[b: Messages|33335|Hidden Messages in Water|Masaru Emoto|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1440232568s/33335.jpg|33417] by [a: John Michael Hileman|4095724|John Michael Hileman|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1277498994p2/4095724.jpg] was an interesting read. My rating is a 3.75 stars

I liked the supernatural slant to this story. It is unique and contains enough twists to keep the reader guessing who the real bad guys are until the end.

"Messages" gave me a lot to think about while I was reading it.

The author seems on the verge of sermonizing, but does not. Instead of preaching, he allowed the reader their own suppositions. I like that the author does not dismiss intuition.

David Chance, our hero and main protagonist does not stop using his brain through his ordeal.

Chance is a believable three-dimensional character.

It is more a man-read. The female characters seem less realistic. Female characters who show problem solving ability and strength would warm me to "Messages." ( )

Rating closer to 3.5 stars.

This book started out strong - David Chance starts seeing words that form into sentences and send a message to him. The first probably quarter of it was very fast paced, and then it just started to slow down... a lot.

It might have been all the God talk, but I managed to get through most of that.

I skipped from probably 60% to 90% then skimmed the rest.

The author showed promise, but I don't think I'll be buying the next in the series. ( )

interesting concept - could do with a bit more subtlety

I found the idea behind the book intriguing, but it could have been better executed.

The lead character, David Chance, becomes embroiled in a terrorist plot when he begins to perceive coherent(ish) messages in odd words that seem to leap out at him from the written media that happens to be around him. He feels compelled, reluctantly, to obey the messages and, to begin with, lives are saved by his doing so.

There are two weaknesses in the book. The first is that the major evil-doer is telegraphed too early. I was not too bothered by this. The flaw that almost made me abandon the book completely was the excessive use of italics - they seemed to be on almost every page, sometimes as many as six words or phrases being italicised on a single Kindle page. It made me feel like screaming, "I get it! you don't need to tell me where to lay the stress in that sentence."

Trust your readers Mr Hileman. Less is more. ( )

David Chance is an intern at a TV station. He has always wanted confirmation of the existence of God. He could never take it on faith. One day, he suddenly begins to receive messages in the words all around him (newspapers, billboards, t-shirts,etc...). The messages lead him into the midst of a plot to kill the president.

I read this book hoping for a good story that was also spiritually enriching. The story itself was not particularly good. The dialogue between the characters is not well written. The majority of the characters were not well-developed. I know Christian fiction can often beat its readers over the head with its spiritual message, but in the case of Messages, I felt that the spiritual message just wasn't there to the extent that I sought. The edition of Messages that I read includes the first three chapters of the second book in the series. The first chapter seemed rather good but I just don't know if I will continue with this series. ( )

Not really fantasy, but I don't know how to classify it. ( )