Dylan Foster is a psychotherapist and a psychology professor at SMU. She has a good life for a thirty-three year old, save for the fact that she has no prospects for male companionship. Nevertheless, she is content to live her single life. But her world begins to tip one day when she meets a very strange man named Peter Terry. He begins to wreak havoc on her life, and soon Dylan suspects he is a demon. He has infiltrated the mind of one of her past patients and has driven him to a reckless suicide. Now the boy's family is suing her for leading him to do so. On top of this, flies keep showing up in her house. Her mother's engagement ring has shown up in her house, along with an unrecognizable necklace. Someone has charged over $600 to her credit card on useless gifts. Something supernatural is happening in her life, but she cannot stop it on her own.
Melanie Wells has shown us that the supernatural genre is not closed, but merely misused. Her handling of demons and angels in When the Day of Evil Comes is realistic because it eliminates sensational confrontations and unnecessary warfare. Melanie has singled handedly fixed the the supernatural genre with the Dylan Foster series.
I love Dylan Foster's character because she is imperfect with a personality. She is a raw, realistic person that is no doubt based on Melanie Wells herself. Melanie has mastered the character development art flawlessly in some areas, but is lacking in the perfection area. There is a perfect male lead that puts a damper on the tale because of his lack of effect on the plot in general and his unrealistic perfection at large. With this eliminated, Melanie Wells will be a superb character developer.
There is virtually nothing wrong with the plot as a whole. There are many imperfect characters that make choices and create dire circumstances for those around them. The way Peter Terry interacts with people is realistic because he is mostly only seen in dreams. This is the same way with the angels in this book. I was completely turned off to supernatural elements in fiction until I read the Dylan Foster series. If more authors write supernatural books like this series, the genre will be redeemed.
But alas, the perfect male lead in the spot of red on this white fleece. There are key character deaths, but his lack of imperfection ruins it all. Actually, I would rather he be eliminated as a starring role in the plot because he serves no purpose. Perhaps she will learn better down the road.
I'm excited to hear more from Dylan Foster.
4.5 stars
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