Johnny Came Home (A John Lazarus Adventure #1) Review

  Johnny Came Home (A John Lazarus Adventure #1) By Tony Breeden

Synopsis

Three years after the fire that took his home and his family, John Lazarus returns to the town of Midwich searching for answers to why he can do extraordinary things no one's ever seen outside of a comic book. Is he human? Alien? Something more? The answers lie within the Titan complex that overshadows Midwich. But someone else wants Titan's secrets too and will stop at nothing to make sure that she alone possesses them. What would a world of men and women with superpowers mean for Biblical Christianity? Would they represent the next stage of human evolution, as many comic books, movies and television shows suggest? Or might there be a different explanation? Find out more in Johnny Came Home, an action-packed novel full of mad scientists, zombies, flying saucers, future technology, conspiracy theories, epic battles and Biblical truth!

Lisa's Review - 4.5 out of 5 stars

When I first received a request to review Johnny Comes Home, I was in 2 minds whether or not to read it. The synopsis of the book sounded great, but I was put off slightly by the sci-fi/thriller genre, but I decided the synopsis made me curious enough to give the book a go, and hopefully change my mind about the genre!

And boy, did it! From the first few pages I was sucked right into Johnny's story, I wanted to know what was going on, I wanted to find the answers to his questions. The more I read of this book I couldn't help but think of it as a kind of crossover from comic book to novel, in fact as I was nearing the end of it, it popped into my head that our heroes were a kind of cross between The Avengers and the X-Men!

Another thing I was dubious about was the Biblical references. I am not a religious person so was concerned there would be too much, or a lot I wouldn't really understand, but Tony Breeden manages to carefully incorporate enough that it ties in well with the story without coming across as over the top, or  too 'preachy'.

There are a lot of characters in Johnny Comes Home, and it takes time to remember who they all are - who is a hero, who is a bad guy, who are the civilians in the crossfire? Once or twice I remember having to pause a second to place who a certain character in a new chapter was, but that was in the first half of the book, by the second half it was easier to remember all the characters and their superpowers, and I found myself warming to certain characters more than others and willing the next chapter to be focused on them!

I enjoyed the way the chapters were done, it wasn't one continuous chapter after another with all the characters thrown in, but each chapter concentrated on a certain character more, rolling the story out from every characters point of view, and not missing any parts of the story from other character viewpoints as they were all covered. But so much thought and effort has gone into creating a real person out of all of the characters, it wasn't like some had been added as 'fillers' or background characters, instead Tony Breeden has put in a lot of effort and time to make sure we connect with all of them, even the villains, who I have to admit as bad as they were, I couldn't help but love to hate them!

It's not always easy to find an author who can create an entire world of people, places and machinery that you can just close your eyes and envision so clearly as if you were watching a movie, so it is a testament to the kind of author Tony Breeden is that I can say his writing created that vision perfectly for me.

I thought Johnny Came Home may be more of a book for males and that I wouldn't enjoy it a whole lot, but I loved every page of this book and would highly recommend it for anyone to read, be it male or female I think everyone would love it!

Links

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16075762-johnny-came-home?ac=1

http://www.facebook.com/johnlazarusbook?ref=ts&fref=ts

http://tonybreedenbooks.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Came-Home-Lazarus-Adventure/dp/1452845506/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Johnny-Came-Home-Lazarus-Adventure/dp/1452845506/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371226255&sr=8-1&keywords=tony+breeden

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/johnny-came-home-tony-breeden/1113150735?ean=2940044231450