Forgotten Word: Revised Edition January 2018

by Sam Jane Brown

Zena McGrath is a detective working for an International Police Organisation at their Dublin Office. A routine day is turned upside down when she receives a call from her boss in the New York office. A number of Catholic Priests have died in mysterious circumstances, the latest being an Irish Priest based at the Vatican. The Vatican authorities claim the deaths are due to natural causes. Brian Evens; Zena’s Superior officer based in New York tells Zena she must fly to Rome and meet a high-ranking Vatican Priest to discuss the case. When Zena arrives at the Vatican she is greeted by Cardinal Donatello, a mysterious figure who has responsibility for training priests in the secretive and highly dangerous art of Exorcism. He reveals to Zena that the Priests who have died were all Exorcists and takes her on a shocking visit to see a Priest who is possessed by evil spirits. Cardinal Donatello reluctantly reveals the seriousness of the problems the Vatican is facing in the eternal battle between good and evil and Zena herself has a chilling encounter with a demonic presence. Although shocked and disturbed by what she has seen at the Vatican, Zena is persuaded by Cardinal Donatello to allow the Vatican Authorities to fight the evil in their own way and not pursue her investigation. Zena convinces Brian Evens that there is nothing to investigate at the Vatican and prepares to return to Dublin, only to be summoned to New York when another Catholic Priest is discovered brutally murdered. Zena flies to New York with a Bible given to her by cardinal Donatello and an evil presence following her every move. During the course of the murder investigation in New York Zena is persuaded to take part in a Satanic Ritual in order to let her see into the past and reveal the murderer of the Priest. Whilst in a trance she sees the people responsible for the crime and the shocking truth leads her back to Rome and the culprit. Cardinal Donatello is deported to New York to stand trial for his part in the crime and during the course of the trial the whole shocking truth of the Catholic Church’s battle against evil and the extent of satanic worship is revealed to the incredulous world. Cardinal Donatello is found guilty of his crimes and the revelations spark worldwide revulsion against all forms of religion, something that Zena with her insights into the world of Satan had warned of. Zena returns to Ireland as the overthrow of world religions gathers pace to find peace and to try and rid herself of the evil spirits that are haunting her. Her quest leads her to the Holy Land in an attempt to find God and inner peace. The events in the Holy Land lead to a climactic and shocking finale to this tale of good against evil the second coming.

Genres: Mystery

146 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2011

Reviews

[John Hanscom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually, I would give this book no stars at all, but Goodreads would consider the book unrated. In my 67 years, I have never read such drivel. The book is self-published, and it shows, through gramme, paragraphing, verb tenses, and just simple mistakes. For example, on p. 89, a section ends "Brian, Silensi, and Giovanni and his men, all pull their guns from their holsters and." That's it. The end. The word "and." That was the most blatant, but the book is full of writing an editor should have noted. The book is written in the first person singular. OK, other books have done this well. This author does it badly, and it is like reading stage directions, "She walks to the door and opens it." At one point, the female protagonist goes to sleep in her underwear, and when her coworker knocks on the door, the author makes it sound as if she answers the door in bra and panties. I could go on. The idea that a conflict at the Vatican would cause the banning of all religion is ridiculous. I know many of my Protestant sisters and brothers who would see this as a vindication of their approach, not an indictment, and that is to say nothing of non-Christian faiths. The idea that the UN would ban all religion, and that, even if they did, any one would pay attention is just silly. The book ends with a literal deus ex machina," the Second Coming of Christ, which the author, despite quoting the Apocalypse of John, obviously knows nothing. I've already wasted too much time on this book. I will end with saying something I almost never say:

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK; IT IS A TOTAL WASTE OF TIME!!!!!!!!!

[Cat · Rating 1 out of 5]

What word is worse than terrible?

I was cleaning up my kindle and found this book partially read, so I decided to re-read it. I should have just deleted it. This book is terribly written and must have been self published. I cant imagine any editor would have let that past them. The story was awful. Just don't.

[Hyouten · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn’t sure what to make of this book when I read the description. The first part made me imagine a book about a cop investigating Vatican officials who somehow involved themselves with criminal activities. That would have made for something interesting. And then this line followed:

“This leads to the overthrow of world religions, a shocking finale and the second coming of Jesus Christ.”

I was like, “Excuse me?!”

I should have just stopped right there and passed, but my curiosity got the best of me. Curse my curiosity because this book turned out to be quite… bad.

Forgotten Word follows Zena McGrath, an Irish lady working for the Interpol. She gets assigned to the case regarding priests dying mysteriously and is sent to the Vatican to investigate. Cardinal Donatello chalks it up to exorcism and convinces her to stay out of it. Another priest dies inexplicably in New York, Zena gets called on to the case again, and everything goes downhill from there.

Very early into the book I realized that this wasn’t going to be the crime mystery I hoped it was going to be. The moment it started mentioning the appearance of a demon, I knew it was going to be something else. The book had a supernatural edge to it, an aspect that is kept throughout the entire book and was cranked up to crazy levels of maximum towards the end. The investigation about the deaths is really just an instrument to move the events over; the real goal of the book is to convince you to stay religious.

To make matters worse, the writing in the book is atrocious. Never mind the fact that it’s written in present tense (this actually doesn’t bother me at all). The whole book is very robotic, making it boring very quickly. The descriptions are half-thought and has taken a backseat with all the telling that’s going on. The characters move like they’re on a fixed track with pre-programmed movements that will take place at a certain time. Considering the length of this book, I found the task of finishing this book to be quite mountainous.

And that ‘finale’? It’s shocking alright, but for all the wrong reasons. Suspension of disbelief doesn’t even work on the events that transpire for this finale because it’s just so ridiculous. It’s quite the comedy, really.

I would say that reading this book was a waste of my time, but it was my conscious decision to download this book and to start reading it. I had the choice to stop reading it and to move to something else, but I decided to plow through. After all, I wouldn’t have known its true depths if I didn’t go all the way. I’m just glad I got out of it sanely.

[Shipofools999 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad book. Interesting idea, murder mystery and supernatural, normally my cup of tea. I don't even mind it being religious. But as I kept reading it felt more like a method to force religious doctrine into me than storytelling. This is the stuff I got in Sunday School about Revelations to scare us into behaving since the 2nd coming was soon. Normally I will finish a book but I didn't see an end to the preaching so I quit. I would not recommend this to anyone who isn't a fundamentalist Christian. This story could be good if 3/4 of the religious doctrine was edited out.

[Jenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

couldn't finish it. Very "preachy" The description put it along the lines of Angel and Demons or Primal Fear. it was not even close!

[Vinny Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe readers will enjoy "Forgotten Word" written by Sam Jane Brown. I wasn't familiar with this author until I was asked to give my honest review of the book in trade for a copy. Normally a religion-based, good vs evil plot wouldn't be my first choice to read. However for a fictional crime thriller I thought the story was well organised and written very well by the author.

After reading some of the reviews, I thought I might not enjoy the story. After I started reading, I was pleased to find that there were no editorial errors, and this story was very easy to read in the present-tense. It didn't feel awkward to read at all and enjoyed the way the story was told. I thought the story to be interesting and even found myself thinking about my own relationship with religion.

The author did a great job of keeping the plot and story-line believable and flowing throughout the book. I really liked the character Zena McGrath and the way she was portrayed doing her investigation. Although I expected a bit more eeriness and spookiness to the book, it may have thrown the story off to include as much as I thought there might be. I would recommend this book to all those that like a good vs evil plot-line mixed with a crime/thriller.

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could I would give this more than 5 stars but that's just me. Forgotten Word is a good v. evil book but so much more. It's about a detective, Zena McGrath (Dublin office) and her counterpart Brian Evans (US office). Zena is called to the Vatican because many priests are dying with what the Vatican says are natural causes. Zena is met by one of the Cardinals and finds out that the priests are from a group trained as exorcists and that they died from being possessed. But she agrees to lie to her boss in the US.

Part of the book seemed a little hokey in that satan has taken up residence in the Vatican but evil is everywhere. Zena comes to the US to see Brian, starts to lie but realizes after different things start to happen to her that not only can't she lie to Brian but tells him that an evil presence is following her.

After checking with a satanic cult and participating in a ritual Zena feels doomed for life and starts to pray to God. She goes to the Holy Land to walk where Jesus walked in hopes of no longer being doomed.

I don't really want to give away the ending BUT THIS BOOK WAS FANTASTIC. For me there was a perfect ah ha moment at the end of the book and I was thrilled I read this.

[Elizabeth Ehlen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Zena McGrath is annoyed by her current assignment. As an avowed atheist, she is not particularly interested in investigating the recent spate of deaths in the Vatican. When her investigation takes her to New York and a local group of Satanists, she starts to think maybe, just maybe, there is something spiritual - even demonic - to this particular case, and her role becomes much more than simply solving a murder.

I really wanted to like this book, as I’ve always enjoyed the apocalyptic type literature, even when it isn’t particularly accurate or theological. However, the present tense writing - which did really annoy me after a while - and lack of depth just left me unsatisfied. It was an interesting premise, but not quite fleshed out enough for me, especially towards the end. It felt like it was just in a hurry to get done. I was also confused by the on again/off again romance, as I thought that should be resolved too. Perhaps it will be in a follow up book? In any case, I hope that if this turns into a series we get some questions answered.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a strange book. As the other reviewers on amazon have said, it is better than other free books as the main characters have some depth. The thriller part is intriguing with demonic powers, potential angels, and Satan himself hiding out in the Vatican. But the plot doesn't make sense. The "murderer" never goes to trial but there is a trial for another character and it makes no sense.

If this book is intended to be a possible scenario for the Second Coming it needs a lot more development. If it is a conspiracy theory book about the New World Order and how bar codes are codes for Satan (666), then it needs a whole not more thought. Either way the author needs to just go for it. Instead it is a mess of half formed ideas. And as a police mystery, it makes no sense why the Dublin cop takes orders from a NYC detective and how all the characters can fly around the world with nary a thought.

[Kelly Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting take and good vs evil!

I really enjoyed this book! I don't usually read books about deaths involving priest but this one for my attention and I couldn't stop reading it. It had a great twist involving satan and his plan to take control. You really got to see the investigator reach into the good and evil side of the priest deaths. And seeing that she was not religious at all it was interesting to see how the book ended. That's all I have to say about it because I don't like to give away the ending of a great story. It was definitely worth the download!

[april koonce · Rating 4 out of 5]

An "Aha"moment.

Being a Christian, when I started reading this book, there were several times I wanted to put t down. The more I forced myself to read, the more I wanted to see how to ended. I actually got chills when reading about Jesus. If you believe in Heaven and Jesus, you have to believe in shell and satin. It's good to know who wins, in the book and in life. Very good read if you just stay with it.

[Sheila Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam Brown presents an interesting account of the events about the beginning of the end times. While I don't agree with some of his interpretations (such as bar codes being the mark of the beast), I think he does present his beliefs in a creative way leading to a novel that was enjoyable. I only gave the book 4 out 5 stars because it needs some basic editing.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been wanted to read this book because I thought the premise of it was interesting - especially when the synopsis compared it to Angels and Demons - boy was that wrong. It started out interesting enough, then ended in a religious rant that was just plain irritating.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story although it could use some editing. And apparently someone went through a global search-and-replace of "standing" with "stood" which makes for some awkward and puzzling sentences.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me rethink about my own paths in life.

a good book with an important message at the end that made me reevaluate myself even warmed my heart at the thought of Jesus returning!

[Sandy Juergens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly awful..

[Jessica Lankagi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad.

The book was alright. Was only interested in reading the book because of the link to the Vatican. I did find some wording in the book a little off. Overall, it was alright.