Emergence Collective by Joseph Hallett is a suspenseful science fiction novel. When Frank Friedman dropped out of college and left his parents’ home in 1969, he decided to hitchhike to start a new life. He was picked up by a painted school bus filled with similarly situated young adults on their way to Oregon. With no specific destination in mind, Frank decided to join their group. Their commune in the Oregon mountains consisted of fifty free spirits. Eventually, the members left the commune, except for Frank. He enjoyed life alone in the mountains with a few friends who lived nearby; however, he was bored. He became fascinated with a hole on the land that the commune had used to dispose of garbage over the years. The hole never filled up. Decades of garbage and old appliances, including refrigerators, never filled the hole. He decides to investigate the depth of the hole and engages his friends, including a geologist at a local university, to assist him. What secrets will they uncover about this mysterious hole?

Chief Master Sergeant Barney Derrick of the United States Air Force has been studying deviations in the magnetosphere. His study of the deviations over the last two years became his pet project for personal reasons. He assembled a team to accompany him to Washington state to investigate the anomalies. Mark and Trina are a young couple staying at the commune in Oregon when they find themselves in the middle of the mysteries surrounding the hole, the anomalies, and the ambitions of Barney Derrick.

This book is a page-turner. There are several unexpected twists that kept me guessing until the end. The existence of the hole is a mystery and it was intriguing to gradually learn more about it. It was captivating to see how each of the characters approached that mystery and tried to discover more about it. Each character brought a unique perspective to the investigation. The characters are what I liked most in the book. They are well-developed and interesting. Frank and his friend, Willy, had developed a deep connection over the years. Their relationship became more like family. The relationship between Mark and Trina was also well-written and realistic for a young couple. They had the unique perspective of teenagers as they investigated the strange occurrences.

Barney Derrick is a fascinating character. Without divulging any spoilers, he goes through many changes through the course of the book. Initially, he is demanding of his subordinates who accompany him on his quest. This seems natural since he is a Chief Master Sergeant. However, as the story progresses, his demands become more and more unacceptable. The contrast between Barney and Frank is significant. Their objectives and the way they treat others are vastly different. There was nothing that I disliked about this book.

I recommend Emergence Collective to fans of science fiction novels. I also recommend it to readers who enjoy mysteries and suspenseful novels. There were more than ten errors in the book, so I don’t believe it was professionally edited. With some additional editing, this book is worthy of a perfect score. Because it has more than ten errors, I give this book a rating of 3 out of 4 stars.

This self publishing thing is frustrating when you are all but a recluse. How does one gain exposure? (seriously I am trying to figure this out) In the beginning I just sat and wrote, then it was ready so I hired a publisher, hired a cover artist (Already more money out than I expected to shell out). I am not expecting to make a living off of this I am a realist. but the passion project is getting expensive. I found onlinebokclub.com to review “Emergence Collective.” and decided to give it a whirl. see if that would generate interest, and hopefully a positive review. At this point only a few friends and the editor had read it so I was eager for fresh unbiased feedback.

It was nerve racking waiting for the reviewer to read rate a review. It took about a month, but I wasn’t dissapointed. 3 out of 4 stars. The review mentioned that there was a lot of format and gramatical errors (more than 10) and was nice enough to point out the page and paragragh those errors were, so that I could correct it. And had there not been those errors they would have gave 4 out of 4 stars. And that they felt it was not professionally edited… Here I have to defend the editor. First, as I went to page and paragrah noted, the most of errors the reviewer sited, I did not see. About half were hyphens at the end of sentences that did not belong and I did not see after looking where they pointed. My editor offered more than one round of editing, but I could only afford the first go around. That being said, My Professional editor did a fantastic job especially considering there were only about 3 or 4 actual typos and grammer issues. I will post the onlinebook club review in the next post. Anyone have any thoughts on these review places?