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Nephilim reviews
The Unholy Deception reviews
The Revealing reviews
From the Library Journal:
In this debut, Art "Mac" Mackenzie, an alcoholic reporter, is chipping away at a boring fact piece when he stumbles upon evidence of a government cover-up. Undercover, Mac infiltrates the restricted sixth floor of a new hospital, where supposed mental patients, all women, are kept sedated and restrained. One woman tells him that something fathered an inhuman child in her: Nephilim, child of a fallen angel and a human mother. With a dynamic plot, mesmerizing ideas, and enough hi-tech and government conspiracy to please the most demanding fans, Marzulli's book is the first, one hopes, in a thrilling new series.Chuck Missler, author of Alien Encounters
"A very provocative scenario. It appears Lynn Marzulli has done his homework."Houston Chronicle
October 16th, 1999
"The truth is out there, and journalist "Mac" MacKenzie must find it. This is an XFiles-type story with demons masquerading as aliens. Marzulli is one masterful storyteller with a chillingly believable tale."Two Christian Thrillers Rediscover the 'Giants' of Genesis 6
Christianity Today
By Jeremy Lott
February 28, 2002"The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful and they married any of them they chose . …The Nephilim were on the earth in those days . …"—Genesis 6:1–4.
This passage preceding the flood account in the Bible's first book is as thought-provoking as it is difficult to understand. Redaction critics fight over its composition. Almost everybody has a pet theory for how to identify the "sons of God" and "daughters of men." And any talented novelist takes one look at the passage and says, "You know, there's a story buried in there somewhere."
The two most recent novelistic excavators to pick up spade and put their literary backs to it are James Scott Bell, who won the Christy Award for Final Witness, and L. A. Marzulli, who (the back cover of his novel assures us) "possess[es] an in-depth knowledge of the topic of UFO cults." Surprisingly, Marzulli's effort proves the more worthwhile.
The Nephilim Seed uses Genesis 6 as a springboard into a spirited polemic against Bell's sworn enemy, Darwinists. (Bell also wrote The Darwin Conspiracy, which was blurbed by none other than chief Darwin critic Phillip E. Johnson.)
The story begins with the murder of a prominent Intelligent Design theorist on the verge of exposing Harvard Professor Bentley Davis.
Davis plans to use nanotechnology to alter people and drown out the "God part" of their brains. When evangelical Christian/lawyer/single mother Janice Ramsey's daughter Lauren is abducted for experimentation by Davis's goons, Janice decides to fight back. She teams up with one-eyed private investigator Jed Brown (brother of the murdered id theorist) and a cyber-anarchist Star Trek freak who goes only by the name of Data.
Their mission: Rescue Lauren, expose Davis, stop his Nephilim Seed from wiping out religion, and (for Jed and Data) get saved in the process.
It could have been a fun story, but Bell is out of his depth here. His prose is painful at times, the pace is off, the bad guys are too flat. And since he has no talent for writing female characters, one has to wonder at his choice of protagonist. So many "walls of ice" spring up in Janice's budding romance with and conversion of Jed that she could be a one-person solution to global warming.
Scripture Meets The X-Files Patient readers of Nephilim: The Truth is Here, on the other hand, are in for a treat. Though no one would ever prize Marzulli's adverb-heavy prose, the story is so grand and so crazy that it provides quite the experience. The subtitle and X-Files homage cover are good indicators of the story to come.
Art "Mac" MacKenzie is a divorced, washed out—make that passed out—California newsman who still strings for a few papers to keep a roof over his head and to buy enough booze to drink himself to sleep two years after the tragic death of his son. While researching a routine puff piece about a new hospital, he discovers a woman who claims that little gray creatures impregnated her and took her hybrid baby. He believes her and writes the story, which somehow gets printed in a respectable outlet.
So begins a wild ride that takes him to Israel, New Mexico, and various points on the map. He learns of an ancient race of giants, or Nephilim, that were somehow the offspring of strange creatures intermingling with humans. After an unexplained absence, these creatures are back at it again with superior technology and the tacit cooperation of many governments He also learns of a vast conspiracy to keep this brutal bargain a secret.
Despite their similarities, The Nephilim Seed and Nephilim emanate from two different kinds of theism. Bell's characters come in two temperaments: theistic rationalists and nontheistic rationalists. Any divine intervention coincides with the laws of nature and nature's God. Sometimes (as was the case with The Darwin Conspiracy) that works, but more often it falls flat.
Marzulli, on the other hand, is a frank supernaturalist. He gives us giant skeletons with a fifth nucleotide, little gray creatures who can shift through walls, cattle mutilation with genetic experimentation, ancient holy men with the power to heal people, and a spiritual conflict that makes Frank Peretti's first few offerings seem tame. It's the written equivalent of a spectacular 4th of July display, complete with marching band.
My primary concern is that some readers will take the ideas expressed in Nephilim as seriously as the author appears to take them. That would be a waste of a good novel.
Jeremy Lott is a contributing editor to Books & Culture and coauthor (with Lawrence VanBeek) of the forthcoming The Case for Enoch.
A very interesting mixture of fact, fiction, theory and scripture is presented in this book. It's actually the first in a series, and personally, after having read this book, I can't wait until the second book is in my possession.
"Nephilim" is a Hebrew word that means "fallen ones". In the Bible, in Genesis 6, you see them for the first time. They are the unholy offspring of fallen angels (B'nai Elohim, or the Watchers) and the unfortunate daughters of men. In most ancient books, including the Bible, you can read how many of what we now call ancient civilizations came to exist by these offspring. They were the reason for the Big Flood (Noah). The days of Noah, perfectly described in the ancient Ethiopian book of Enoch, will be repeated in the end times according to prophesy.
And indeed, in these days you see a repeat of so called "aliens" in "UFO's", taking daughters of men to make offspring. Prophesy revealed it.
Marzulli took these things, and created a storyline, in which the Nephilim are already back on earth. In Israel, the skeleton of a nephil (nephilim is multiple, nephil is single) is found, and of course there are forces that do not want this known to the public. The head figure of the book, a reporter, finds himself in the middle of all kinds of situations in which the wicked plans become more and more clear.
The book captures the reader with the thrilling story and writing style, and takes the reader into what could be the very near future, providing the reader with loads of information. Being Dutch of original tongue, I read the Dutch version. I recommend this book!
The Unholy Deception- Review
National Book Review
By Vickie McDonough
THE UNHOLY DECEPTION is a fascinating supernatural thriller. L. A. Marzulli's unusual perspective on aliens and UFOs is quite thought provoking and will have you reevaluating all you've ever heard about them. I felt at a disadvantage not having read the Nephilim, the first book in the series, but I was still quickly pulled into THE UNHOLY DECEPTION and enjoyed it very much. It carries a powerful faith message that makes you want nothing less than to be on the winning team. The plot moves along quickly and pulls you in from the very beginning. L. A. Marzulli's characters are well developed. You'll feel the humans' fear and desperation turn to hope as they discover the only weapon that can conquer the aliens. The aliens are spine-chillingly creepy and will make you thankful you've never had to face them in person. THE UNHOLY DECEPTION has one of the most spectacular endings I've ever read. I felt like I was reading at supersonic speed just to find out what happened. Even if you aren't a sci-fi fan, don't miss this thrilling book.There's plenty of apocalypse in Marzulli's Nephilim, featuring his ingenious explanation of the infamous UFO sighting--and alleged suppression of the story by the air force--in Roswell, New Mexico. Art Mackenzie, a newspaper reporter who's been boozing ever since the death of his son, and whose father disappeared at Roswell, stumbles onto a secret ward of a Southern California hospital where mental patients speak of aliens, giants, UFOs, etc. Mackenzie is off to Israel and Peru to solve the mystery, and, yes, it turns out that aliens are among us. They are the Nephilim, an ancient, mysterious race described in Genesis, on Earth again prefiguring the Second Coming. Clever and compulsively readable.
Marzulli's "The Revealing" Delivers Real Suspense
Raiders News Update
By Thomas Horn
November 26, 2004When I grow up I want to be a master storyteller, like Lynn Marzulli is. As one of Christendom's most prolific fiction writers he has delivered another slice of doomsday suspense that boils into a page-turning nail-biter.
In, "The Revealing," the story picks up with former reporter Art "Mac" Mackenzie, and Johanen, his spiritual mentor, as a mysterious shining light-thought by many to be a reemergence of the Bethlehem Star-appears over Jerusalem. Within days Mac and his comrades are surrounded by the minions of Azazel, a Jekyl-and-Hyde shape-shifting demon, who thrusts them-and the world-into a terrifying battle for survival against the diabolical organization known as the Cadre.
The light above the Holy Land portends well for Azazel, but why? On the way to finding out, we encounter the astonishingly creepy and succubus-like creature, Sene, as she seduces one of the series' most interesting newcomers, Fitzpatrick. This is just one of Marzulli's chapters that will raise the hair on the back of your neck.
As the plot thickens and we are drawn into an increasingly complex web of intrigue, a secret community of homeless men and women are uncovered living beneath the streets of New York. A sense of impending terror arises in this subterranean world known as "the Condos" as Jamaican transient, Rastaman, is discovered severely burned. When questioned about what happened, he nervously points below ground, groaning, "Sometin' got to me, mon, down there.... Some kin' of monster.... There's sometin' comin' up from da deep places in da earth."
The mysterious entity that attacked Rastaman, is later manifest in a church where readers discover its true identity. Johanen warns Mac and Thomas to stay behind him as he confronts the creature, admonishing them that, "whatever happens, don't look into its eyes."
Guided by Johanen, Mac comes to understand that saving the world depends not only on stopping this thing but also upon recovering a missing disc and deciphering the sudden mysterious deaths of Vatican officials. As the world readies for the appearing of Antichrist, shadowy ingredients began falling barn-fire fast into twists, turns, scares and surprises that take our breath away, while the author weaves his masterful series into a chilling conclusion between extraordinary centuries-old powers.
You know that old saying that "a sequel is never as good as the original"? Lynn Marzulli must have skipped that class because The Revealing is a tour de force, a climactic encounter in every way as riveting as the first two books of the Nephilim Series - and they were terrific!
