Is Your Soul Your Own?

Bodyswitch by David Callinan

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for a review. 

Summary: So you think your body belongs to you – think again!

Jack Madigan has the perfect life. He runs a mission in the Bronx helping New York's poor and homeless, the lost souls of the city. His wife Kerry works on a campaigning newspaper. They are not rich but they are fulfilled. And they are about to have their first child.

Sadistic sociopath Ernie Mason is released from prison; the poor black kid from the Bronx brutalised by a lifetime of abuse, drugs and crime until he becomes a killer; a walking time-bomb. He gets drunk, steals a car and goes joyriding in central Manhattan.

Jack says goodbye to Kerry after a routine medical examination and she crosses the busy street.

Ernie Mason hits Kerry full on, killing her instantly and killing himself.

The bottom falls out of Jack Madigan's life. But then he is made an offer no other human being has ever received. The chance to say a final goodbye to Kerry on 'the other side'.

But there is a price to pay.

He must allow a recently departed soul to occupy his body while he is in spiritual limbo to be given one last chance of redemption.

That's when the cosmic switch clicks and a dark soul enters Jack Madigan's body.

Guess who?

Review: A tale of souls, redemption, second chances, and a very strange beyond.

I did enjoy this book. I am glad I read it. However, I can see someone being put off by the cover. I am not sure what it has to do with the book. Regardless, please still give this book a chance. It's an enjoyable supernatural read. Bodyswitch really does make you think. I found myself hating Ernie, but other times I felt bad for him since I saw glimmers of hope. Life is never black and white and neither are people. Where there is death, there is also life.

The oddest aspect of the book was the beyond. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it although since everyone makes their own beyond, I wonder what mine would look like. The idea of reincarnation was used well and I liked the idea of developing enough as a person to finally move on to a higher plane. There was a lot of sex and desire in this book, both in the beyond and in the corporeal world. Some of it had purpose, but the rest of felt added on. The ending was very satisfying.

Rating:






Recommendation: I would recommend this book to those that enjoy supernatural fiction or stories dealing with life after death and reincarnation.