The Delusion

The Delusion
Laura Gallier
Tyndale House Publishers, 2017

Owen is normal teenager drudging through high school in Texas. His home life isn’t all it could be, but he’s a senior and next year he’ll be in college for pre-med so his future looks bright, until an encounter with a stranger changes everything. One sip of water from a mysterious well and now Owen can see things that others can’t, terrifying things. Now each person he sees drags chains attached to rusted metal collars, seemingly unaware of their burden. Each chain is labeled with words like anger, lust, pride, and rage, or sometimes a person’s name. Even worse are the horrible, ghastly creatures that follow people, attaching themselves to their chains. At first he tries to warn people, but no one believes him, not his girlfriend, best friend, or mom.

Finally he realizes that a few people don’t bear chains, but instead have a light that radiates from within them. One of these ‘Lights’, a girl named Ray Anne, believes Owen’s story and agrees to help him try to find answers to his questions. Why do some people glow while others are imprisoned? Why doesn’t he have chains? And does his new revelation about the unseen world around him have any bearing on the recent wave of suicides that has been plaguing his high school?

This post contains affiliate links. Read more about that here. This book was provided to me by Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

All I can say is ‘WOW’. I really think The Delusion should be required reading for all believers, and as many non-believers as we can get to read it. It addresses a topic that is often not well understood, and therefore sometimes ignored: spiritual warfare. The imagery is so powerful and frightening, and the symbolism is compelling. There is no way to read this book without being challenged to look at yourself more closely.

The Delusion is fast paced and at the same time self-reflective. Owen’s seeing things and at first he doesn’t know if he’s crazy or what. It changes the way he thinks, believes, behaves, and every single one of his relationships, and forces him to reach out to people he normally wouldn’t. There are lots of twists and turns along the way, several I didn’t see coming. From what I understand there is a sequel in the works, and I think when you read the ending you’ll be just as eager as me to get your hands on the next one.

I will warn you that if you are sensitive to disturbing images then proceed with caution because there are some intense, gut-wrenching descriptions in this book. With that said, I want to comment on an unusual personal experience I had with The Delusion. I am generally one of the people I’m warning in this paragraph, and when I saw the cover of this book I immediately made the decision that I would only read it in the daytime so as not to freak myself out before bed. But I have to say that even with the terrifying things that were being described in this book I never felt the sense of fear that I expected to feel. I can only attribute that to the fact that I knew going into it how to get rid get rid of ‘chains’ so to speak, and so I felt a sense of hope as I followed Owen on his journey. It changes the way you read it if know the battle is already won!

It did cause me to think long and hard about a lot of things, and it has changed the way I behave since I finished it. I cannot stress enough what an important work it is, and I would recommend The Delusion to anyone. I wish I could place a bulk order and just hand them out to people. What higher praise can you give a book other than to say it’s changed the way you live your life? I don’t think there is a better compliment than that.

Does this sound like a book you would want to read? Are usually you a reader of scary things or a sensitive soul like me?