Wretched

Nineteen-year-old Joel Somers, a former "Blades" gang member, is in free fall trying to live his new life as a Christian but failing miserably at every turn. Comparing his mounting setbacks with his friends' promising futures, Joel concludes he doesn't have what it takes to be successful and wonders if his life has any purpose. Sinister spiritual forces, hell-bent on his downfall, covertly steer him along a trajectory toward deeper and inescapable levels of anguish and self-contempt. Is he spinning his wheels trying to be a good person - a good Christian? Is going back to becoming a gang member his best option?

Based on Romans 7:15 & 24a, Wretched is a story shared by everyone who professes faith in Christ and is confronted with their sinful nature:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do... What a wretched man I am!

Wretched is the third of a series preceded by Double-Edged Blade and Brooklyn Salt.