Servant by J.S. Bailey

Bobby Roland knows things he shouldn’t…  Plagued with premonitions of disaster, he fights to save others’ lives. What Bobby doesn’t foresee is that rescuing a stranger from death will place him in the line of fire. And so begins the novel Servant, the first installment of J.S. Bailey’s Chronicles of Servitude series. Servant is a fast-paced story with colorful characters that the reader can connect with. Bobby Roland is a socially awkward twenty year-old that is trying to find his way. Excluding his obsession with Sprite and the ability to foretell imminent danger, I found it quite easy to identify with Bobby. I see myself in him, wanting to belong but not being able to find somewhere to completely settle down, the desire to do something great but feeling too insignificant. Taking the events of the end of the novel into account, it seems that Bobby has a lot to learn and face in the next book. The book takes place in a little bit more than a day, which means that there is very little time for the characters to do something unimportant. I was seriously surprised at how quickly I was reading. Bailey keeps the suspense and the creepiness looming of the story looming over the reader, while also providing some lighter moments. Much like Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker, and Dean Koontz, the spiritual plays a part in this story. There are demons, exorcisms, and mysterious characters aplenty. These don’t play a huge part in Servant, and there are questions that I have that have not been answered, but I am sure Bailey will expand on these much more in the sequels. I hope she doesn’t give Bobby too hard of a time. If you are a fan of stories that focus on the aspects of spiritual warfare from a Christian perspective, J.S. Bailey’s Servant is definitely worth the read. Servant‘s sequel, Sacrifice, will be released this fall.