Storming Heaven [Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

The book begins with the chilling kidnapping of a teenage girl. The lead investigator, Mark Beamon comes to believe that the Church of the Evolution, a mysterious and powerful cult, is behind the crime, just as the cult begins targeting him.

In this, his second novel, Kyle Mills brings back the quirky but brilliant FBI agent Mark Beamon. Beamon is one of the better protagonists you'll find in the suspense genre, unlike the bland boring characters of a Tom Clancy novel. He's uncommonly funny, and a very good agent but also has flaws that make him more believable. Beamon is joined here by a great supporting cast which includes a hapless but endearing refugee from the cult, and an aging and insufferable surveillance specialist.

The theme of religious cults used here is fairly interesting. Mills does seem to be basing the Church on some composite of real-life religious sects. It's actually a very novel conception of an updated, more flexible Christianity - upon reading it, I was surprised that this wasn't a real cult. Or maybe it is . . .

In any event, the book picks up almost immediately and will keep your attention riveted until the end. What more would you want in a thriller?

The premise of this doesn't come close to being as good as Rising Phoenix, but the author does a good job of hooking the reader early in the story because you really have no idea what is going on, but the early events make you curious enough to want to find out. However, once the church gets into the picture, the story falls apart a little. The church just isn't very believable. And that and Beamon together is just a little too much.

This is just about on par with Rising Phoenix, so if you liked that, I suppose this is worth your time as well.

This time around, our hero is Mark Beamon, the troublesome but brilliant FBI agent exiled to the position of agent-in-charge of the bureau's Flagstaff office, an out-in-the-stix outpost of the Big House down in Phoenix. Mark is investigating the gunshot deaths of Eric and Patricia Davis and the disappearance of their teenage daughter Jennifer. (It's not apparent, or ever explained, why the local cops aren't a presence and the Feds have been brought into the case. It's uncertain at the outset that Jennifer was kidnapped, much less taken across state lines, the only rationale for FBI involvement.) In any case, before the storyline progresses too far the reader knows, and Beamon suspects, that the hierarchy of the Kneissians, a global religious cult, is up to no good in the affair.

Mark is the best reason to bother with STORMING HEAVEN. He's intolerant of nonsense emanating from the Front Office, unlucky when it comes to women, physically unprepossessing, and waging a losing battle with cigarettes, alcohol and a middle-age waistline. And he's irreverant. At one point in his investigation, he's asked by an ally to pray with her for their success:

"She pulled at his sleeve and he sank to his knees next to her wheelchair. She squeezed her eyes shut and began moving her lips soundlessly. Not really knowing what to do, he bowed his head and waited for her to snap out of it."

And he's realistic about the strengths of the character flaws laid at his door by his superiors, as when he's questioning a difficult suspect:

"It was time to make a decision on how to play this. There was the smart way, of course ... But that seemed kind of boring. The other option was to shoot himself in the foot and see if he could make the ice princess sweat a little."

I'd give the book three stars except for Beamon, who elevates it another click. Otherwise, the storyline is only marginally inventive, and the Kneissians aren't in the same league as the Vatican when it comes to truly insidious plotting. Where's a good renegade Cardinal when you need one?