The Utopia of Noah Lazarus
Our Featured Suspense Thriller today is The Utopia of Noah Lazarus by Penni Jones.
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Length: 72,000 words
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 547 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: BookBaby (July 26, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B005ESFUZI
Lending: Enabled
Synopsis
When a former cult member’s mysterious death shocks her two best childhood friends, they risk their lives by returning to the very compound where they escaped years earlier after killing the leader. Besides attempting to identify the killer, one must save her son, and the other must save her brother.
Becky Hartman is a bored, pill-popping housewife in Michigan with little excitement and less motivation. Jodie James is a free spirit, tequila-swilling bartender in Arkansas who avoids talking about her past. When the two women learn of their friend Samantha’s death, each must confront current cult leaders Josiah and Enoch Lazarus, sons of the fallen cult leader.
Josiah and Enoch intend to bring the Church into the mainstream and recruit an army for an impending holy war. Josiah sees the return of the women as an opportunity to avenge his father, and reconcile with his wife. Enoch sees their return as a way to rebuild a family by reclaiming his first love. Neither intends to let the women leave the cult again.
A conflicted PI, an ex-con youth minister, a jaded church elder, a gay waiter, the leader’s bitter ex-fiancée and Jodie’s thug boyfriend all become involved in the women’s plight. What begins as a newcomer’s weekend on the compound will end in bullets and flames, all with a documentary film crew on-hand to capture the drama.
About Penni Jones
Penni Jones is a stay-at-home mom who spends any free time she can get reading and writing. She resides in Michigan, but being a Southern Girl, she complains all winter. The Utopia of Noah Lazarus is her first published novel.
What Reviewers Are Saying About Penni Jones
C. Bratcher – “There are many characters involved in the unfolding of this story and they are all very well developed and organized. The story keeps you on the edge of your seat without being overly shocking or brutal to the senses. My favorite quality of this book was the author’s ability to show the ‘villains’ as human and no just ‘bad people’. I hated to finish it. I look forward to more Penni Jones’s works.”
cherryred – “I thought this book was great! I called into to work to finish it. The characters were well developed and the story kept me one the edge of my seat. I would recommend this book to anyone.”
Melodie N. Ladner – “The Utopia of Noah Lazarus” has a lot going for it. It’s written in a deceptively simple voice, lending gravitas to subject matter that might have come off as lurid and sensationalistic in different hands. It’s also written with breakneck pacing, flinging the reader around from one character, one location to the next, in a way that’s exciting to read.”
Buy The Utopia of Noah Lazarus
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All Images Courtesy of Penni Jones