Dark Star by Creston Mapes

Everett Lester looked like he had it all. His rock band was riding the wave of popularity. He had money. He had fame. He had drugs and alcohol running through his veins.

Everett Lester had trouble. Along the way to stardom he had begun to associate with a medium. He became more and more tied to his personal psychic as she drew him into darkness.

A continuous glimmer of light in Everett's life was communication from a young woman, Karen. It started with notes, “I'm praying for you.” Karen believed God had something redeeming planned for Everett. She continued to pray for him and send him reminders of God's love.

But the psychic senses she is losing Everett and she intensifies her demonic influence. The spiritual battle is harsh. There are attacks on Karen's life. Everett becomes more self destructive, even to the point of almost killing a fan at one of his concerts. Seeing that fan in a coma wakes him up to his need for Christ.

His psychic makes one last attempt to destroy Everett. She arranges for her own murder and for Everett to be charged with the crime.

This novel is rather well written. There is plenty of excitement and the danger to Karen at the end is a great finish. The mixed up life of a rock star is presented in all its tragedy. Everett was an immoral, drug using, mixed up man. There are no graphic scenes so this novel would be suitable for teens through adults.

I felt the novel was too long. There was “filler” that didn't need to be there to carry the story. And sometimes there was just too much description. (Did we really need to know that she reached up and got a white coffee filter?)

Nonetheless, this is a great story of a young man getting into the horrors of evil yet never being beyond the grace of God.

Creston Mapes has a degree in magazine journalism and has written for major corporations, colleges, and ministries. His stories have been featured in many magazines. Dark Star, released in 2005, was his first novel.

Learn more at www.crestonmapes.com.

I received an egalley of this book from the Litfuse Publicity Group for the purpose of this review.