Shades of Darkness Shades of Grace
Catherine Johnson

Reviewed by Ashley Merrill

This story about a close knit family, the Pierson’s, is a miraculous one.  Paul Pierson has had a rough start to married life. He married a wonderful woman who ended up dying tragically. His family had to watch him close himself off to the world. His two siblings and their families, along with his parents band together and vow to get him out of his depressive funk.  They help him meet a nice young woman, Pamela, and watch in amazement as Paul starts to come out of his shell.

These two love birds end up marrying, and having a child, but that’s about as far as this love story goes. Slowly but surely Paul’s family starts to get glimpses of Pamela’s real personality and find that maybe this was not such a good idea to have her become part of the family. She insists on having the best of all material things, insists on going above their means and moving into a house that is only the best.  They has a child, Kaitlin, and she acts very indifferent towards her, and eventually she gets a job that is not near her home and moves into an apartment by herself, closer to her new job. 

Paul finally has had enough, and after realizing that she has been cheating on him with multiple men, he demands a divorce.  This is just the tip of the ice berg.  Pamela is not willing to give up her cushy life style so easily. She makes it her full time job to make Paul and his family miserable and pay for trying to kick her out of the family. Weather it is getting herself sick and falsely accusing Paul of trying to poison her, or beat herself up to pretend as if he beat her, or even call and make false allegations that Paul has drugs in his car and video tapes it as the cops search it, Pamela will stop at nothing.

Years so by and she is still relentless. Paul just wants his life to go on and to forget about Pamela. His family sticks by his side, but just like Paul, they are getting burned out. Then something miraculous, yet disturbing happens and they find their problems solved.

You don’t want to miss this story! It is a very quick read and you find yourself not wanting to put this book down. You get a glimpse into what it is like for a family to really stick it out together and support each other through tough times. You see what evil people really are like, and you get an ending that will have your jaw falling open in astonishment. This is must read for all!

Catherine Johnson has a beautiful way with words and has a gift of making her readers fall in love with some characters and shake your fist in anger at other characters. Her writing style is smooth and elegant as she takes us on a journey into the horror this brave family must face.