Book Review: Our Trespasses: A Paranormal Thriller by Michael Cordell

Our Trespasses: A Paranormal Thriller by Michael Cordell is published by TCK Publishing. I was sent/emailed this book to review but the fact that it was gifted to me will not affect my thoughts on the book. 

The psychic connection between identical twins can be a strong one and this was certainly the case for Jake and Matthew Davis. Since childhood Matt had known when Jake was in trouble and even though Matt was now trudging through a mundane life, working in a no-star Brooklyn diner, turning burgers for a living. Whilst eating his burger at Buzz and getting his dating profile checked by Esther he knows when his twin, Jake is viciously murdered. He immediately feels a great flash of pain in his head as the murder happens and instinctively knows his twin has died a horrifying death as he tellls Esther “My brother, Jake, someone just killed him”. 

 Matt immediately travels to their hometown, aptly named, Hatchett, Nebraska for the funeral. Whilst filling up gas on the edge of his old home town he his accosted by Teddy, who mistakes him for Jake and threatens to “bust him up good” if he ever saw him sniffing round his sister again. He quickly realises that as Teddy aptly points out Jake is the evil twin. He treated his sister, Lorraine,  very poorly, is a meth dealer and never says sorry when he is in the wrong.  

Normally  the twin connection would now be severed, as Jake is dead, but not in Jake and Matts’ case. If anything whilst Matt stays at Jake’s house the connection has intensified. As Jake lives and suffers in the Afterlife, Matt continues to live the same agonies.

In an attempt to understand and break the connection he goes to visit Skiz/Walter. He tells him Jake is currently in Hell and to break the connection Matt needs to get him out advising him that he needs to gain forgiveness for his brother’s sins. Walter then tries to kill him as apparently Jake cannot be let back in. 

Matt attempts to atone for his brother’s sins but a demon infects the connection between the brothers.  He must find a way to break the connection before he too is drawn into hell. 

Michael Cordell is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright.  His first novel is Contempt which reached the Top 10 Legal Thrillers and is also an Amazon bestseller. He also wrote the screenplay for Beeper. The methodological fast paced storyline shows the skills of all three combined to create an excellent novel with two storylines that combine into a fascinating ending with a twist.  

I enjoyed this book immensely. Our Trespasses: A Paranormal Thriller, as it indicates in the title fits into the paranormal book category alongside The Outsider by Stephen King and The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. The suspense and correlation between Jake’s death and Mathew’s collapse plus the build up of paranormal forces as he continues to suffer because the twin bond is not broken but has become stronger as Jake is in the afterlife is clearly well thought out and grips the reader’s attention.  The meth storyline both complements the main paranormal storyline and helps bring the novel to a spectacular conclusion. I will read other novels by Cordell, not just paranormal novels but also legal as the execution of his writing is so clear and enjoyable to read. 

I was sent a free copy of this book to review but this has not influenced my review of the book. 

Amazon US:

Our Trespasses: A Paranormal Thriller

Amazon U.K. 

Our Trespasses 

TCK Publishing website link:

https://www.tckpublishing.com/

author's website:

https://michaeljcordell.com/