This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Born in Toronto, Ontario, Michael Poeltl earned his diploma in Interpretive Illustration and began a career in the field
while educating himself on the art of writing. Writing quickly became his passion and after completing several shorts,
he undertook his recently published work, The Judas Syndrome.
Drawn to the dark places of the mind, Poeltl often works through his own demons when putting words to paper.
When the author lives the words he writes, experiencing each moment as it passes, it becomes more than a story,
it becomes tangible, something the astute reader will pick up on.
And as with the Yin and Yang, he can appreciate the good in people, and the hope, and the dreams, and the work
that is put into building a better life. This too can be found in both his writings, and in his own life.
Reviewed by Stefan Vucak for Readers' Favorite
Joel and his young friends are pot smoking, carefree people with little thought for their futures. Worried about the Grimm Reaper and his threat to unleash a nuclear holocaust, the group goes on a camping trip. Rain forces them home where they find the town burned and ash falling from the sky, and the survivors fighting among themselves. Joel and his friends take shelter in an abandoned house, driving off attackers and a mob of fanatics looking for Reaper sympathizers. Still taking drugs, Joel thinks that everyone is plotting against him. He leaves the group, betraying them to the Reaper fanatics. In a fit of remorse, he commits suicide.
The Judas Syndrome provides an intriguing window into the life after a nuclear war. The story focuses on Joel and his group, and the sometimes tense relationship among them brought on by the war’s aftermath, survival, and ongoing drug use that makes life bearable. There is minimal plotting in this straightforward story, but that is done out of necessity, told from Joel’s perspective. Some scenes are slow moving and under the circumstances, survival of Joel’s group is highly improbable, but if the reader maintains Joel’s narrow viewpoint, the unfolding story is understandable. Greater character development would have made this a much stronger work.
Michael Poeltl is a skilful writer and his book mixes well amusing incidents with stark horror and demands to simply stay alive in a suddenly hostile world. Although the story lacks sophistication, it is, nevertheless, an interesting look into a possible and all too real future.
