New Kid Catastrophes by Bill Myers

You can never go wrong with Bill Myers. Even those this new series is aimed at Middle School students, New Kid Catastrophes kept me smiling through the entire read.

TJ along with her sisters and father have moved from Missouri to California. Their home antics are pretty silly but the real treat is when TJ begins school as the "new kid". The boy she has a crush on thinks she has a mental disability (all she can say around him is, "uh..um...er..."), the prissy actress sets her spiteful eyes on her with evil results, and to top all of that, two boys from the future go back in time to study her because she will become someone very powerful when she grows up.

These two boys cause more harm than good with their "observations".

I was thrown a little off guard with Myers inserting action words such as, "CLIP CLAP" and "BOUNCING SNAP CRACKLE" in with his writing. It felt awkward at first but after the first three chapters, I felt like I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon and enjoying the ride.

I can't wait for the sequels.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Tyndale Publishing.

The God Hater by Bill Myers

The God Hater is about Nicholas Mackenzi, a philosopher professor who hates religion. He is contacted by his brother Travis who has created possibly the greatest AI community in the world. Travis needs the help of a brilliant mind in order to make his community function for the corporates and who better than Nicholas.

Happening with the brother's story, is the tale of those who desire to steal the invention for their own money-making purposes.

Bill Myers has always been a favorite author of mine. He has a way with storytelling that quickly pulls you close to the characters and shoots you on a roller coaster ride.


You won't know who to trust in this tale of suspense and heart.

The latest Myers offering will open your eyes to Jesus in a fresh way.

This would be the perfect book to give your friends who consider themselves to be intellectual and opposed to the belief in God. It isn't preachy but rather familiar in tone.



This book was provided for review by Howard Books.

Ancient Forces Collection by Bill Myers

The Ancient Forces Collection is the final book of the famed Forbidden Doors saga started by Bill Myers. In this collection, the three stories are:

The Ancients - Becka, Scott, their mom and Ryan head out to an Indian Reservation at the request of Z to help a young Indian with his faith in Jesus. They run into trouble with the local shaman who calls down lightning and Ryan begins to experiment with the local beliefs.

The Wiccan - The kids are told to meet with the latest superstar celeb and her new book all about Wicca.

The Cards - A fellow classmate of Scott's gets involved with Tarot cards when he tries to understand his future.

These last books aren't written by Bill Myers and you can tell. The storytelling is not up to his excellent par: we have the characters behaving unlike their normal "bill myers" style, the battles are uninspiring, and the stories themselves leave a lot to be desired.

The biggest letdown is that we never learn the identity of Z, the Internet personality who aids them in the spiritual warfare. We are left with the hint that Becka and Scott's father may actually still be alive.

How can they end a series like that?!!?

Deadly Loyalty Collection by Bill Myers

Volume 3 of the Forbidden Door series, the Deadly Loyalty Collection brings the Williams' kids away from their new home.

In The Curse, they travel to Louisiana and battle forces of a voodoo cult. A girl who is always getting picked on in school decides to fight back with her new voodoo powers. Kids get seriously injured before Becka and Scott and save the day.

In The Undead, Becka and her friend Ryan travel to Transylvania to help a young actress who seems to come under attack by a vampire. This book is due for this time seeing as the world seems to be sucked (get it?) in by this vampire fad. Is there such thing as real vampires?

In The Scream, the Williams' travel to California to help out the drummer of the world famous band, The Scream. Their lead singer is dealing with devil worship and looks to deal with their Pastor-kid drummer.

I'm afraid to say this volume of 3 books is lacking. If I remember correctly this is when Myers hands the writing to others. First the kids travel all over the world at the request of some mysterious Internet character and their mother approves of it all. I suppose you'd need to get this family out of their hometown just for the sake of changing the stories a bit and making them fresh. But the spiritual battles all sound the same.

I guess the fact that he sends them money and plane tickets is enough.

Secondly, the stories get downright silly. Going to another country for vampires?

But remember, this is a fun series built for kids/teens. It's not to be taking too seriously outside of the spiritual warfare stuff.

One more volume to go!

This book was provided for review by Zondervan Publishing.

The Invisible Terror Collection by Bill Myers

Volume 2 in the Forbidden Doors series contains the books:

The Haunting, The Guardian, and The Encounter. These stories make up the Invisible Terror Collection.

The Haunting is about ghosts; are they real or demonic forces? Becka Williams is approached by the mysterious Ascension Lady to help with releasing the spirit of a murdered girl.

When they arrive at the haunted house, the task becomes terrifying.

In The Guardian, one of Becka's friends, Julia, is recovering from the events of the previous night and the ghosts. She has this vision of what she believes to be heaven and her guardian angel to protect her.

Questions and doubts begin to surface for Becka and her friends regarding her beliefs. Is this guardian truly an agent of God?

Meanwhile, another friend begins to be used by an extra terrestrial to lead the world into a new age.

This leads us to The Encounter. Aliens my friends. Do they exist and are they preparing Becka's friends to lead the world into a new level of consciousness?

As they experience abductions and encounters, Scott Williams begins to play a Dungeons and Dragons RPG game. He gets so involved, that it begins to take over his life.

These books continue the idea of spiritual warfare and the Occult while implementing truths for teenagers. After a while, the battles become repetitive with characters saying the same thing and you realizing how things will end.

That's when the stories in the next volume up the ante!

The Dark Powers Collection by Bill Myers

I read The Forbidden Door series as a teen and now Bill Myers has collected them into 3-book volumes.

The first volume is titled, Dark Power Collection and it includes the books, The Society, The Deceived, and The Spell.

Scott and Rebecca Williams and their mother have just moved into the neighborhood. Their father was killed in the mission field and it's tough getting their lives back together.

In The Society, Scott is introduced to a group of students who meet in a bookstore to mess with Ouija boards and "speak" with the spirits. He is challenged to confront them with his "Jesus" power to see which is stronger.

In The Deceived, Becka is hypnotized and begins to believe she is a French king reincarnated. This leads to a dramatic game of chicken with a train.

In The Spell, the Society has had enough of Becka and her family. They begin harassing her with menacing letters and finally kidnapping her puppy.

Throughout these adventures, the Williams kids chat with a mysterious online character named "Z". He somehow knows things about the kids and about their everyday situations.

Each book has one or both kids participating in some kind of spiritual warfare - however Myers adds situations that make this applicable to any teenager in America.

These books are fantastic!

The Chamber of Lies by Bill Myers

The Chamber of Lies, Book 4 of The Elijah Project, has the family racing to the rescue of Elijah. Shadow Man has plans for him - plans to turn him away from God and to serve his master.

This plan includes trapping Elijah in the Chamber of Lies and giving him whatever he desires.

However, with each vision/dream giving to persuade him away from God, Elijah ends up turning them into a chance to glorify Him.

Piper and Zach, along with their parents and friends, Cody and Willard do all they can to help Elijah but, for the kids, they get trapped in the Chamber as well.

Will they be able to stave off the Shadow Man's tricks or will Elijah have to make a sacrifice for them?

You finally find out what purpose Elijah is to have in the days to come, but the series doesn't really come to an end with this book. Hopefully there will be more as Myers can explore the story further.

Great kid's series by the writer who knows Spiritual Warfare.

Trapped by Shadows by Bill Myers

In book 3 of The Elijah Project, Trapped by Shadows, we find the family reunited, Shadow Man on their heels, and the three goons causing more trouble than help.

Elijah is taken by Shadow Man after his brother, Zach, drives their jeep into a river. The rest of them make it out and onto dry land only to watch Elijah fall prey to a kidnapping.

They decide to pursue and rescue Elijah from Shadow Man's lair...or should I say, his master's lair deep underground.

While all this is taking place, Cody and Willard defy gravity to join in the rescue fun.

But deep in the bowels of the earth, they discover that they will need a lot more help than what they have...

This series is keeping me guessing. At first I thought Elijah was the allegorical Jesus character. Then I thought he might be part of a powerful spiritual kid, now...after learning just a taste of his history I am still in the dark.

Can't wait to dive into the 4th story!

The Enemy Closes In by Bill Myers

In book 2, The Enemy Closes In, we find the three siblings on the run in an RV.

Piper, the sister, ends up working in a diner to pay for RV repairs; Zach meets a mysterious girl who is part of a society dealing with dark forces.

The three villains seem more like the comic relief in this follow-up story as Shadow Man uses the leader of the society, Jason, to capture Elijah.

Meanwhile, the parents are working on escaping from Shadow Man's lair.

This second book seemed a lot like Myer's earlier work called The Forbidden Door series which also dealt with dark spiritual warfare stuff.

Outside of the villains seeming too goofy and leaving the menacing for Shadow Man, this series is turning out to be a decent weekend read.

On the Run by Bill Myers

I have been a fan of Bill Myers for a long time. On the Run is the first book of his newest series.

Three siblings, Zach, Piper and their younger brother Elijah are just going about their day - walking to school - when a puppy gets hit by a car.

Elijah holds the puppy and brings it back to life.

What?!

Plus, there's some organization called, The Organization led by The Shadow Man who is out to kidnap Elijah.

The chase is on, from their home, to their aunts, to a hospital where Elijah brings a girl out of a coma.

It seems like this could be an allegory but it's still too soon to tell.

These books are nice and short - you can read one in less than an hour.

Bill Myers is amazing.