Paricutin: The Miracle of Daniel Pulido

(8 reviews)

$2.99$16.95

Publication Date: August 31, 2018

A Mexican boy and a Nebraska girl—bizarrely linked by a volcano, an earthquake, and an odd poem—careen inexorably toward an improbable rendezvous in Jerome Dobson’s debut novel, Paricutin: The Miracle of Daniel Pulido—a story of survival, courage, belief, hope, and love.

The story of Paricutin begins when sixteen-year-old Daniel Pulido has a premonition of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. He warns his mother who is working at a children’s hospital—but she doesn’t believe him. Eight days later, Daniel is the sole survivor found in the rubble because a special microphone, lowered into the wreckage, picked up some of his mysterious ramblings. The Church attributes Daniel’s miraculous survival to God and broadcasts that Daniel’s “ramblings” were divinely inspired.

However, three people—Beth, a Nebraska cattle rancher; her daughter, Faith, a geophysicist studying at Stanford; and Tim Brown, a California defense contractor—faintly recognize Daniel’s “ramblings” and realize they somehow have an improbable connection with him. Tim and Faith immediately begin to search for Daniel. Finding him becomes the absolute focus of their lives.

Blaming God, Himself, for his mother’s death and bitterly angry at the church for exploiting his miraculous survival, Daniel contrives to escape from his hospital prison. His passion is to discover a scientific way to anticipate a coming earthquake—he wants to give people a chance to survive when God says they must be destroyed. Daniel’s odyssey includes a violent run-in with an LA gang, his arrest for murder, two more earthquakes, and the final realization that he can’t fight his fight alone. When Faith, Tim, and Beth find him he learns there can be something else in his life beyond hatred and the need for revenge. How the four find each other, find strength and love in each other, and then take on the world together is at the very heart of the inspirational story of Paricutin: The Miracle of Daniel Pulido.

Additional information

Publication Date

August 31, 2018

Format

Perfect Paperback, E-book

ISBN

978-0984549436, 9780-984549443

Length

320 pages

Trim

6 x 9 inches

8 reviews for Paricutin: The Miracle of Daniel Pulido

  1. Lynda Myles

    I loved the scope of this book. It begins with a boy named Daniel running through the Mexican countryside desperate to reach his mother and warn her of a major earthquake about to hit them. How does he know about the impending catastrophe? That’s the mystery that drives this remarkable story and takes Daniel to the U.S. and into the lives of a group of very special people. It’s fascinating to discover how he affects their lives before they even know who he is. The characters are quirky and unfailingly interesting. The eventual resolution is deeply satisfying.

  2. Mary Dobson Collier

    A wonderful and uplifting adventure/love story of a boy who can predict earthquakes and the social forces trying to take advantage of him.

  3. ABCme

    1985, The Mexican earthquake, magnitude 8.1, burying thousands. Teenager Daniel is repeatedly reciting a poem, his voice finally breaking through the rubble after 192 hours underground. His survival by imagining a world made up from all the books he read, I found heartbreakingly beautiful. The church labels him a miracle. Unable to speak for himself they invent his story with the intention to never to let him out in the world again, to make him a person to worship from afar. They get what they wish for when Daniel escapes the hospital and finds his own path in life incognito. And what an adventure it turns out to be! There’s his rage against a god that destroys good people, there are more earthquakes and geology and we follow a collection of books from Mexico to LA to Nebraska and back. Paricutin is a pageturner, action packed, full of twists and turns, with villains and heroes, wealth and poverty, tears and laughter. An astonishing story, very well crafted and highly recommended!

  4. quietandcalm

    I loved this book. It contains local color with scenes in California and Mexico, characters that you want to see persevere, and a balanced perspective on the positive and negative sides of individuals and organizations. Author Jerome Dobson’s experience with his wife Bridget as head writers for General Hospital, Guiding Light, As the World Turns, and Santa Barbara has served him well. The dialogue moves the story forward so smoothly that you forget you are reading a book. The suspense builds because you care about the characters and you want to know what happens to them. The story is told from the perspectives of the different characters, which keeps the plot moving and provides interest. An interesting subplot is the love of reading; there is a mysterious list of classic books that leads the characters to one another. The list is conveniently included at the end of the book. This novel has a very satisfying structure that makes it a pleasure to read. It offers an immersion experience, an escape from the everyday worries of the world, while simultaneously reminding the reader of what is really important. As Amnon Buchbinder writes in his book The Way of the Screenwriter, “The purpose of story, in a word, is meaning….stories hold the potential to entertain us precisely because we want the wisdom that story offers; it is a pleasurable experience.” This story definitely does its job. It teaches us about earthquakes, about the influence of good books, and about love. Jerome Dobson has used his expertise as a screenwriter to transform himself into a master novelist.

  5. Tom Johnson — former Publisher, Los Angeles Times

    “Riveting! Very rarely do I discover a book as compelling as Paricutin. I could barely stop reading it. Jerry Dobson’s writing is absolutely splendid. I recommend this book with enormous enthusiasm. I hope readers will enjoy it as much as I did!”

  6. Linda Druijff — Reviewer on NetGalley

    1985, The Mexican earthquake, magnitude 8.1, burying thousands. Teenager Daniel is repeatedly reciting a poem, his voice finally breaking through the rubble after 192 hours underground. His survival by imagining a world made up from all the books he read, I found heartbreakingly beautiful. The church labels him a miracle. Unable to speak for himself they invent his story with the intention to never to let him out in the world again, to make him a person to worship from afar. They get what they wish for when Daniel escapes the hospital and finds his own path in life incognito. And what an adventure it turns out to be! There’s his rage against a god that destroys good people, there are more earthquakes and geology and we follow a collection of books from Mexico to LA to Nebraska and back. Paricutin is a pageturner, action packed, full of twists and turns, with villains and heroes, wealth and poverty, tears and laughter. An astonishing story, very well crafted and highly recommended!

  7. Cindy — Goodreads

    Everything about this book was great—the writing, the plot, character development and resolution. I was a little disappointed because I thought I figured out how the book would end around Chapter 13. Wrong! The ending was nothing like I imagined. The author creates short chapters and keeps them in order so you aren’t jumping back and forth. The writing is engaging and I didn’t want to put the book down! I highly recommend this book.

  8. Susan Tucker

    Fabulous settings in Mexico and Western US; detailed characters, mystery, mysticism and faith combined. A great read and beautifully written.

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