Whimsical Adventures in the Afterlife

In this my Leonberger blog I sometimes post about topics other than Leonbergers, including non-Leonberger books that I like and want to promote, and this is one of those. With this post I would like to promote a very entertaining and thrilling book called Detour on the Eternal Road by John W Howell. He recently visited my blog on his book tour but I want to post about his book one more time. This time the focus is my review of the book. Below I am giving some information about the paperback and Kindle version of the book. I bought the paperback version of the book.

  • Paperback –  Independently published (January 2, 2025), ISBN-10 : 1733573143, ISBN-13 : 978-1733573146, 297 pages, Item Weight : 1 pounds, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.67 x 8.5 inches, it cost $14.95 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
  • Kindle – Keewaydin Lane Books; 1st edition (February 7, 2025), ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DT4Q1FBR, 267 pages. It is currently $2.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com.
The front cover features the title and the author, and a road curving through a dark landscape. On the road is an Oldsmobile 1956.
Front cover of Detour on the Eternal Road. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon Description of Detour on the Eternal Road

The third book in the Eternal Road series. Sam and James are dragged into another strange assignment when a couple of souls on The Eternal Road drop off the radar. Archangel Michael gives them specific orders to resolve the issue and get Billy Ray Chitwood, the national race car champion, and Dale Earnhardt, his guide, back on the task of finding Billy’s Eternal Home.

Finally, meeting up with Billy Ray and Dale, the foursome finds themselves in the future where World War III has devastated the country. The team discovers the cause of the start of the war and vows to mitigate that circumstance and save the world from devastation. They encounter their old nemesis, Lucifer, who has in mind trading preventing the war in exchange for Sam accepting his offer to be his queen.

Since Lucifer’s offer is a non-starter, Sam and James must overcome Lucifer’s interference and work to change the course of history, or humankind is doomed.

This is my Amazon review of Detour on the Eternal Road

A Whimsical Adventure in the Mysterious Beyond

When you die there are guides helping you to find your way. When racecar driver Billy Ray Chitwood dies, he gets lost in time and space and his guide, the famous but dead racecar driver Dale Earnhardt, is missing. Upon the orders of Archangel Michael, Sam and James, the expert guides of this series, step in to save the situation. But what is causing this unusual situation? Well, Lucifer is. Lucifer has some nefarious plans that could mean the end for the whole world, a World War III. Can the team, Sam and James, Ray Chitwood, Dale Earnhardt, and the archangel Michael figure out what is going on and prevent doomsday?

This is a whimsical and amusing detective and mystery story. Lucifer appear as a cigar chomping man that reminded me of Loki in Avengers. He is an arrogant, reckless and a rude trickster but also entertaining and he has some charm. The angels appear human, and the team is traveling around the world and back and forth in time in an Oldsmobile 1956. Don’t worry about the time travel, they can’t change the past, just the future. As you can guess the setting isn’t particularly realistic but that is intentional. The important features are the humor, the clever plots, the fast-paced action, the surprising plot twists at the end, and above all the intelligent and entertaining dialogue featuring some interesting philosophical thoughts.

I have not read the first two books in the series yet, but I think this book stands on its own. It did not feel like I missed something important. I was intrigued and thrilled by the various mysteries that cropped up along the way. I wanted to find out who was responsible for the various mishaps and strange things that happened. Was it Lucifer or a greedy and power-hungry human, or both? And who is Lucifer really? I found the dialogue to be amusing and very entertaining. The character development was strong, with likeable main characters, though Lucifer was unkind and untrustworthy, as expected. I highly recommend this entertaining and unique thriller.

Photo of the author, an overview of the author, and a description of the book. There is a city in ruins in the background.
Back cover of Detour on the Eternal Road. Click on the image to go to the Amazon page for the Kindle version of the book.

About the Author of Detour on the Eternal Road

John is an award-winning author who after an extensive business career began writing full time in 2012. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. He has written Seven other books that are on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions.

John lives in Lakeway, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets.

Links For John W Howell

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Goodreads
Amazon Author’s page
BookBub
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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

79 thoughts on “Whimsical Adventures in the Afterlife”

    1. Thank you so much John. The tour was a fun experience I’ve only had a few times and I also like to post my reviews too. Lots of fun and thank you so much for the entertaining and delightful reading experience.

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  7. Wonderful review of this fabulous final in the trilogy (unless it becomes like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which became a trilogy in six parts ;-)) I still recommend you read the first two!

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  12. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on John’s latest, Thomas. I’ve read all three of the books and enjoyed each one, but I love that in this one, John lets Sam and James travel into the future. Congratulations to John on another fabulous review!

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  15. I bypassed your review for now, Thomas. One of my habits is I like to come back around and read reviews after I’ve read the same book. I read John’s other two books in the series and will get to this one eventually after I make a dent in my Kindle with some other ones I’ve met to get to for a while.

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  25. Excellent review, Thomas. Lucifer is such an interesting character, isn’t he? I think you captured him well in your review – “arrogant, reckless, and rude,” but highly entertaining. I enjoyed his scenes, though I knew he was untrustworthy. (He definitely showed his darkside in the previous book). Sam and James are … well … angels. 🙂 I’ll bet John is thrilled with your review. Congrats to him on another wonderful read.

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Diana. I will read the other two books in the series to get the full view of the characters, especially Lucifer. As I said I think this books stands well on its own but there are still things I missed, things I don’t know that I missed, by not reading the first two.

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