Review: Halo of the Damned by Dina Rae

Original Title: Halo of the Damned
Author: Dina Rae
Publisher: Eternal Press
Release Date: February 7th 2012
Source: From "Orangeberry Book Tours"
Genre: Horror, Fantasy

A chain of advertising agencies, a new breed of humans, and a fallen angel to worship... Andel Talistokov is known for his slick advertising agencies across the globe. He is a fallen angel that uses advertising as a weapon for Satan's work. His growing power emboldens him to break several of Hell's Commandments. Furious with his arrogance, Satan commands him to return to Hell after finding his own replacement. Yezidism, an ancient angel worshiping religion, quietly expands throughout the West. Armaros appears as a guest of honor during their ceremonies. He mates with young women to produce nephilim, a mixed race of humans and angels. They are alone and unprepared for their supernatural power. Joanna Easterhouse, a recovering drug addict, steps out of prison shortly after her mother's fatal accident. She and her sister, Kim, unravel their mother's secretive past. Intrigued, they learn their bloodline is part of a celestial legacy. Both worlds collide. Halo of the Damned is a horrifying tale that weaves research together with suspenseful twists and turns.

REVIEW

*** WARNING: This book is rated R. ***

Here is the synopsis again, because it explains well, about the major part of the story.

A chain of advertising agencies, a new breed of humans, and a fallen angel to worship... Andel Talistokov is known for his slick advertising agencies across the globe. He is a fallen angel that uses advertising as a weapon for Satan's work. His growing power emboldens him to break several of Hell's Commandments. Furious with his arrogance, Satan commands him to return to Hell after finding his own replacement. Yezidism, an ancient angel worshiping religion, quietly expands throughout the West. Armaros appears as a guest of honor during their ceremonies. He mates with young women to produce nephilim, a mixed race of humans and angels. They are alone and unprepared for their supernatural power. Joanna Easterhouse, a recovering drug addict, steps out of prison shortly after her mother's fatal accident. She and her sister, Kim, unravel their mother's secretive past. Intrigued, they learn their bloodline is part of a celestial legacy. Both worlds collide. 

Andel just made me feel sick.  All the gruesome zombie-ish routines of eating humans and Andel's assistant, Marcus' past are enough to make most of us stop this book.  But, its like you just love to be afraid when seeing the horror movies.  I just continued and it became less horrific.  I still continued and something new came up.  I was still reading when I predicted the next move and I finished reading when I felt like its a good read.

There are usual paranormal references like nephilim, angels, etc.  Most of the paranormal fiction readers would have read many books about those - so no surprise there.  But, this is my first time reading a fallen angel acting like a vampire cum zombie - I think the author thought this might add some terror to the reader's experience.  And it did to me, at the start.

There are some minor flaws in the novel.  When starting a new chapter, it takes some time to know what the author is narrating about.  Also, the book had some typos.

This book was predictable at many places, but some areas like Toby's character (you will have to read it to know) was good.  I enjoyed the read and that's all that mattered in the end.

Before I give a rating to this novel, I will admit that I have not read many horror and zombie novels, so this is not with my comparison with other horror novels.  But, as for me, I enjoyed reading it and I give it 3.5 stars.