more
00:11:58
inviting. And I think the shepherd's being
00:12:01
this interfaith group, but it would be really cool if we go
00:12:03
out around the world. Hint, hint.
00:12:05
I I think there's a lot of opportunities because they kept
00:12:07
it so broad. Yeah, And you know, if you think
00:12:10
about other stories that are like this, I I think of, you
00:12:14
know, Harry Potter, I think of Star Wars, this bringing in a
00:12:19
whether it's this organization based grounded on something,
00:12:24
whether that be, you know, Wizards, whether that be Jedi,
00:12:28
whatever organization, you know, you, you want to bring the
00:12:32
person into. Then you have this person on the
00:12:34
outside and that they begin to get incorporated.
00:12:37
You know, it's, it's the dawn time and time again, you know,
00:12:40
the the hero's journey, Joseph Campbell, right.
00:12:42
So, yeah, I, I, I think they executed perfectly.
00:12:46
And the action, you know, they do the action in this so good.
00:12:54
It's it's like a Dempsey. It's like a sons of valor.
00:12:59
You know it it starts with the from right from the RIP with,
00:13:04
you know, that scene. Well, first of all, we're over
00:13:07
in in Iraq, like, you know, with like these quote UN quote or
00:13:11
open in the Middle East. It's kind of like a flashback,
00:13:15
you know, type type thing, sort of set in the stage.
00:13:18
And then we immediately cut to the Barnes and Noble scene and
00:13:21
you're, I'm, I'm just like, I was confused, you know, in their
00:13:24
purposely like not giving you, you're just getting like a
00:13:28
little bits and nibbles at this story.
00:13:31
You're kind of going through it, how Jedediah is going through
00:13:35
it, right? You don't know you, you kind of
00:13:37
know, like, but you, you don't know until it gets told to you
00:13:40
until like the very end, right. When they, when they meet at the
00:13:42
church with the priest, they, they find he finds out that,
00:13:46
that I, I would love to see that picture.
00:13:50
I don't know if it's on the cover or not, but of the dove,
00:13:53
but with the eagle's wings. The one that would have.
00:13:57
Been a yeah that would have been a cool a cover but.
00:14:01
Nashville is portrayed so well that's just one of the many
00:14:04
churches and sites around the city.
00:14:06
Yeah, we get Nashville on the cover.
00:14:07
Yeah, I'm not that I'm not from Nashville, never been right.
00:14:11
But Can you imagine if you you're from Nashville, you know
00:14:13
the city intimately well, like this book is just as good as
00:14:16
let's say Brad Thore book taking you to Switzerland or or Norway
00:14:20
or wherever. He's able to do that here with
00:14:22
with Nashville, which is so cool.
00:14:25
I we rarely go to like these southern places.
00:14:31
I guess, you know, we've gone to Texas.
00:14:34
I I think in was it storm rising with?
00:14:38
Chris Howdy. Yeah.
00:14:39
With Chris Howdy. But it's always DC or New York.
00:14:42
You might get a Chicago or a Boston here and there.
00:14:45
And we went to LA like once, Yeah, but.
00:14:49
The thrillers should go to. These smaller, you know, not
00:14:54
small, but like even just, you know, denoting, you know, like
00:14:58
freaking Pigeon Forge. Like I, I've been down there in
00:15:01
Gatlinburg and like that's a, that's a crazy place.
00:15:03
And you know, going through these hills and getting the
00:15:05
description of the American South.
00:15:07
It's very interesting. I think Jack Reacher, Lee Child
00:15:11
does it very good because, you know, his books kind of travel
00:15:14
all throughout the entire United States.
00:15:18
And he, he does a really good job of really immersing you in
00:15:21
each city area. But yeah, like, most of our
00:15:24
thrillers we've been reading are focused.
00:15:25
It's either Europe, Middle East or we're hanging out in DC.
00:15:30
You know, rarely have we gone to outside the Washington DMV area.
00:15:35
Yeah. No, you're right, You're right.
00:15:37
I think that's another thing that makes it unique is just the
00:15:39
setting. So it's really unique in the
00:15:41
supernatural stuff. It's also unique in the setting.
00:15:44
It's just a lot of barriers these guys are breaking while
00:15:48
still operating within the bounds of what people want to
00:15:51
read as a thriller, like the plotting, the pacing, and you
00:15:54
said the action sequences. Exactly what anybody could want
00:15:57
in a thriller. That scene when Father Macklin
00:16:03
and who we learn is Corbin, the girl who has hideout in the
00:16:05
stall are meeting and they're supposed to meet up with Rachel
00:16:10
and Sarah Beth and family. And we're getting they're kind
00:16:13
of like quizzing each other on like biblical things.
00:16:16
Yet you're right. We don't know it.
00:16:17
And Jed has to go through. It's almost like a police
00:16:19
procedural. He's playing investigator in the
00:16:21
beginning because he has no info.
00:16:23
Like we have no info. And so I, I think the first like
00:16:27
3rd of this book, it's a little slow on action after that
00:16:30
opening, but I think that's a good thing.
00:16:33
It gives us time to meet Rachel David, learn who Sarah Beth is
00:16:39
and it lets another storyline cook which is Sarah Beth and
00:16:44
fake grandma might be my favorite parts of the book when
00:16:51
she's in captivity and fake grandma's coming in and we're in
00:16:55
Sarah Beth, a 12 year old girl's head who has these special
00:16:58
gifts. We realize she can read
00:17:01
thoughts, particularly with her mother.
00:17:03
You know, if she if they since they have such a close
00:17:05
relationship, even trying to like transmit where she is,
00:17:12
she's like, I don't know why I'm doing this, but I'm going to say
00:17:14
every little detail. I realize there's a tower out
00:17:17
the window. The sun rises this way, the
00:17:19
fields are described this way. And she's almost I mean, I don't
00:17:23
know if you've looked into this remote viewing stuff.
00:17:26
She's almost. Like telling me about this?
00:17:28
Yeah. Holy cow, she's like reverse
00:17:30
remote viewing where she's like projecting where she is, knowing
00:17:34
that she has this connection with her mom.
00:17:37
Oh my God. And then when fake grandma is
00:17:39
coming in and being so creepy and ultimately when she screams
00:17:44
birds, that part of the book, that whole escape from the house
00:17:49
storyline might be my favorite, most haunting thing.
00:17:52
And it, and since I read this book what, 4-4 years ago now, I
00:17:55
think, and then coming back to it, that was what I was looking
00:17:58
forward to the most. I, I wanted that moment so
00:18:01
badly. And even years later, on my
00:18:04
second or third reread it, it hit.
00:18:06
It hit just as hard. Yeah, I think that can allow us
00:18:10
to talk about the narrator here. We obviously both did the audio
00:18:13
book. I think this McCloud Cloud
00:18:17
Andrews Cloud Andrews one of these related to the prey
00:18:20
Andrews I. Think so.
00:18:23
Multi. No I don't think so either.
00:18:25
Multiple Audi awards I looked up, including one for Dark Dark
00:18:33
Fall. Was that last year's?
00:18:35
I forget it. But anyways, and for me the
00:18:39
creepiest scenes were when he transitions to Victor's voice.
00:18:44
Yeah, yeah, he's so good at it. We get a confrontation of, of
00:18:49
Victor and Jedediah in the house when he tries to control him,
00:18:54
tries to make him kill himself when he's in his in.
00:18:58
And then that also reminded me of Stranger things because in
00:19:04
that it's also about like, you know, telepathy and, and being
00:19:10
mind controlled by, by these, you know, netherworld regions
00:19:14
and, and talking to each other. It's, it's so intense.
00:19:19
And like, that was creepy. That was so creepy.
00:19:21
When he makes him raise that gun to his chin.
00:19:25
When he's in the woods outside the house, staring at the
00:19:27
silhouette in the window, holy moly, that is one of the most
00:19:31
haunting scenes I've ever read because it's like it's all
00:19:35
personal. Wait, right?
00:19:36
We know what Jed's going through with the grief that he carries
00:19:38
with never becoming a pastor, with falling away from religion,
00:19:41
which becoming this military man in all of his faults.
00:19:46
And he's like, I, I, I don't want to do this.
00:19:48
Like it's easy for someone to just go, oh, he's a washed up
00:19:52
seal. He's seen some stuff.
00:19:53
He, he blew his brains out in the middle of the woods, you
00:19:55
know, But no, like there's depth to this character and it's
00:19:58
because evil is trying to creep its way into his head and
00:20:02
control him. And so that, that scene, I think
00:20:05
is phenomenal. And and that's the sequence
00:20:08
where they escape and run into Ben Morvan at the end of the
00:20:11
woods when they're getting out, dude, like you said.
00:20:16
To do the the narration for Victor, the fake grandma, that's
00:20:22
the little girl Sarah Beth. But then you have to
00:20:24
differentiate Sarah Beth from Corbin because those are also.
00:20:28
Those are very well done when her and Corbin are meeting and
00:20:32
are like. Talking to each other.
00:20:33
They're experimenting with their powers, dude.
00:20:36
Whether it's the remote viewing or like you're saying something
00:20:39
from Stranger Things, just this idea of consciousness has been
00:20:42
on my mind so much. Maybe because Joe Rogan, Sean
00:20:46
Ryan, all these other podcasts I listen to have have really had
00:20:49
some people on. But dude, there is crazy stuff
00:20:52
out there and some of it is coming from really seemingly
00:20:56
reliable people. If it's all a disinformation or
00:20:59
misinformation campaign, they kind of got me.
00:21:03
I, I, I really want to know more about just what is
00:21:07
consciousness, what is beyond. And so have you also heard of
00:21:13
the Telepathy Tapes, this podcast?
00:21:18
There's this lady who does a podcast, the Telepathy tapes.
00:21:21
I haven't listened to it. It got criticized a lot for
00:21:25
various things. Apparently there's a movie
00:21:26
coming out, but she basically spoke to so many different
00:21:30
people in the non verbal autistic kind of category.
00:21:36
And and there were so many parents who had similar stories
00:21:40
of what their children were able to do or these almost miraculous
00:21:44
things their children would do who are non verbal and basically
00:21:47
non commutative. And something that came out is
00:21:50
that first they, they predict a lot of things and they're able
00:21:55
to tell their parents things that that are true or come true.
00:21:58
But there's no way the family would have, would ever, should
00:22:00
have ever known that. But another one, when Sarah Beth
00:22:02
and Corbin are going into this kind of spirit world and, and
00:22:06
their this connection that they have in this otherly place, they
00:22:10
call it the hill, the telepathy tapes uncovered all these
00:22:13
children. They have this place they call
00:22:17
the hill. And regardless of space and
00:22:21
distance and time, they're all apparently able to commune and
00:22:24
kind of hang out. And, and apparently on this
00:22:28
podcast, she interviewed some teacher who said one of the best
00:22:31
parts of a couple of the kids days is when they're just quiet
00:22:34
and they do quiet meditation time.
00:22:36
And she's like, usually these are kids who just can't stop,
00:22:39
whether it's noise, body motions, ticks, tremors and
00:22:43
stem, you know, stemming and things.
00:22:44
And she goes, we do this kind of meditation thing and they all
00:22:47
just stop. And they're so quiet and they're
00:22:51
communicating with each other in the Hill.
00:22:53
They go to this place called the Hill.
00:22:55
They see all their friends and other people they know and they
00:22:58
can like commune with them. And apparently even on like
00:23:00
forums like Reddit and things, there's a bunch of people
00:23:03
talking about how, hey, I saw you at the Hill last night and
00:23:07
like they actually know things about each other's lives even
00:23:09
though they're non verbal kids living across the world.
00:23:12
And I'm just like, consciousness might be crazier than we think.
00:23:17
Well, it's just proof that it this is the matrix and we're all
00:23:20
we're all plugged in and you know, we're just being uploaded
00:23:24
and we can we, we can cracks in the matrix.
00:23:28
I just don't know. I'm just, I'm just not closing
00:23:30
my mind to any possibility of of something like this.
00:23:34
This is no limits the conspiracy theorists corner.
00:23:38
Back to the conspiracy corner. But that's the problem.
00:23:40
How many people does it take to have these experiences that you
00:23:43
just keep writing them off before, hey, maybe there's some
00:23:46
kernel of truth under? Yes.
00:23:48
True that people are tapping into.
00:23:51
Dude, the remote viewing stuff's wild.
00:23:53
Look at this guy, Joe Mcmoneagle.
00:23:54
It's just unbelievable. Mcmoneagle All right, write that
00:23:58
down. The story Listen to the Sean
00:23:59
Ryan podcast with Joe Mcmoneagle.
00:24:02
Anyway. All right, back, back to the
00:24:06
story. Let's let's go build the
00:24:08
scorecard. Sure, sure.
00:24:10
Let's do it, dude. Act in suspense.
00:24:13
I'm I'm going to go dad Like I, I can't, I can't go anything
00:24:17
lower than dad, dude. Give me the time, Give me the
00:24:21
time. Because not only does it get all
00:24:24
the action really well, this is super suspenseful.
00:24:29
I think just like having that spirit, you know, supernatural
00:24:35
this, you know, otherworldly beings, you know, having you
00:24:39
know, these various cliffhangers throughout the story.
00:24:43
It just propels you. And you said that I would agree
00:24:46
the 1st 3rd of this novel is a little bit slow.
00:24:50
You know, I had to pick some Nets, but then it you needed
00:24:53
that. And at the beginning I'm
00:24:54
skeptical, right? I'm like, alright, why does he
00:24:57
have to be a Navy SEAL? What is he doing?
00:24:59
Like being this, you know, private eyes friend, you know,
00:25:03
like, but I get it in the end. It has to be because he has to
00:25:07
become a shepherd. And so in order for him to
00:25:09
become a shepherd, he has to have that background.
00:25:12
That more than puts it all together.
00:25:13
Yeah, exactly. So I'm going 10.
00:25:18
Yeah, I'm with you. And we didn't even talk about
00:25:20
the real second-half action, which is an OP.
00:25:23
You know, when the bombs, they think the bombs are planted in
00:25:25
the church during that kind of interfaith gathering concert
00:25:28
thing. But really it's a trap to blow
00:25:31
them up in the parking lot and and get the shepherds.
00:25:34
That's exciting. And then they got to peel out
00:25:36
and and Jed's got a rush to the house because that whole final
00:25:40
action sequence where they're trying to take Sarah Beth again
00:25:43
at the house, it's almost non-stop once you once you hit
00:25:47
the scene in the woods where they're getting they're getting
00:25:51
her out of the captivity. Oh.
00:25:53
Yeah, the IT just non-stop continually goes.
00:25:55
Yeah, it's non-stop after that. And the work was done to get you
00:25:58
bought into the characters. And I, I think then it kind of
00:26:01
refreshes when Ben, Ben Morvant shows up, and it's almost like,
00:26:05
you know nothing Jon Snow, like you know nothing Jedediah, about
00:26:09
what's going on here. Like everything we thought we
00:26:11
knew with him starting to put the pieces together.
00:26:14
This priest was killed in the car crash.
00:26:16
The girl was taken. We're getting some weird
00:26:18
visions, and I'm getting these weird intuitive feelings.
00:26:21
Even when he's investigating that Lady, like Mary, she was
00:26:24
like the landlord at Father Macklin's place.
00:26:27
He, like, knows her name. It just pops into his head.
00:26:29
He's like, oh, Mary, you know, I was looking for you.
00:26:32
So many of these things are happening, yet he has no idea
00:26:34
why he's fighting it. He still hasn't unpacked what
00:26:38
happened decades earlier, you know, with Rachel and and David,
00:26:42
the campfire scene. And it all comes to a head, I
00:26:44
think when Ben Moore of that is like, I'm going to be honest
00:26:47
with you and tell you who we are, what the shepherds are.
00:26:51
And I love that. So yeah, I think the action, the
00:26:53
suspense of the 10, and because of everything I just said, the
00:26:55
plot, it's laid out really well. I think it flows.
00:27:00
I think the timing is great. Once you get over that hump in
00:27:04
the beginning, it's just you can't put it down for the last
00:27:07
2/3 of this book. So I think I'm plot.
00:27:10
I go on 9. Yeah, I'm I'm right there with
00:27:13
you. I think there's a maybe a couple
00:27:16
things we would, we would dig it, but could elevate it to that
00:27:21
10. I was a little confused at
00:27:30
again, I guess in the beginning like my whole confusion was.
00:27:34
Who is he? Why is he here?
00:27:36
Right, like, but I guess that was the whole purpose of it.
00:27:40
So maybe I'm just, you know, getting bogged down by that, but
00:27:44
I think I don't know, they, they do a good, great job laying
00:27:49
everything out, getting you hooked, you know, and then once
00:27:53
we hit the ground running, it's great.
00:27:55
And you know, like, like I said, this is also like a James Bond
00:27:58
novel. Like it's, it's like a, you
00:28:01
know, a Tom Clancy, you know, Jack Ryan type novel.
00:28:05
It it just feels all these genres that were blended
00:28:07
together. It's great.
00:28:09
Yeah, it's that's really impressive stuff.
00:28:12
I think to pull that off is unreal.
00:28:15
So because of buy in on all that, you know what, I'm going
00:28:20
to go 5, which is crazy because you think this is the most
00:28:23
unrealistic book. You tell somebody the plot of
00:28:25
this book. It's like, I don't do that, that
00:28:27
that's not up my alley. I'll never understand all that.
00:28:30
But once you read it, you're bought into the relationships.
00:28:34
I love how things are being revealed.
00:28:36
I'm giving 5 on buying for the the revealing of information.
00:28:41
We don't know everything about the car crash, Father Macklin
00:28:43
and Corbin and the bathroom stall.
00:28:45
We don't know everything about Sarah Beth's powers and her
00:28:48
connection with her mother and the the voices she's hearing.
00:28:50
We don't know everything about Jed's back story.
00:28:52
You know, that had to be unveiled almost halfway through
00:28:55
the book. I think you know the the rape
00:28:57
scene with Rachel, what they went through.
00:28:59
We got hints at it when he was meeting David and he's like, I'm
00:29:02
not going to say Rachel's name and all this, but that wasn't
00:29:05
revealed to us till later and then revealed about who the
00:29:07
shepherds are. We don't even know what the
00:29:08
shepherds are until 5060% into this book.
00:29:12
Who the watchers are, Corbin and Sarah Beth meeting and finally
00:29:16
Corbin teaching her what all these supernatural powers are
00:29:21
that's not revealed until late in the book and how to harness
00:29:24
them. I love how everything is plotted
00:29:26
out just to like you said, wet your whistle, keep you wanting.
00:29:29
And every time one of those things is revealed, it's like
00:29:32
let's go. I want to see that in action.
00:29:34
I want to see how they use that on an op and then that even pays
00:29:37
off. So I think it's a 5 on buy in
00:29:40
all. Right.
00:29:43
Yeah, I, I see where you're coming from.
00:29:51
I was, I was confused to why David and they had such a do
00:29:58
they have a strained relationship?
00:29:59
Because after that rape scene, like he just checked out and he
00:30:04
was he was done with it. Like what?
00:30:06
I was just confused as to what led him them to like have it
00:30:09
falling out. Yeah.
00:30:10
Jed, Rachel. And David, I think it was
00:30:14
teenage trauma and. And you're not wanting to admit
00:30:17
like, you know, what he saw that night.
00:30:19
And yeah, I think ultimately maybe like turning, turning
00:30:23
towards, all right, I'm going to go into the military.
00:30:25
He turns down his faith. Yeah, once one become a pastor
00:30:28
didn't. And then now he looks back and
00:30:30
says, oh, not only did you steal my high school sweetheart, but
00:30:33
you also became a pastor or something that I wanted to do.
00:30:36
Yeah, completely. Yeah, No, completely I'm.
00:30:39
Just talking it out like I get that now.
00:30:41
All of that comes together too with Rachel's line of it wasn't
00:30:45
just that you left, it's you took your light with you like
00:30:50
she was almost even though she was the one who was attacked,
00:30:53
she was willing to come face to face to with it.
00:30:56
She was willing to confront the evil of that night, but Jed was
00:31:00
just going to reject it. He was going to say, I'm not
00:31:03
crazy. This couldn't happen.
00:31:05
This was something wild. We're never going to talk about
00:31:07
this again. He cut himself off where she, I
00:31:10
think, is in tune with that world.
00:31:11
And she realized someone like Jed could overcome that
00:31:14
darkness, could help them through that evil.
00:31:16
Yet he ghosted them. He left them.
00:31:18
They were the three amigos. They were the best.
00:31:20
They were best friends. They were as tight as can be.
00:31:22
They were dating. And he left.
00:31:25
He checked out because he didn't want to confront that evil.
00:31:27
He didn't want to own it. He didn't want to recognize it.
00:31:31
And I think that line that she says is that I'm not just mad
00:31:34
that you left. I'm mad that you took your light
00:31:36
with you, light that we all shared, we all deserved, and we
00:31:39
all need to fight off these demons.
00:31:43
I think that line meant a lot for me.
00:31:45
Yeah, yeah, I get that. I.
00:31:47
It kind of made me think of like when I'm frustrated at school or
00:31:51
work and the kids like, you know, this and that, it's just
00:31:54
going to be like, if they all have a light, you know, it's
00:31:57
like same with everybody. Like we all have a light.
00:32:01
And don't cut yourself off from the light that others can show
00:32:03
even some are dimmer, some are brighter, some fluctuate, some
00:32:06
go in and out it it's like we all have that light.
00:32:09
And I think Rachel's line to say you took your light away from
00:32:12
us. It's really, really hits.
00:32:15
Yeah, All right. I'm bought in, but I'm not a I'm
00:32:19
not. A few times.
00:32:20
I'm not as bought in as you, so I'm a go for.
00:32:23
I'm a go for. Fair, that's fair.
00:32:25
I I think if you read it again, I wonder.
00:32:27
That might be my only points. Take it away for the rest of the
00:32:30
score. It's kind of amazing.
00:32:32
Bad guys What? Else do you dock?
00:32:34
They're perfect. Yeah, the creepy grandma 5, all
00:32:38
the crazy ass operators that are being controlled by Victor, and
00:32:41
then at the very end you throw in this Perez twist that she's
00:32:46
on the inside. Oh my good God.
00:32:49
Reading it the second time, the hints are there the entire time.
00:32:53
You know from the minute the hints are there the entire time.
00:32:57
That she's bad. Yep, it's wild.
00:32:59
Yet you'd never see it. You'd never see it.
00:33:02
Even in the epilogue when she's picking up the phone, she's
00:33:05
getting released from the hospital.
00:33:07
They like give her a bag of belongings and she's like, I
00:33:09
don't care about all that crap. I just want these shoes.
00:33:11
And like she was hyper focused on like, I just want these
00:33:13
designer brand shoes. It's like she's representing
00:33:16
like materialism, you know? And it's just like little things
00:33:21
like that. They're just insanely telling of
00:33:25
her worldview and and why she's on the dark side.
00:33:28
And I'm just like, they're so subtle with it that when they
00:33:32
hit you over the head, it's almost like you knew it was
00:33:35
coming, even though it's so shocking, it's, it's just
00:33:37
perfectly done. Yeah, I guess the, the thing
00:33:41
that sort of pricked my, you know, put up my antennas the
00:33:44
most was when her partner dies or I keep calling her partner,
00:33:50
but it's not the, the the cop who was working in the same
00:33:54
division as her died. Fought him in the in the the
00:33:57
field of the parking lot. Yeah, yeah.
00:33:59
Oh, no. The one who arrested him.
00:34:00
The one who arrested. Him right who had she has no
00:34:03
sympathy for no sympathy, no like it is very strange.
00:34:08
Jed even says like, isn't he your partner?
00:34:10
Yeah, exactly. And.
00:34:11
She has no qualms about it, yeah.
00:34:14
She comes with like some like quick response to like, oh, I've
00:34:17
seen a lot you. Know, I've seen a lot.
00:34:19
It's just trauma. It's part of the job.
00:34:20
Yeah. And he's like, I've seen guys
00:34:22
die too. But like, it's not.
00:34:25
I don't just brush it off, ignore it, you know, You reckon
00:34:29
with it eventually. A little hints are there, man.
00:34:33
A. Little hints are there.
00:34:33
Yeah, for sure. And then good guys like
00:34:36
Jedediah, awesome main character.
00:34:40
And then we bring in the the secondary characters.
00:34:43
Love all the Shepherds, love the Watchers, love Corbin, you know,
00:34:49
and now David's going to have to be his.
00:34:53
What is it called? His keeper.
00:34:54
Hey, His keeper, Yeah. So that and I love how all those
00:34:59
dynamics of their history and their relationship have to come
00:35:03
to a head. Sarah Beth is going to be one of
00:35:05
the watchers. David is going to be his mentor,
00:35:09
his spiritual mentor, his spiritual director.
00:35:12
So and all of that has to click. And here's the thing with Jed is
00:35:16
he pushed off so much from his life and ignored it and wanted
00:35:19
to just let it be in the past. But the one thing he knows is an
00:35:23
operation, you have to be all in.
00:35:24
You can't have things bothering you.
00:35:26
You can't have little greedy or petulant little annoyances, you
00:35:30
know, crop up between people. If that's the guy giving you
00:35:32
Intel on a mission, you got to trust it.
00:35:35
You know, if that's the little 12 year old girl who's telling
00:35:38
you she sees somebody around the corner who's suspicious, you got
00:35:41
to trust them. And I think, I think Ben
00:35:45
explaining this to him with his operations background makes him
00:35:48
say he gives up. He gives up, you know, any
00:35:51
reservations he had and says, I'm all in.
00:35:53
And I do like that moment when he there's a it's a long chapter
00:35:57
where he's kind of mulling over if he's going to say yes to the
00:35:59
shepherds. And it's almost like, you know,
00:36:02
the Fiat. It's almost like the I'm the
00:36:04
handmaid of the Lord kind of thing.
00:36:05
And he has to kind of accept that and it's really cool to
00:36:08
watch him go through that. So good guys are who's your
00:36:13
favorite of all those? Let's take Jed out of the
00:36:15
equation. Who's your favorite?
00:36:17
That's. Tough for some reason I really
00:36:23
liked what was the name of the pastor who comes in she's.
00:36:31
Pastor D. Pastor DI really like Pastor D.
00:36:34
She's great, She's great. I imagine she's going to be, you
00:36:37
know, like a, a mainstay through the series.
00:36:42
I think she like overseas the keepers.
00:36:45
Oh, but I'm, I'm blanking on the the leader of the Shepherds.
00:36:49
What's what's his name again? Ben Morvent.
00:36:51
Yeah, Ben, Ben. I love Ben, I love Ben, I love
00:36:54
Ben so much. You know, like Obi Wan Kenobi.
00:36:58
Yes, yes. You know, like Siri is black,
00:37:03
you know. Oh, you're so right.
00:37:04
All your all your favorite like leaders in in these these
00:37:10
stories. He's so Obi Wan, you're so
00:37:13
right. Yeah, he's Obi Wan like.
00:37:18
That's a great pull. That's a really good pull.
00:37:19
Yeah. I resonate with him.
00:37:21
I love it so much. If I got to give another one,
00:37:23
though, I say Corbin. I think Corbin's just a well
00:37:27
developed character wise beyond her years still being just a
00:37:31
teenager, you know, But in the Saint George's Academy, the
00:37:35
school and the training, it's like they're.
00:37:37
This also reminds me of, like X-Men, like, very much like
00:37:41
X-Men and Ben. Ben is like Professor X, Yeah,
00:37:45
you know, bringing it. I mean, imagine that Wolverine
00:37:48
is Jedediah, you know? Oh, yeah.
00:37:51
It has this like school of of misfit kids, you know, that have
00:37:55
this special ability. 100 percent, 100%.
00:37:58
Oh, wait till we get more St. George's.
00:38:00
Yeah. Oh, dude, there.
00:38:01
Oh, there's a, there's some great scenes coming up.
00:38:04
Yeah. I forget if it's second or third
00:38:06
book, but oh, there's some fun stuff coming.
00:38:09
That's all. That's all I'm going to say.
00:38:11
I'm going to say there it. It ends up channelling some
00:38:14
Harry Potter vibes with the student body at Saint George's.
00:38:18
Yeah. It's good stuff, dude.
00:38:20
It's good stuff. Nice.
00:38:21
You know, you know another good thing about this book, I think
00:38:24
this is our podcast episode with the least amount of swear words.
00:38:32
It feels like we can't, I can't curse, you know, because of what
00:38:37
we read. I think it just happened like
00:38:39
subconsciously, but I think it's because of how how positive this
00:38:43
book is and you got to be a good Christian while you're on the
00:38:46
pod now. Yeah, very true, very true.
00:38:49
What do you think of the setting?
00:38:53
Oh man, yeah, it's really great. I think I would go 5 if I knew
00:38:58
Nashville. If I was from Nashville, whether
00:39:01
I've seen some of these churches or he goes on a long walk, I
00:39:04
think he has a few hours to kill.
00:39:05
At one point he goes to a pub and goes for a walk, and then
00:39:08
there's that parking lot scene, I think is where he has that
00:39:10
battle with the first, the first.
00:39:12
Inning that he passes by. There's a complete replica of
00:39:16
the Barthenon in Nashville for some reason.
00:39:18
And he goes by it. Yeah, I think if I knew those
00:39:20
sites, I can go a little higher. The woods where Sarah Beth is
00:39:25
being held. I think they're all really,
00:39:28
really good. But I'm going to go for.
00:39:30
OK, I, I think I want to go a little higher, like 4 1/2.
00:39:33
And one of the main reasons is not that I've been in Nashville
00:39:37
or, or I have been to Tennessee, but I, we didn't go to
00:39:39
Nashville. My sister lived in Knoxville.
00:39:43
But you know, and I felt like the audio book narrator did this
00:39:51
well of like when they're describing the places it,
00:39:56
whether it's in the woods of the house or like when you're in
00:40:01
Victor's mind, they did a good job of like just making you.
00:40:07
Making me feel like I was there, like I was in this dark place,
00:40:12
you know, like just early on describing when she's locked up
00:40:15
with the grandma, it some of the, you know, descriptions of,
00:40:20
of where she is and, you know, the people and, and everything.
00:40:24
Just it gives you that like sort of dark darkness and, you know,
00:40:28
and then moving to the light more in like Nashville, like,
00:40:31
you know, outside brightly. You know, he's he's outside a
00:40:34
lot. I don't know.
00:40:35
I just, I really like that. And I felt that not often do
00:40:41
Dwight like feel that or, or remember that in in some of our
00:40:44
novels. So I'm going to go 4 1/2.
00:40:46
You're going to go 4, so. Yeah, I think that's fair.
00:40:48
I think. Yeah, makes a lot of sense.
00:40:51
The details were phenomenal. Squeaky floorboard outside the
00:40:54
door. She's thinking about that if she
00:40:57
has to escape. And then Jed steps on it.
00:40:59
Like all these little details. Yeah, silhouette in the window.
00:41:02
Victor, you're really transported there for sure.
00:41:08
Well, I guess it's time for the covers.
00:41:11
So I I'm going to give points to the I looked it up because I
00:41:15
wanted to see the Nashville skyline and.
00:41:17
That is it. That is it.
00:41:19
So that's the AT&T building that was originally Bellsouth the the
00:41:25
AT&T headquarters. You know, we have a couple of
00:41:27
other buildings. So obviously, you know, heavily
00:41:29
getting the the Nashville vibes. Exactly.
00:41:34
For some reason, I don't get the sense that that's Jedediah, this
00:41:38
dark running man figure. He looks a little too skinny.
00:41:42
I mean, Jedediah is very tall, like 6-4, right?
00:41:46
But I get the sense that he's huge, you know?
00:41:52
And this to me just looks more like a Mitch rap style type
00:41:57
operator. It does or like a Tom Cruise in
00:42:01
Mission Impossible type operator.
00:42:04
I I like the the confetti kind of gives this idea of or you
00:42:09
know, whether it's debris, you know, we have those bombs that
00:42:12
go off in the courtyard, kind of drawn to that scene.
00:42:17
It's good. It's not great.
00:42:20
I. Kind of agree that the only
00:42:22
thing I'm going to say is that the silhouette does keep up as a
00:42:25
theme. It's never the running man
00:42:28
silhouette. It's never been my favorite
00:42:32
play. Mitch rap did a lot.
00:42:35
We made our jokes about that back in the day.
00:42:37
Brett Thorne never really had that, which was kind of nice.
00:42:40
Yeah, I I don't. It doesn't remind me of Jed I I
00:42:45
do think the colours are evocative of something related
00:42:48
to this eerie spirit world. The.
00:42:50
Blues Green, I see that, I see that.
00:42:52
Points for Nashville, of course, but.
00:42:55
When it looks like he's wearing a trench coat.
00:42:56
When is when is he ever wearing a trench coat?
00:42:58
A trench coat. When does he ever have his
00:43:00
weapon drawn? When does he ever?
00:43:03
Run a lot like. Well, sure, but I mean going
00:43:05
walking through the city. Right.
00:43:08
It's like when they're going to the church OP or, or he's going
00:43:12
into the house. I I do like the lines through
00:43:15
the text. I think that gives it a little
00:43:17
bit of that sense of these signals.
00:43:20
Yeah, I don't know, the lines through the text just remind me
00:43:22
something about some signals being sent or it intercepted or
00:43:27
or murky. I like, but yeah.
00:43:29
I like the birds like, you know, the birds going.
00:43:32
It's like the sense of this, some force that's there that
00:43:35
like disturbed the birds, you know?
00:43:37
The birds are even those lights, the the orbs, the orbs of light
00:43:39
I think do that too. So all that stuff I think is
00:43:42
helping. It helps.
00:43:45
Dude, you want to talk about a bad silhouette?
00:43:47
Just look at Dark Rising, the new book.
00:43:51
Granted I haven't read it so maybe if you judge the book by
00:43:54
the cover it's different, but. We have a female.
00:44:06
There's a woman. Yeah.
00:44:08
So standing man, standing lady. We get more definition of their
00:44:12
face. It's almost like a graphic
00:44:13
novel. That's what I'm saying.
00:44:15
But then again, it also just looks like, you know, buy me a
00:44:17
cover.com kind of characters. Granted, I don't know the story,
00:44:22
so it could be a real name story scene.
00:44:23
Yeah. And then look at Dark Fall and
00:44:26
Dark Angel. It's funny that they also do the
00:44:29
silhouette, but totally different.
00:44:31
It's almost like books one and four, They're covers echo and
00:44:36
reflect each other. And then books two and three,
00:44:40
their book goes their, their covers reflect each other so.
00:44:43
Dark Fall looks more like an operator like like Sons of Valor
00:44:48
style. Exactly, and Dark Angel isn't
00:44:51
that really cool having Saint Peter's Dome back there.
00:44:55
Yeah, 'cause that that more so evokes the the operator Ness
00:45:00
dark and fully kidded out makes him seem like he's this I guess
00:45:04
he is kind of like because he's an ex Navy SEAL shadow figure.
00:45:08
He's the shadow figure for some reason.
00:45:11
I'm just not honestly, I think if you got rid of the figure, I
00:45:15
would be more on board with that novel.
00:45:19
That's why I think I I kind of like cover C better.
00:45:21
It's the same, you know, Nashville's skyline, the sunset.
00:45:26
You kind of have this like looks like a kind of a storm coming
00:45:28
in. You have those glowing orbs.
00:45:31
Cover B is just, you know. The German cover?
00:45:34
Who knows? Typical German.
00:45:37
You know Rambo, We got freaking Rambo here.
00:45:39
Ein Shepherd series novel. Yeah, ein Shepherd.
00:45:43
I, I, I don't think we put much stock in to be the German one.
00:45:47
I've never seen it. I don't think it's actually
00:45:49
printed to be honest, anywhere outside the Germany.
00:45:52
So it's like that one probably doesn't even count cover.
00:45:54
See, I never even saw before researching for the POD.
00:45:57
I don't know if that's a paperback release or an ebook,
00:46:00
but I I definitely think cover C is the best one.
00:46:03
I like getting rid of the silhouette.
00:46:04
Of the three. Yeah, it more of the Nashville
00:46:07
skyline like you were describing before you really get to see it
00:46:10
here. And still the orbs like you
00:46:13
said, maybe the birds would be cool, but definitely those orbs
00:46:16
of light are still there. So covers are OK.
00:46:20
I don't think I go lower than a three though.
00:46:23
I think I'm right about there. I think I'm.
00:46:25
Going to go 3/3 and 1/2. I could go 3 1/2, but I'll keep
00:46:28
me at the three. 3. Not my favorite, yeah.
00:46:34
Who's your free space dude? I hadn't thought about that one.
00:46:39
We said Corbin. I said Corbin before.
00:46:41
I might just have to stick with that.
00:46:43
I think the scene where Corbin and Sarah Beth are exploring the
00:46:47
spirit world, that's it. I'm going to go.
00:46:52
I'm going to go to the priest from the opening scene where
00:46:57
where we like first get, I guess I'm more so picking that entire
00:47:03
scene as like my face, you know, really getting you hooked in and
00:47:07
like you're confused or intrigued.
00:47:12
And then it culminates with like this crazy ass, you know,
00:47:15
murder, accident, you know, type thing where he, you know,
00:47:18
sacrifices his life to try to one, save Corbin and two,
00:47:22
potentially try to save, tries to prevent him from being
00:47:25
kidnapped. I feel like that just begins
00:47:28
this hook, line, sinker of of bringing you into that plot.
00:47:32
So to me, like that, that scene stands out.
00:47:35
So I'm I'm going to go with the priest from from the opening
00:47:37
scene. I forget his name, but Father
00:47:39
Macklin. Father Macklin.
00:47:41
Yeah, there you go. And representative of Saint
00:47:43
George. I will say I forgot my free
00:47:46
space should have been fake grandma or let's say McLeod
00:47:49
Andrews for pulling off that fake the Shepherd screen.
00:47:53
I could listen that over and over.
00:47:54
The Shepherd's scream, that's unbelievable.
00:47:57
Her entire voice in Persona. He does such a good job of
00:48:00
differentiating that from all the other female characters and
00:48:04
giving you this creepy ass vibe. Oh, there you go, I cursed.
00:48:08
So I must add a few in there at some point.
00:48:13
Nah, dude, when he does that shepherd scream that sat with me
00:48:17
that that one sat with everything about the fake
00:48:19
grandma scenes really. But that scream shepherd, I was
00:48:23
like, what? What is that?
00:48:24
Like what is that? Loved it.
00:48:27
I loved every minute of this audiobook.
00:48:31
True, true. All right, Well, pretty good
00:48:33
scores, but the first book. Pretty good scores what I take
00:48:36
of 123446 A 46. I'm a 40, I'm a 45 1/2, so we're
00:48:44
right there. We have not been more than 1/2
00:48:47
or one point off on a book in a long while.
00:48:49
We're kind of having a mind meld on what we like.
00:48:51
Yeah, I I wonder if that's a consequence of us talking out
00:48:54
our scores on the pod as opposed to us pre scoring before we we
00:49:00
come in. But who cares?
00:49:01
It's it's our pod. We can do what we want.
00:49:03
So. I'm really interested though,
00:49:05
because just like Steve Berry, I wanted my recommendation to to
00:49:08
really hit with you, and I think it did.
00:49:11
And you want to read more, you want to keep going in the
00:49:13
series. I want to read go ahead speak
00:49:15
Berry. I want to read more of this.
00:49:16
I want to go ahead. I hope you know the second book
00:49:19
syndrome doesn't hit them with the next one.
00:49:22
So I'm. Not going to say much.
00:49:25
All right. All this is this one's my
00:49:27
favorite. The next one.
00:49:29
No dark intercepts my. Favorite dark intercepts?
00:49:31
Your favorite? OK.
00:49:32
But but then again, everyone on the pod knows I'm an
00:49:34
originalist. I like the originals, I like
00:49:38
first books. I like when I get hooked.
00:49:40
It kind of I kind of have this nostalgia for them.
00:49:43
Take it for what it is I want. I want you to have an open mind.
00:49:46
But this one is I think it's so good.
00:49:48
I think great stuff happens in the next two and I haven't even
00:49:51
read the fourth one. So we'll see what Dark Rising
00:49:53
has in store all. Right.
00:49:56
So what, what are we going to do next?
00:49:57
Are we going to continue on the series, pop around?
00:49:59
We have some new releases we need to cover what's on the pod.
00:50:03
I'm honestly not sure. So I think we got to just talk
00:50:05
offline and and set our second-half of 2025 schedule
00:50:09
because it's already June just crazy.
00:50:12
So I think we got to set our second-half schedule and and
00:50:15
nail that down. Maybe we could talk about that
00:50:18
tonight. Sounds good.
00:50:20
We'll, we'll put something out on the socials so that that way
00:50:23
you guys know what what we're going to be covering in the next
00:50:25
couple of weeks here. Yeah, Oh.
00:50:27
No, we've had a bunch of books like Move and we're not going to
00:50:31
get Cry Havoc anymore until October now, right so.
00:50:34
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's a lot of dates moving
00:50:36
around, so we got to look at that.
00:50:38
We're going to cover all the new releases of all our typical
00:50:40
thrillers we've done here. We're only going to be on the
00:50:43
Thriller podcast, so don't worry about not hearing from us for a
00:50:46
while. We will be back here on this
00:50:48
feed. Mitch Rapp, Scott, Harvest
00:50:50
Seasons 1 and 2 are done and in the books.
00:50:52
Make sure you subscribe and listen to those.
00:50:55
But Chris, we can't let you go till I read you my Limerick.
00:50:59
Oh, give it to me. This book is not for deep
00:51:03
sleepers. It gives you the jeepers and
00:51:05
creepers overcoming grief through faith and belief.
00:51:09
Thank God for shepherds, watchers and keepers.
00:51:13
That's a good one, Mike. Yeah.
00:51:15
That's a good one. You're.
00:51:16
Saving it up, I think you, you wore yourself out and then they
00:51:19
need to come back to little rest, come back with it with the
00:51:22
eater. Now that we're on the thriller
00:51:23
pod, every book from here on forward will have a Limerick.
00:51:27
All right, I'm going to hold you to that.
00:51:29
Hold you to that. Sure.
00:51:30
Even if we need to chat JP Tate at the last second.
00:51:33
Well, and we have the follow up to Fade like we already have
00:51:36
that book in hand. We need to.
00:51:37
I need to physically read it and.
00:51:39
It in July, so I think that comes out June or July.
00:51:42
I think July. So Yep.
00:51:45
All right, more to come from the No Limits Thriller podcast.
00:51:52
All right, well, we can't leave without thanking our patrons,
00:51:57
our deputy director, Sherry F, our special operator, Jason C,
00:52:01
our special agents of Ben, Darrell, Kevin, George, Matt,
00:52:04
Don, Peggy, Chris and Mark. Subscribe, rate and review to No
00:52:09
limits on Apple or Spotify wherever you choose.
00:52:12
You can find us at The Other pod.com or on Twitter and
00:52:15
Instagram at The Other Podcast and go check out our YouTube
00:52:18
page where you can watch full videos of this podcast.
00:52:22
And as always, just let Jedediah be Jedediah.