Novels Now

Burn by Ted Dekker & Erin Healy

Pages: 368 +reader’s guide material
First Published: Jan. 12, 2010
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Salazar Sanso raised his binoculars and looked out over the edge of the steep drop into the rosy New Mexican desert.

Reason for Reading: I’ve become a fan of Dekker’s new mainstream thrillers and wanted to try one of his books from a Christian publisher.

Summary: Janeal lives in a Gypsy community but is not altogether accepted. Her father is the leader but she is half white. She has always felt the need to leave, do her own thing and knew that one day she would. Then Salazar Sanso, a powerful and dangerous man, comes to her with a way to help her father get out of a terrible life/death “business” deal and offers her a life of everything she’s dreamed. Janeal has her own life and death choices and consequences to deal with, that leave few of her Gypsy community alive.

Comments: My summery is quite brief, I think the publisher’s jacket summary gives away too much information and I hate knowing something that happens halfway through the book so I’ve tried to keep the mystery remaining in my own summary.

I loved this book! It was a fantastic read. The plotting of the book was superb. Part One takes place when the characters are teenagers and is itself a complete story. Then Part Two picks up fifteen years later and slowly reveals who is left and what is happening now. Then at a certain point we are hit with an absolutely shocking and surreal twist. From that point on it is a fast paced roller coaster ride to the end.

The characters are great. Janeal, the main character, is the one the reader most feels for, though she isn’t necessarily someone you will like. She is shown from both sides of her personality, the teenager she used to be and the adult she has become. The book is very well written and while the Parts are quite distinct from each other and the pace goes from slow to fast, it never drags, and it always holds together seamlessly. The shocker was cleverly placed and became a “Holy Wow!” moment for the book, totally shaking things up and moving the book to another level. I really, really enjoyed the plot, the suspense and the thrill of this book.

To speak of the Christian Fiction aspect of this book, I think it’s a long shot to be labeled with that genre. The book is clean (ie. no swearing, so s*x). There is one Christian character who is quietly so and could be found in any mainstream book. The real CF part of this book comes, if one looks at it that way, from the theme, which does have a character announcing Biblical prophecy to set it up. I don’t want to give anything away so this is a bit difficult to go into. However, I did not buy the Christian theme, it did not correspond with my beliefs, it may with yours, but I felt it could just as easily be interpreted as a supernatural (a la Stephen King) theme.

This all leads to say that it doesn’t matter, didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book and don’t be afraid to pick up the book because it’s by a Christian publisher. Christians and non alike who enjoy a good suspense story with a bit of the unexplained thrown in for good measure are sure to enjoy. I surely did!

Shadow of Colosus by T.L. Higley
A Seven Wonders Novel, Book 1

Pages: 386 pgs.
First Published: Aug. 1, 2008
Genre: historical fiction, romance, christian fiction
Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

Reason for Reading: I had been wanting to read it anyway. The Ancient Greece and Seven Wonders angle appealed to me.

Summary: Set in 227 BC on the Greek island of Rhodes, Tesa was sold into bondage by her mother ten years ago and has been a courtesan ever since. She holds quite a high position in society as the hetaera of a wealthy politician, but still she must meet his every need in the privacy of his home. When her patrician is accidentally killed Tesa comes up with a plan to finally escape this island and its bondage but at this time she also meets a young man different than all the other men whom she has grown cold towards, this man actually seems to care. And all the while brewing deep beneath the earth the tectonic plates are coming together in what will be an immense earthquake that will destroy not only the Greek town and Jew village but also bring the Colossus statue of Helios to it’s knees.

Comment: I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. I have to say I wasn’t particularly in an Ancient history mood when I sat down to read it but the book grabbed me from the first chapter onwards. Tesa is a strong character caught in an ugly life of slavery and prostitution from which she is determined to free herself. Though to have survived so long in this lifestyle she has set aside her joy for life and become a cold, unfeeling person, impossible to reach. When she finds love it is extremely hard for her to set aside the control she has placed on her feelings for so long.

The book has an exciting political plot, with people plotting behind one another’s backs to become the most powerful one. With three deaths and a near mass murder, one cannot help but be carried away by the fast-paced, exciting plot. Part love story, part political thriller and part examination of the Old Testament Jewish faith this engaging read was a page-turner for me.

From a Christian publisher I feel the label “Christian fiction” is a bit of a misnomer as the story takes place 227 years before Christ. Yet one can’t quite call it “Biblical fiction” as the events are fictional, not from the Bible. I’m more apt to call this simply “historical fiction” or “historical romance” that mainstream readers would most likely enjoy. There are Jewish characters who believe in God and they introduce Him to a couple of Greek characters. There is one sentence near the end of the book where a Jewish character mentions the coming, one day, of a Messiah. I’d recommend to anyone, regardless of creed, who is interested in the time period. I’m looking forward to reading other books in this series.

BoneMan’s Daughters by Ted Dekker

Pages: 401 pgs.
First Published: Apr. 14, 2009
Genre: thriller, christian fiction?
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

The day that Ryan Evans’ world forever changed began as any other day he’d spent in the hot desert might have done.

Reason for Reading: The publisher’s description of this serial killer thriller was right up my alley.

Summary: The BoneMan kidnapped and brutally murdered six girl’s by breaking every single bone in their body. He was arrested and sent to prison but there was always a feeling by some that the wrong man had been convicted. Two years later on a technicality the prisoner is released and at the same time Ryan Evans, Intelligence Officer, returns home from a gruelling POW capture in the desert. The murder’s start again and when Ryan’s own estranged daughter is kidnapped the FBI start seeing all evidence pointing towards Ryan himself but Ryan has received a message from the real BoneMan and Ryan must do what he says to save his daughter’s life.

Comments: All I can say is wow, wow, WOW! An amazing serial killer thriller. I loved it! A page-turner with gruesome details that never quite goes over into goriness used by some other authors. The back of the book tells me this is Ted Dekker’s 23rd book and I ask myself “Why am I only reading him now?” In fact, I’d never heard of him before this book came out. I feel like I’ve just discovered a treasure chest, if Dekker’s other work is anywhere near as engrossing as this one is I’ve got a lot of reading ahead of me!

The story is fast-paced and never lets up, some of the scenes are a little beyond believability but I chalked it up to an Intelligence Officer being overly intelligent and perhaps overly lucky. There’s no sense picking apart a thriller like this when you are on a wild ride of tension. Ryan’s character is fully fleshed out and we come to understand and feel for him. The secondary characters are less realized though they do not play emotionally integral parts to the plot. The bad guy is bad, pure evil, and this is one thing I particularly like in thrillers. There are no grey areas as to who is evil. The fight of good vs evil is very clear, as in a Dean Koontz novel.

And mentioning Dean Koontz, I’d like to comment on the Christian Fiction aspect of this novel. Never having read anything else by Dekker I can’t comment on him yet, as an author, but on this book alone, if that tag bothers you, don’t let it. Likening this book to Christian Fiction would be the same as likening Dean Koontz to Catholic Fiction. (Koontz is Catholic and his books contain many Catholic themes, if you know to look for them) There is a Biblical theme behind the killer’s motive (very common in thrillers) and the main character believes in God, thus there are some Christian elements/quotes in the story. Of course, I am a Christian and none of this stood out to me but I had no idea I was reading Christian Fiction until I looked up the amazon link and saw all the CF tags and checked out his other books and found that he was a popular CF author!

A fabulous book, thriller readers should not miss out on this one, and you can be sure you will be seeing more Ted Dekker reviews from me in the future.

Hoodoo Sea by Rolf Hitzer

Pages: 243
First Published: Jun. 2, 2009
Genre: science fiction
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

White. The room was a sterile, monotonous white.

Reason for Reading: I was asked to participate in the Blog Tour but I had never participated in one before. I decided I would this time as the plot involving the Bermuda Triangle was just too intriguing to pass over. I used to be into the Bermuda Triangle big time when it was all the rage.
Summary: Canadian Wing Commander Scott Reed has been chosen to command NASA’s secret test flight of the first speed of light craft. Accompanying him is a crew of three. Everything goes according to plan until they enter the Hoodoo Sea (otherwise known as The Bermuda Triangle) where they see bright lights and the craft behaves in impossible ways eventually landing them in a meadow. What follows is a terrifying tale of evil and man’s attempts at survival.

Comments: I really enjoyed this book. Right from the beginning I was hooked. The plot was amazing and took me places I hardly expected. A truly, original plot that was exciting to read. I had a sense of where the plot was going as I read but each time, bang!, something totally unexpected would happen making me feel uneasy the throughout whole read.

My only complaint I have with the book is the dialogue which I found to be saturated with idioms (eg. “expect the unexpected”, “I’m done like dinner”, and “if I do say so myself”, which I just now found by simply opening the book and quickly browsing). This did become a tad tedious (to this reader) but can be chalked up to first book syndrome.

It’s hard to pinpoint the genre of Hoodoo Sea. Obviously it is science fiction. But at times I wondered whether it was crossing over to the horror genre as the pure evilness that exists within its pages rightly fit that definition. Oddly, I also found myself wondering whether the book was Christian fiction. There are two strong Christian characters and the feel had me looking up the publisher halfway through to see if this was from a Christian publisher, but no, it wasn’t. A truly fascinating mixture of genres in a top-notch plot that kept me enthralled from beginning to end. Speaking of ends, I absolutely loved the unexpected ending! It leaves me wanting to see what Rolf Hitzer will come up with next. Recommended!

Tom Pawlik
417 pages

Connor Hayden had a heart attack two months ago. His heart stopped beating and during that time he had a near-death experience. He spent time in a place called Interworld which is a place that is a passage between this life and the next. During his time in Interworld he encountered other people: Helen, Howard, Mitch, and Devon. Valley of the Shadow is primarily about Connor’s interactions with Howard, Mitch, and Devon.
Mitch is trapped in Interworld but he doesn’t know it . Devon was revived but he didn’t return alone. <insert spooky music here>

Seriously, Valley of the Shadow was a page-turner from the get-go. It was one of those books that I really  didn’t want to put down. Interworld is a really creepy place. The reader is presented with just enough mystery that you keep reading to find out that extra little tidbit. The only problem is that once that mystery is solved you’re immediately faced with another. It took great restraint to put the book down and go to sleep when I needed to.

I highly recommend Valley of the Shadow. There’s a blurb on the front cover that says, “Fans of Dean Koontz and Ted Dekker will appreciate Pawlik’s debut novel, Vanish.“- Library Journal.

I can tell you that I am a big fan of one of these authors. The other, not so much. However, I am a fan of Tom Pawlik’s. If you love edge-of-your-seat fiction with out gore, check out this series. (5/5)

Bonnie Grove

368 pages

“You said you were still working on forgiving him.” I’d thought about his statement many times since. It made me realize that perhaps forgiveness wasn’t a singular event, but a progression, or better, a dance that took some figuring before you could perform the steps. -Talking to the Dead, page 305

Kate’s husband Kevin has just died. She’s barely gotten through the funeral when she starts hearing his voice. With her memory filled with holes and no one she feels she can trust, Kate begins to doubt her sanity. As Kate tries to figure out exactly why Kevin is talking to her, life begins spiraling further out of control. Finally, after having a mental meltdown, Kate is forced to deal with the return of her memory and many other issues.

Talking to the Dead is one of those books that is hard to classify. While it is Christian Fiction with a message of faith, it is not preachy. Kate is funny, vulnerable and human but man, is she surrounded by a bunch of stinkers. Everyone who should be there for her lets her down. But Kate finds support in a quirky support group filled with a bunch of frail, vulnerable people just like herself. She also meets Jack, a pastor, but a different sort of pastor and through his example of unconditional love and acceptance, she comes to understand her need for God. Then she begins on the road to healing.

I enjoyed Talking to the Dead very much. It has a little bit of everything: romance, suspense, humor and there were even a few times when Kate’s pain was so intense that a lump formed in my throat. I wanted to comfort her because no one else was. I highly recommend this one if you enjoy clean, faith-based, fiction. (5/5)

The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister by Nonna Bannister with Denise George and Carolyn Tomlin

Pages: 299
First Published: March 24, 2009
Genre: non-fiction, memoir
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

I have now decided that the time has come when I must share my life story — not only with my loving family, but perhaps with all those who are interested to know about what life was like for many of us on the other side of the world before and during World War II.

Reason for Reading: I am always interested in reading survivors’ memoirs of the Holocaust.
Comments: Nonna Lisowskaja Bannister, a Russian girl, lived through the Holocaust caught when the Germans invaded her city. She kept diaries from her childhood through the war up until the time she arrived in America in 1950 to start a new life. She never told a soul, not ever her husband or children, what happened to her during those war years. Then one day about 10 years before she died in her eighties she told her husband it was time and she took him up to the attic and showed him all the letters, memorabilia, photos and diaries (which she had written in several languages). She also showed him that she had been spending her time over the years transcribing her diaries into English and was finished as she pulled out stacks of yellow legal sized writing pads for him to read. She wanted her story told to the rest of the family and perhaps published but not until her death. And now that she has passed … here is her story.

Nonna was born and raised Russian Orthodox. She was a believer her entire life and became a Baptist later on in her new American life. She occasionally writes of her religion but no more so than anyone else’s memoir might. However, the book is published by a Christian publisher, Tyndale, and does contain Christian content in the editorial comments.

Nonna goes right back to her childhood years and spends a great portion of the book describing life in Russia during the 1930s. Her father’s main goal in life was to get them out of Russia to a better place but he was never able to obtain permission through any channels he tried. Once the Germans invade her city it doesn’t take long for various reasons that her brother and father are gone leaving her and her mother alone to fend for themselves. They spend their time going from one Nazi prison work camp to another until they end up working in a Catholic hospital because of Nonna’s language skills. This at first seems a God-send but tragedy is not far behind. During this whole time they experience the brutality of the Nazis firsthand but even worse than that, they see with their own eyes the unimaginable horrors inflicted upon the Jewish people. When Nonna finally arrives in America in 1950, as far as she knows, she is the only living survivor of her entire family on both her maternal and paternal sides.

When Nonna transcribed her diaries she didn’t just translate them word for word. Instead she, now being an elderly woman having lived the majority of her life in America, has mostly used the past tense to tell her story though she does occasionally tell a few stories in first person. The story is also in many places obviously being told through the eyes of her present mature self, reflecting upon the past rather than translating her childhood words as they appear on paper. Finally, we can tell that her American self has taken over the little Russian girl as she interjects American slang or American phrases quite frequently into her transcriptions.

The book contains a frequent editorial commentary running through the book. Some of this is used as reference points, historical explanations, background information, cultural explanations, etc and make for interesting reading. One thing that bugged me quite a bit though were the Christian comments. I myself am Christian but these comments felt very patronizing. Whenever Nonna or her mother, Anna, did a kind or brave deed, the comment would tell us how this act showed their Christian character shining through. Well, yes, it does. But I don’t need someone telling me that every time, it felt rather grade school-ish.

Nonna has an interesting, powerful story to tell and it’s a shame she kept it secret from her family. I think she would have found great solace in sharing it with her husband earlier and with her children when they had grown. Thankfully, she choose not to keep her secret forever and to share with the world so that her story would not be forgotten. For that I thank you, Nonna.

Jackina Stark

304 pages

Audrey Eaton is a widow. She kisses her husband Tom goodnight and later awakens to find he has not come to bed. She gets up and finds that he has passed away quite unexpectedly in the middle of the night. Overcome by grief at the loss of her husband, Audrey shuts down. She basically disengages from her life and gives up participating in all the things she loves. She stops listening to music, reading, and really conversing with the people around her. In short, she is just going through the motions.

Fifteen months later, Audrey begins recording her thoughts in a journal and an idea begins to take root. She will take a road trip with no specific destination or time frame planned. After informing her children and their families what she is doing, Audrey packs her bags, her laptop, her husband Tom’s bible,and she takes off. When she begins reading Tom’s bible and comes across his notes in the book of John, she begins the true journey that will heal her heart.

Tender Grace is a story of the deepest pain we face in life and of the tender graces that God uses to show that we do not walk alone. Audrey becomes a widow after having retired young to travel and spend time with her husband after their children are grown. She is at a complete loss and trapped in the desire to have her old life back. She has much of her life ahead yet ahead of her and she realizes that it has been so long since she has been grateful for what’s around her. Her need to come to grips with her loss and move on are beautifully written and Audrey seems real. I read this book almost entirely with a lump in my throat.

I highly recommend this one and will definitely look for more by Jackina Stark. (5/5)

Mike Dellosso
301 pages

Scream begins with Mark Stone talking on his cell phone with a friend, Jeff. The call is interrupted by what sounds like screaming and wailing on the line. It is heard by both parties but they just assume that it’s some type of interference. Then Mark hears the obvious sounds of a car accident and he is unable to raise Jeff on the phone. He makes his way to where Jeff was driving and finds that he was killed in a fiery crash.

Mark is shaken by the memory of the screams that he has heard and the fact that they happened right before his friend was killed but when the circumstances repeat themselves two more times in fairly rapid succession, Mark begins to understand what the screaming is about. He is being given a warning. He hears the screams when people are about to die.

Raised in a harsh and legalistic home, Mark hasn’t given much thought to his faith or what happens to a person after death since he left home. However, when he hears the screams while talking on the phone with his estranged wife, it all becomes very personal.

I have to admit that I was not sure that I would like this book. I haven’t typically liked some of the titles that I have read that have been “Christian Thrillers.” I’m not sure if it’s because of the genre or if I just didn’t click with the particular author.

Scream is a thriller in that it deals with both the supernatural and a real-world menace. On the one hand, there is the threat and the warning of the screams and on the other hand, there is a crazy man called The Judge who is abducting women. It’s suspenseful, it’s thought-provoking, I enjoyed the writing style and it kept me turning the pages.

While I typically prefer to point people to God’s mercy and grace when examining matters of faith, there is another side to the Gospel and it is clearly presented in Scream. Mike Dellosso did a wonderful job wrapping it in an engaging story. (4/5)

Footnote: I think it’s worth noting that this author is currently dealing with colon cancer and has written about it in the preface of Scream. I found his words eloquent and wanted to share an exerpt:

Now I think about death all the time. Cancer has a way of doing that, of reminding you of the frailty of your existence, the brevity of life. Of reminding you that we’re all just walking on a thing sheet of ice that can crack or break at any moment.

But thinking about death is a good thing. The wise king Solomon wrote, “We must all die, and everyone living should think about this. (See Ecclesiastes 7:2) Good advice. Thinking about death forces us to think about life, something most of us don’t do nearly enough. And thinking about life forces us to think about how we’re living our life, something all of us should do a lot more of. - Scream, preface pgs ix, x

Susan Meissner

305 pages

You are the girl in between. You are young like Mercy, a writer like Mercy and the sole daughter like Mercy. And you’ve lived a life of privilege like me. You’ve seen its every side, just like I have, and you are the heir to an accomplished man’s legacy, as I was. You, like me, will always have choices to make because of it.- The Shape of Mercy, pg 298

Lauren Durough has always had money. Since she has grown up with wealth and privilege, she decides that when she goes off to college she wants to make her own money. To do this she takes a job transcribing a diary for retired librarian Abigail Boyles. The diary belonged to a distant cousin of Abigail named Mercy Hayworth, who was caught up in the events of the Salem witch trials.
Lauren is immediately captivated by Mercy’s story and she begins to see the world around her differently. As “the middle girl” between the history of Mercy and the past and present of Abigail she has a unique understanding of both points of view and both ladies have much to teach her as well.

When I first began reading this book, I somehow expected Abigail to be a crotchety old lady. She is not ornery or mean. She is just reserved because she is used to being taken advantage of and she is haunted by many things from her past. She is still a very likable character.

Lauren was not at all what I expected either. I thought she would be spoiled and self-centered since that is usually the lesson given to us in stories about people of privilege. She’s not. Lauren marches to the beat of her own drummer. She is a bookish introvert(a girl after my own heart) and doesn’t really follow her family’s expectations. She is also a very likable character.

The story of Mercy is tender and heartbreaking from the beginning because we understand where it will inevitably end. However, before it’s all over Lauren, Abigail and the reader will learn lessons about forgiveness, misjudging others, sacrifice, and love.

I preferred the Salem portions of the book to the present day portions but that’s just how it always works out for me. Both portions were equally well-written. This is a poignant story that I highly recommend for lovers of historical fiction. (4/5)

Julie Klassen

304 pages

Lillian Haswell works with her father in his apothecary shop. She has a wonderful memory and things seem to come much easier for her than they do for Francis Baylor, her father’s apprentice. Lilly doesn’t particularly like working there though and when she is offered the chance to go to London by her wealthy aunt and uncle, she is thrilled. She  has hopes of finding a husband, being educated and perhaps tracking down the mother who abandoned the family some years before.

Just as she begins to fit in with London society, Lilly is forced to return home when she receives a note that her father is “not quite himself.” She must once again take up her position at Haswell’s Apothecary. However, her father’s illness puts Lilly in a precarious position. Women are not allowed to be apothecaries and there is a doctor in town who would like nothing more than to see Haswell’s close its doors.

The Apothecary’s Daughter is a moving story which covers a large amount of territory. Through Lilly’s character we experience life as a person of trade, life in a small English village,  life in London society and some history of the apothecary profession.

We experience the ridiculousness of all of the social jockeying to attain a “good match.” As with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I understood why this was so important for women of that time. Without a good match they were powerless.  And Lilly does enjoy the hustle and bustle of the London social scene. She enjoys the people she meets and as she begins to turn heads and rub elbows with the upper crust, she begins to envision herself as the wife of a gentleman.

But then reality comes crashing in and she must return to Bedsley Prior to help her father and like all of us, Lilly learns the best lessons in the trials of life. She learns about faith, family, friends,  health and home. This Christian novel is beautifully written. Lilly’s faith is natural and is a part of her life which never makes that aspect of the story feel forced.

I did not want to put The Apothecary’s Daughter down. I loved the characters, the settings and the history. There are even some elements of suspense. At one point in the story there are several different men interested in gaining Lilly’s favor and the author does a really good job at not tipping her hand as to who wins her heart.

I loved this book and look forward to reading Lady of Milkweed Manor, also by Julie Klassen, very soon. (5/5)

The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner

Pages: 305
First Published: Sept, 2008
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

I’ve heard the story countless times, how I grasped the delivering doctor’s scrubs as he guided me into the Durrough family universe of opportunity and duty.

Comments: Lauren, a college student from a rich family, takes on a job as literary assistant to a lonely old woman, Abigail, who has a family heirloom, a 17th century diary written during the Salem witch trials. This has been in her family for centuries and Lauren is hired to make a translation in everyday language. As Lauren translates the diary she becomes emotionally attached to the young woman, Mercy Hayworth, who was tried and convicted as a witch.

The narrative switches between the present timeline and lives of the characters to entries from the journal as they are transcribed. On one level this is the story of Mercy (a fictional person) and the almost unbelievable true events that she dealt with in Salem 1692 and on another level it is the story of Lauren and Abigail as they come to terms with their own very difference prejudices that they have laid upon loves ones in their respective lives.

As I found the link to this book on the publisher’s website I saw it listed as Christian Fiction. Don’t let that make you have your own prejudice against whether you would read the book. As a Christian myself, I honestly didn’t realize it was Christian Fiction until I saw it called so. The only religious aspect to the book, aside from the Salem witch trials, is that the characters believe in God and in passing the author mentions that they pray or go to church. While the theme of the book is a Christian one of not judging others that theme transcends Christianity to all walks of life.

I loved this book. It was a page-turner. I was enthralled with the diary entry parts of the books and the characters of Lauren and Abigail were full of depth and all the characters felt real to me including the minor ones. A well-written, absorbing, and heart-felt book. Recommended.

Lynn Austin
428 pages

The circumstances of life have dealt a tough blow to the Carlson sisters. First, their beloved mother dies. Next, their father dies under circumstances that ruin life for them in their Swedish village. Their uncle and his family come to live with them but rather than helping the situation it only creates new problems as their brother Nils, unable to get along with their uncle, abandons both the family farm and his sisters. The girls want to hold on to their only home but oldest sister Elin carries a dark secret. She decides that the only thing she can do to escape the stigma they carry in the village is to escape to America. So she writes to her mother’s favorite brother who lives in Chicago and asks him the help arrange for their passage. He obliges but once the sisters arrive in America they find that their new beginning is filled with hard work and deprivation. All the girls want is to feel loved and to have a home of their own but they have many miles to go and many lessons to learn before they will find one.

One of the things that makes Lynn Austin one of my favorite authors is her ability to write characters whose lives mirror real life no matter what time period she is writing from. This book takes place in the late 1800’s but you still find flawed characters dealing with issues that still plague us. Hunger, poverty, neglect, poor choices, etc.

She also has the ability to present the message of Christ without making it feel forced. It flows with the circumstances in the lives of the characters and like it would in real life. The characters in this story are not happy-go-lucky. They are angry with God for their circumstances and His apparent lack of care for their pain and we are present as they work their way through their grief.

My one complaint would be that I felt like the dialogue was strained in a few places. I still enjoyed this one a lot though and I would recommend it to readers of Christian Fiction and Historical Fiction. (4/5)

Two women were standing on high places, shielding their eyes from the blazing sun with their hands, peering into the distance in search of messengers from the battlefield. Each knew that her life depended on the outcome of the battle; but their lives depended on opposite results. -From The Triumph of Deborah, page 1-

The Triumph of Deborah opens with the war between the Canaanites and Israelites. Set in ancient Israel during the historical period of the Judges, the novel is a fictional re-working of the life of Deborah, a powerful prophetess and judge of Israel. According to biblical history, the war between Canaan and Israel lasted forty years. Etzioni-Halevy centers her novel towards the end of this time period.

Following the defeat of Canaan, Barak - a powerful man who leads Deborah’s army - takes as prisoner the beautiful, cold-hearted Asherah, the daughter of the Canann King Jabin. He also provides shelter for Asherah’s half sister (and King Jabin’s illegitimate daughter) Nogah who becomes a maid in Barak’s home. Barak is portrayed as a misogynistic man who seeks carnal pleasure with many women including Deborah, Asherah and Nogah. Interspersed in the romantic plot of the novel is the politics, history and culture of 11th and 12th century Israel.

Etzioni-Halevy has done her research and it shows. She aptly describes the agricultural lifestyle of the times, and introduces the prickly and complex leadership which made up the political structure of this theocracy. The battle scenes and aftermath are vivid and well-written. The central female characters demonstrate simultaneously the lack of women’s rights and the strength and power they managed to wield in a world dominated by men. Women of this time period aspired not only to leadership, but sought to find their own voice through literacy…and the novel’s most convincing moments are those which bring the women characters to life.

Etzioni-Halevy falls short, however, when she seeks to show the reader the intimate relationships between these women and Barak. At times the language feels stilted, awkward and contrived, especially during the love scenes.

Neither her mother nor her father nor Uriel had enlightened her about the pain slicing through her with the rupture of her barrier, receding as the heat unleashed itself in her, seeking an as yet unknown summit, mounting it, erupting into fire and a call of love for him, bringing forth the breaking of his own peak. -from The Triumph of Deborah, page 175-

In fairness to the author, I must admit that the historical romance genre is not one I typically read or enjoy and so when the novel veered in this direction I found it off-putting. What Etzioni-Halevy does best is to create scene and historical context for her characters. and it was this part of the book which piqued my interest.

Readers who prefer biblical fiction and historical romance will most likely enjoy this novel. I am grateful to the author for sending me a copy of her book to review.

Matt Rogers

218 pages

Zondervan Publishers

From the Publisher:

On April 16, 2007, the campus of Virginia Tech experienced a collective nightmare when thirty-three students were killed in the worst massacre in modern U.S. history. Following that horrendous event, VA Tech campus pastor Matt Rogers found himself asking and being asked, Where is God in all of this?The cliché-ridden, pat answers rang hollow. In this beautifully written reflection, Rogers illumines the path for experiencing God as truly good when life isn’t.

My thoughts:

This is beautifully written book that ponders the question that most of us have asked at some point in our life. How can God be good and loving when bad things like the events at Virginia Tech happen?

We go through the year after the tragedy with Matt Rogers.

In the first section of the book, which is titled A Heavy, Sinking, Sadness: Embracing The World That Is , the author recounts the shock, horror and then the tremendous pain and grief of the people connected with Virginia Tech. This section brings sharply into focus the fact that life is finite. A person can literally be here one moment and gone the next. This is a very heavy section but then tragedy and grief are very heavy subjects.

The next section is called Echoes of Eden: Embracing the World that Was. In this section we walk with Matt as he embraces the gifts all around him. The gift of creation, the kindness of people. He travels to Colorado and Japan in an effort to distance himself from the tragedy. Both trips are through the kindness of people. His experience with nature is healing and draws him to God. His conclusion is that:

Nature reminds us of the world that was, but that’s just it: that world is no more. Even the leftovers are infected. It is not enough to embrace the world that is, nor to remember that which was. My need, the great need of us all, is to know that there is a better world to come. -When Answers Aren’t Enough- page 146

This leads us into the final section of the book entitled Breathless Expectation: Imagining the World that Will Be where the author discusses Heaven and the fact that we are caught between two worlds. We live here and now and we suffer. But, as Christians, we wait in joyful hope for the restoration of all things and the return of Christ.

I found this book honest and at times, heart-wrenching. But in the end, it is also eminently hopeful. It didn’t offer up canned responses, it did exactly as I hoped it would. It pointed to the Creator. I would highly recommend this book to anyone grieving.(5/5)

Winter Haven, by Christian author Athol Dickson, is a mystery-suspense novel set on an island off the coast of Maine. Vera Gamble comes to the community of Winter Haven after receiving news that her missing brother’s body has finally been found after 13 years. After learning of some strange circumstances about the condition of the body, the local authorities refuse to let Vera go back to Dallas to bury her brother until they can look into the matter further. As a result, Vera is determined to poke around the island herself to see if she can uncover any details that might help resolve the case.

What she finds are community members that seem hostile, or at least aloof, to strangers and that they are generally unwilling to help with even simple directions for scouting the island. She does meet one man, Evan Frost, who is at least friendly to her and seems to enjoy her company. However, some of the citizens of the island warn her not to trust him, while he, in turn, says the same about them. As she searches for more details concerning the finding of her brother’s body, some very strange events start happening, but Vera is unsure whether they are actually happening, or whether they may just be in her own mind. Is she going insane, or just being tormented by an evil presence? She’s afraid of either option.

I was surprised at how suspenseful this book really was. It has a gothic feel to it, and I found myself very drawn into the story. One thing I was worried about was how Vera would be portrayed, but Mr. Dickson writes from the female perspective very convincingly. This book has mystery, suspense, and even some history and romance. I will be reading more of Athol Dickson’s work.

2008, 336 pp.
Rating: 4/5

Pete Gall
293 pages

“I wonder what it would be like to wake up and be with other people who are awake–to live with less fear, fewer lies, less compulsive consumption and all the other junk that keeps us anesthetized. I wonder if there are people who actually live that way. Weirdos, I’m sure.” -My Beautiful Idol pg 20

With that, the author leaves a good paying job in advertising and heads off to change the world for God. He ends up working in a rehab program, as a pastor’s assistant in an urban church, at a group home for mentally-disabled men, for a ministry program, and as a plumbing salesman.

His encounters with fellow Christians are at times comical and at other times heart-breaking. The hardest parts are when you recognize yourself in the people he meets and in his struggles and you understand that we often do good things for totally wrong reasons.

I found this book challenging as I followed the author from the brashness of youth and a desire to make a difference to the more mellow faith that is slightly tempered by life experiences. He does an excellent job of illustrating how we each hide behind our “things” and how God is rarely how we expect him to be. However, He is always there. The arguments are not always simple and I’ll admit that there were a couple of times that I had a hard time following. It was worth the effort though. (4/5)