The Alarmists, by Don Hoesel

What the future might hold has always gripped man’s imagination, and Don Hoesel is not the exception.  He writes about a secret research military group that investigates cases that do not fit any other department in the Pentagon. Their leader, Colonel Richards, is a man of faith who allows enough room for lack of explanation for some of the situations they have to deal with every day. Whenever his time allows him to, he enjoys digging into prophecies about the end of the world in 2012.

However true or not, the team has been analyzing coups, earthquakes, explosions, and a series of phenomena that have left them with enough information to conclude that the world is in a self-destruct pattern and that its end is near.  This is where Brent Michaels comes to join the team. He is a Sociology Professor who has done consultations for the government before. He is left with the daunting task of making sense of the huge amount of information Richard’s team has gathered during the last years.  He fits right into the team, and is shortly included in their outings. 

Little by little, the investigation puts the pieces together, but the mastermind that is behind the events the team is after, will not let them get further.  With their lives endangered, the team needs to make haste to save the world.  Even if Brent is not a believer, he certainly is a man of good character, so he decides to stay with the team long after his consultation should end.  Richards thanks the latter, even if he now needs to look after his life; this fact is proven more difficult after an outing when Michaels and a member of the team are almost killed.

I will not ruin the rest of the story for those who will read it; I will say that despite a slow beginning, the story and the pace pick up and get to the point where it is difficult to put the book down. It is a good story, but I was disappointed by the end. It just ends, abruptly and almost too coincidentally.  I just feel that the author could have developed a little more (the material to do so is in the story), and make a better conclusion. There are bits and pieces that come together too fast, and there are bits and pieces that are left sort of unattended.

Anyway, it is easy to read, highly entertaining, with good language, and as I have said of Mr. Hoesel’s books before, they should come with popcorn!!!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for a review. This did not bias my opinion on the book, nor on the author.