Randall Smith

Actual rating is 3.5 stars. Google will not let me post the full review, but you can find it on Goodreads and Amazon. Below are my ratings for three different aspects of the novel. Technical aspects: 3.5 stars Story/narrative: 3.5 stars Faith/Spiritual themes: 4 stars Reasons: I actually wanted to display my reasons for this one here so I made room for it. Three stars means I liked it. Three and a half is pretty good. Four on the other hand means that I REALLY liked it, which I did when it came to the faith aspects. I think for the most part it gave an accurate representation of true Christian faith, instead of the cheap imitations, faux-perfect saints, or downright blasphemous portrayals we often see in other stories. A four is a very good rating from me basically says the author’s portrayal of faith was really well done. Since this is a first effort, I am confident faith will only get even better treatment in the future. My favorite character in the novel was actually Jeremiah. He is an atheist professor of anthropology who befriends Solo. Given that fact and my saying he is my favorite character should tell you alot about how favorably he is portrayed. One of my pet peeves with most Christian fiction is the way atheists are often portrayed as generically evil, angry at the world and/or other people, and all around ignorant. Jeremiah is quite the opposite. He is the type of atheist a devout Christian could appreciate as a friend. He breaks the mould of what a typical atheist is in Christian fiction so well and it really delights me (even though I am a Christian myself and not an atheist) to see a real, thoughtful, and considerate human being in the character of Jeremiah. For my fellow Christians, I say we would all do well to remember that we do not make our Christian lifestyle attractive by demonizing the very people we wish to join in our hope and joy. Recognizing them as they really are, people like us who are truly no more depraved or angry with life than we are, who simply need to take that one little step of faith in accepting Jesus to become every bit as redeemed before the father as we are. I also really liked Solo as a character. In spite of some of my gripes above about his odd behavior at certain times, he really is a great picture of an honest to goodness true believing Christian who, though flawed as much as anyone else, really does believe God makes all the difference at the end of the day. He doesn’t seem very solid in that faith early on at times, but he comes forth to prove himself when it counts. And some of the very best passages in the entire book comes from his narration as he speaks or thinks about God and what it is to live a life of faith. *** So, keeping in mind again that three and a half stars means I think the book is pretty good, I recommend it to fans of the murder mystery crime genre, especially if you are looking for something different. And with a rating of four I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone interested in Christian fiction, whether you are yourself a believer or perhaps a non-believer who is willing to read something with themes of faith (hopefully with an open mind as well).