Book Review: Expiration Date by Eric Wilson

Expiration Date by Eric Wilson is a Christian novel that can be best described as supernatural thriller. Brotherhood of Tobolsk, a secret group seeking to restore the monarchy in Russia, is searching for the one remaining heir of the Romanovs and for a small item hidden by Lenin on a Finnish locomotive shortly before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. The item, never retrieved, is believed to hold the key to the treasure chamber of Rasputin. The search brings Dmitri Derevenko, a handsome and determined representative of the brotherhood, to the United States and eventually to the small town of Junction City in Oregon. That's where the Finnish locomotive has found its rest, with the little wooden container still onboard. However, there is another group that knows about the small wooden tube, and wants it just as badly. The mysterious Consortium that appears to be much larger and stronger than the brotherhood, is represented by two no less mysterious, dark figures, Asgoth and Mr. Monde. The goals of these two are unclear at first. We see that they want to somehow gain total control of the town, and the item hidden by Lenin on the old train would help them to achieve that. Asgoth knows exactly where the item is, but he is unable to take it. The reason might be in the curse Rasputin had placed on the item, stating that touching it will bring disaster to "all but the innocent." Asgoth haunts the train, but his every attempt to get on it is thwarted by unbearable, burning pain.

The arrival of a man named Clay Ryker diverts Asgoth's attention. Clay, born and raised in Junction City, had left to college about twelve years ago. A promising athlete, he had set out to fulfill his dreams of getting into professional basketball, with the whole town cheering him and predicting success. But the dreams never came true. Clay now returns with his life torn apart by a pending divorce, a failed business, and loads of bills to pay. We learn that Clay is Asgoth's old rival; they've got some dark history between the two of them, and Asgoth is determined to do the man in.

Clay knows nothing about the hidden treasure. All he wants is to try and put his life back together, and maybe forget about the accident that took place twelve years ago and has been haunting him ever since. As Clay arrives, he discovers a strange new ability. When he touches another person's skin, in a handshake or simply by accidentally brushing against them, he feels a set of numbers. The invisible numbers shoot from the person's skin onto Clay's and burn into his brain. He eventually realizes that the numbers are dates - the dates of the people's deaths. Their expiration dates. Most of the dates are not very far in the future, only a few days away, and once Clay knows a date he can be certain the person will die. As it that wasn't enough to deal with, Clay starts getting anonymous letters from someone who appears to know what Clay knows about the accident, as well as his new ability.

The story is well-written and well-paced. The plot is far from predictable, and certain misleading clues can take you in the wrong direction just when you think you've begun to figure out what's going on. I was impressed with the author's research of the Russia-related part of the story. Being familiar with the Russian culture, I can say that most of what we see in the novel is correct, with just a few minor exceptions (e.g. when Russians speak English, they do not insert Russian words "da" and "nyet" in every other phrase).

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I would recommend it to most Christian readers, especially fans of suspense and thrillers. Non-believers might enjoy it as well since the spiritual message is not overbearing.