Devil Moon (Preacher Man, Book 4) by Murray Pura

Preacher Man - Volume 4 - Devil Moon

Any quiet that may have descended on Anaconda County is shattered when the body of a person burned alive is found in the hills overlooking the city of Diamondback. Sheriff Youngblood asks for the help of the ministers and all agree it is ritual or Satanic abuse. The hunt begins to find the perpetrators of the terrible dead. But Pastor Jude Aaron Blackstone finds connections between the killing and the infamous Walpurgisnacht celebrations in Europe, many of which honour witchcraft and the devil, and suddenly a murder investigation turns into a spiritual battle that spans oceans and continents and cuts deep into his very soul.

The Guru's Review: 

The long awaited fourth volume in the Preacher Man series! This volume fits in very nicely with the rest of the series and has all the hallmarks of the previous volumes, supernatural intervention, spiritual warfare, the obedient, totally submitted to God, servant of the Most High, spiritual warrior, come Christian special ops vampire hunter, Jude Blackstone, fast paced plot and the same suspense thriller that we have all come to know and expect from Pura. 

Due to the shorter page number in this volume (40 pages compared to all three previous being in the 70s), the reader hits the road running at a fast pace. Blackstone is plunged into a plot to sacrifice him during the Walpurgisnacht celebration to worship and honour witchcraft and the devil, as explained with glee by high priest of Satan, Mephistopheles, 

We've wanted your blood a long time. Now we have it. The idea is to have human sacrifices take place all around the world at successive witching hours, which means things are already locking into place in nations like Australia and China. All that sacrifice, all that blood, it feeds our Lord Satan's spirit, give him immense leverage over world events, oh yes, more than he already has. But your sacrifice will be the crowning touch - a vampire hunter burned alive while his veins and arteries drain his soul into our cups and saucers and bowls and Satan lick the platter clean. 

Does this scare Preacher Man? No, just makes him more determined to abide more in Christ, and remain prayed up.  He even states as much when being captured at gun point, 

Gibson grinned. Better yet, get down on your knees and pray.

Blackstone didn't move. 

 Now why would I do that, deputy? I'm all prayed up.

What is the spiritual warfare message here? To abide in Christ and be prayed up 24/7, so no matter when we are faced with the most dire circumstances, we remain surrendered to Him while He is in control over our circumstances and we have His victory. Spiritual Warfare 101! I love this when at face value, a scene like this adds to the suspense and plot development, but upon closer inspection educates in a spiritual warfare principle as well. 

Pura has depicted the evilness of Mephistopheles and La Salle well. They are both very dark, creepy and this depiction of evil is the best so far in characters in any of the Preacher Man series. These two characters instantly polarise the reader into which side of "like" scale they need to be on. Both exude evil and are defined by it. Satan and sin have taken them over. 

This instalment comes to a head very early and quickly due to its short length and right at the end we learn a very disturbing piece of information regarding a character from a previous volume and this also sets the stage, I believe, for a Book 5 as the ending is quite a cliff hanger! This twist really does up the anti and deepen future plot lines. This piece of information I found quite disturbing and one I did not see coming. 

My only negative is the shortness of this volume. It needs to be the same length as previous. Just feels a bit rushed. Still thoroughly enjoyable though and a worthy addition to the Preacher Man series.

Now bring on Book 5!

Strongly Recommended