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Black Book #1
The Devil's Blood
'The Black Book' series spans several centuries in an epic tale of good against evil; From the Old Wild West to the Earth's fragile future. 'The Devil's Blood' introduces Sheriff Jack, a time-travelling loner on a life-long quest to find humanity's last hope; The mysterious Black Book.
Sheriff Jack's first encounter with his adversary brings nothing but bloodshed in its wake, and leaves the Sheriff fighting for his life. Not unexpected, when his enemy is the Devil himself.
Sheriff Jack's first encounter with his adversary brings nothing but bloodshed in its wake, and leaves the Sheriff fighting for his life. Not unexpected, when his enemy is the Devil himself.
19 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 27, 2013
12 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 29, 2015
This is the first part of a chapter book coming out on the 21st of each month. The author was kind enough to send me the first two to read. The first one is taking place in the wild west & was certainly full of action. Lots of questions begging, though. Just who is this sheriff? I'm intrigued & can't wait to read the next one tomorrow at lunch. What year & circumstances? Apparently it can vary by centuries & thousands of miles. Should be fun.
November 18, 2025
I can’t find the rest of this series ANYWHERE! Or even an author website, if anyone can point me in the right direction. Any links I’ve found have been dead ends.
July 11, 2013
Black Book, Volume 1, has the first three episodes of the genre-bending Black Book series. It’s a story that mixes Western, science fiction, and fantasy into a quest that spans centuries.
In Part 1: The Devil’s Blood, we find Sheriff Jack trying to keep the peace in a small, American West town during the 1860s. But Jack is no ordinary Sheriff. He has almost supernatural skills that help him survive a bloody encounter with bandits that shoot up his town and kill many of its citizens. He’s quick on the draw, knows how to use his fists…and can time-travel out of town when a powerful adversary leaves him no choice but to retreat.
In Part 2: Out of Time, we meet Benjamin Freeman, President of the United States in the year 2308. Ben has directed his time-travel corps to locate Jack, an old military comrade who has gone missing in the distant past. When Ben personally oversees the operation, he walks into a trap orchestrated by a deadly faction that also wants to find Jack for its own ruthless purposes.
In Part 3: The Wall, Jack arrives in 1862 California. He meets up with a six-year-old boy and his guardian, a mysterious old man who has met Jack before, though Jack has no recollection. The old man guides Jack to a hidden object that Jack knows will change his life and the course of humanity.
First the good:
Jones’ scenes in the Wild West were so awesome that I thought I was reading a Zane Grey novel. In Part 1, I could taste the dust on my lips and smell the body odor of the gamblers in the saloon. The Western dialogue was spot-on and I could feel the bullets zip past my ear during the gunfights.
Sheriff Jack is an interesting character because he understands the stakes of his mission, yet cannot help himself when he goes out of his way to protect the innocent, even if it threatens the success of his mission.
Most of Volume 1 was about Jack, but Ben Freeman, who appears in Part 2, proved to be an interesting character as well. Through him, we get a glimpse of the 24th century and how time travel becomes a truly devastating weapon. Volume 1 only hints at Ben’s military background and his relationship with Jack, so there is still plenty of ground to cover there in future volumes.
And in the Black Book world, lets just say time travel is not for those who fear pain or swimming.
Now for the warning:
I went into Black Book, Volume 1, thinking I'd get three episodes of good serial fiction. What I got instead were three chapters of a great novel.
Let me explain.
A single episode of serial fiction should be like an hour-long episode of a TV drama -- the characters encounter a situation that they take action to resolve within that one hour. While there may be an over-arching storyline that ties the episodes together, each one should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.
For me, the three episodes of Black Book, Volume 1, did not have that clear beginning, middle, and end. They had scenes that felt like set-up for a coming situation...but that situation never materialized, which made the scenes feel pointless within that episode.
But Volume 1's three episodes were what I'd expect from the opening chapters of an exciting sci-fi novel with an intriguing mystery. Those "pointless" scenes would work well in a complete novel that is a single story with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The Black Book series promises to be a wonderfully engaging story that I look forward to reading and buying. I highly recommend it for the storytelling, world building, and quality of writing.
I’m just going to wait for the omnibus version so I can read it all at once.
Cross-posted at New Podler Review of Books.
In Part 1: The Devil’s Blood, we find Sheriff Jack trying to keep the peace in a small, American West town during the 1860s. But Jack is no ordinary Sheriff. He has almost supernatural skills that help him survive a bloody encounter with bandits that shoot up his town and kill many of its citizens. He’s quick on the draw, knows how to use his fists…and can time-travel out of town when a powerful adversary leaves him no choice but to retreat.
In Part 2: Out of Time, we meet Benjamin Freeman, President of the United States in the year 2308. Ben has directed his time-travel corps to locate Jack, an old military comrade who has gone missing in the distant past. When Ben personally oversees the operation, he walks into a trap orchestrated by a deadly faction that also wants to find Jack for its own ruthless purposes.
In Part 3: The Wall, Jack arrives in 1862 California. He meets up with a six-year-old boy and his guardian, a mysterious old man who has met Jack before, though Jack has no recollection. The old man guides Jack to a hidden object that Jack knows will change his life and the course of humanity.
First the good:
Jones’ scenes in the Wild West were so awesome that I thought I was reading a Zane Grey novel. In Part 1, I could taste the dust on my lips and smell the body odor of the gamblers in the saloon. The Western dialogue was spot-on and I could feel the bullets zip past my ear during the gunfights.
Sheriff Jack is an interesting character because he understands the stakes of his mission, yet cannot help himself when he goes out of his way to protect the innocent, even if it threatens the success of his mission.
Most of Volume 1 was about Jack, but Ben Freeman, who appears in Part 2, proved to be an interesting character as well. Through him, we get a glimpse of the 24th century and how time travel becomes a truly devastating weapon. Volume 1 only hints at Ben’s military background and his relationship with Jack, so there is still plenty of ground to cover there in future volumes.
And in the Black Book world, lets just say time travel is not for those who fear pain or swimming.
Now for the warning:
I went into Black Book, Volume 1, thinking I'd get three episodes of good serial fiction. What I got instead were three chapters of a great novel.
Let me explain.
A single episode of serial fiction should be like an hour-long episode of a TV drama -- the characters encounter a situation that they take action to resolve within that one hour. While there may be an over-arching storyline that ties the episodes together, each one should have a clear beginning, middle, and end.
For me, the three episodes of Black Book, Volume 1, did not have that clear beginning, middle, and end. They had scenes that felt like set-up for a coming situation...but that situation never materialized, which made the scenes feel pointless within that episode.
But Volume 1's three episodes were what I'd expect from the opening chapters of an exciting sci-fi novel with an intriguing mystery. Those "pointless" scenes would work well in a complete novel that is a single story with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The Black Book series promises to be a wonderfully engaging story that I look forward to reading and buying. I highly recommend it for the storytelling, world building, and quality of writing.
I’m just going to wait for the omnibus version so I can read it all at once.
Cross-posted at New Podler Review of Books.
April 10, 2013
Warning: If you don’t like gore, this may not be for you.
This short story is just part one of a larger series involving the protagonist, Sheriff Jack.
It introduces Jack coming face-to-face with evil, even the Devil himself.
It lays down a good beginning character arc for the Sheriff to introduce you to this character and understand the tone of the series.
Sheriff Jack is the bad-ass protagonist that you want in any action series, and when you finish part one, you will not be disappointes.
I enjoyed the feel and tone of this story. It is dark and mysterious. It is also full of action and gore.
5/5 – This series has a lot of potential, stay tuned for more!
This short story is just part one of a larger series involving the protagonist, Sheriff Jack.
It introduces Jack coming face-to-face with evil, even the Devil himself.
It lays down a good beginning character arc for the Sheriff to introduce you to this character and understand the tone of the series.
Sheriff Jack is the bad-ass protagonist that you want in any action series, and when you finish part one, you will not be disappointes.
I enjoyed the feel and tone of this story. It is dark and mysterious. It is also full of action and gore.
5/5 – This series has a lot of potential, stay tuned for more!
August 13, 2013
This was highly rated on Amazon but I found it disappointing.
Yes, it is only volume one and presumably some of my gripes might be addressed in the following volumes but overall, it failed to hold my interest.
Events just happen without any background. Ok, so we have a top secret project whose aim is never explained and we have opponents who are prepared to kill and frame others to stop or hijack the project for their own ends, again for motives that are unknown. While this might make for fast action, it left me wondering what was going on and why everyone was doing what they were doing.
As a result, I am not likely to pick up the other volumes
Yes, it is only volume one and presumably some of my gripes might be addressed in the following volumes but overall, it failed to hold my interest.
Events just happen without any background. Ok, so we have a top secret project whose aim is never explained and we have opponents who are prepared to kill and frame others to stop or hijack the project for their own ends, again for motives that are unknown. While this might make for fast action, it left me wondering what was going on and why everyone was doing what they were doing.
As a result, I am not likely to pick up the other volumes
February 5, 2013
There was more about what is going on in the story in the description of the book, or should I say series, than there is this opening chapter. Good action scenes, but little else. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the story or not.
August 28, 2013
A good start to an interesting fantasy/sci-fi hybrid tale. It's episodic, rather than a complete tale. There's no way for me to know how much of the story is represented in this "Volume One" collection. But it was worth reading.
September 29, 2015
This book is all over the place. I'm not saying that that's entirely a bad thing. But it zoomed along at a pace that spoiled the story somewhat.
It could've done with being twice as long, & with that spending just a little more time in each branch of the story.
Really like the concept though.
It could've done with being twice as long, & with that spending just a little more time in each branch of the story.
Really like the concept though.
April 11, 2017
Unexpected! Time travel and loops are always a challenge, but this is worth it. The feeble minded reviews of "confusing!" are also worth the price of admission. Those people should probably stick to picture books with large print.
February 4, 2013
A cool preview to what I hope becomes a nicely fleshed out novel.
May 19, 2017
Good but, very short, hard to tell where it's going, but it has a hook to it.
July 20, 2020
Imaginative, but moreover a glaring illustration of an editor’s importance in the publishing process. Hopefully corrected in the later compendium.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews