The Passion of Mary-Margaret

by Lisa Samson

Published by Thomas Nelson (2009)
320 pages

A Story of How God Pursues and Loves the Unlovely

All her life Mary-Margaret has desired only one thing: to serve the God she loves and dedicate her life to Him as a religious sister. But when Jesus tells her to do the unthinkable and marry the town’s promiscuous prodigal, can she serve God with her obedience and risk her own life in the process?

Lisa Samson has painted a story that shows how God pursues and loves the unlovely by coloring out-of-the-lines with dark and dirty hues, mingling the darkness with light and splendor, crafting a final picture of exquisite beauty. Her characters are fresh, quirky and multi-faceted, and her flowing, vivid prose enhances this masterpiece.

This is Lisa Samson’s best work yet.

Enduring Justice

(Defenders of Hope Series #3)

by Amy Wallace

Published by Multnomah Books (2009)
336 pages

Riveting Suspense - True-to-Life Characters

Hanna Kessler thought she’d buried her past years ago, but when it claws its way to the surface, she tries to run from its ugliness and the support of family and friends. That includes handsome FBI Crimes Against Children Agent, Michael Parker, who’s struggling to cope with his own wounded past.

With Enduring Justice, and the first two books in the Defenders of Hope series, author Amy Wallace has raised the bar for Christian fiction writers. Not only has she drawn a riveting and thoroughly-researched suspense story, but she melds it with complex, true-to-life characters you truly care about, and wraps it all in redemptive hope. Most writers shine in one facet of storytelling, but few excel at both plot and characterization. I look forward to reading Amy Wallace fiction for many years to come.

Daisy Chain

(Defiance Texas Trilogy)

by Mary E. DeMuth

Published by Zondervan (2009)
355 pages

A Hauntingly Honest Coming-of-Age Tale

When Jed Pepper’s best friend, Daisy Chance, ends up missing, Jed is convinced he’s to blame. An abusive father further beats in that message of guilt. In Jed’s search for Daisy, he finds much more than a lost friend.

Using poetic & visual prose, Mary DeMuth pens a heart-tugging novel of tragedy and redemption. The author proves once again that she has the courage to delve into taboo subjects, yet she embraces them with grace and wraps them in hope. Her characters are complex, some quirky, others evil. All are very authentic.

We truly feel Jed’s empathy and guilt as he searches for Daisy. We experience his fear and self-debasement when around his father. We root for him when he prays for courage to protect his mother and sister, Sissy. And we rejoice when he finds what he needs the most.

Winter Haven

by Athol Dickson

Published by Bethany House (2008)
336 pages

It’s been thirteen years since Vera Gamble’s autistic brother ran away. Thirteen years of cloaking herself in guilt, when the dreaded call finally comes.

Vera’s older brother, Siggy, has been found. Dead. Washed up on a remote island off the coast of Maine, thousands of miles from her home in Dallas.

What she finds when she travels to the island, named Winter Haven, belies all reality. Her brother didn’t age a day after he ran away.

Does this mist-shrouded island, haunted with a deadly past, hold the secret to Siggy’s eternal youth? Will Vera uncover its secret, or will she become the island’s next victim?

Author Athol Dickson has crafted a complex novel of doubt, faith, and truth by appealing to our fears and superstitions. Then he illuminates the truth behind the terror. Winter Haven’s gothic, supernatural storyline is reminiscent of the writings of Frank Peretti or Ted Dekker, but Dickson’s intricate plotting and artistic prose is comparable to the literary works of Charles Martin and Dale Cramer.

It’s a novel I will definitely read again, this time opening my eyes to the truth revealed along the way.

Widows & Orphans

(Rachael Flynn Mystery Series #1)

by Susan Meissner

Published by Harvest House Publishers (2006)
280 pages

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

That is the verse Rachael Flynn’s ministry focused brother, Joshua Harper, chose to live his life by: to aid widows and orphans. Unfortunately, in doing so Joshua frequently found himself on the wrong side of the law, most of which were petty misdemeanors committed to aid someone, thus he believed, for the greater good. So when Rachael, a Manhattan attorney, receives the call that her brother has once again landed himself in jail she is not surprised…until she learns the reason behind his incarceration: a confession to murder.

Naturally, Rachael cannot believe her brother capable to be of murder so she returns home to Minneapolis and sets out to discover why he would confess to such a crime—who is he covering for? Her eyes are set on the sisters, ages 15 and 12, who had been forced into a childhood prostitution ring by the murder victim. She believes Joshua would sacrifice himself to help the sisters and tries to convince her brother that he is not helping them by letting them live a lie.

Both Rachael and the St. Paul police officer in charge of the investigation know that Joshua is not being completely forthright. There are too many unanswered questions. Still too much evidence points to Joshua’s guilt.

Rachael employs some unorthodox methods to unearth the truth, but when the truth is revealed, will she be able to accept it?

Susan Meissner has put together a compelling murder mystery. Her scene descriptions are complex but not overly stated. The characters are well developed, believable and likeable, including the eccentric friend, Figaro, who is quirky without being a caricature.

The Road to Unafraid

How the Army's Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage Through Black Hawk Down and Beyond

by Jeff Struecker

Published by Thomas Nelson (2006)
232 pages

"The difference between being a coward and a hero is not whether you're scared, it's what you do while you're scared." Captain Jeff Struecker

U.S. Army Rangers aren’t afraid. At least that’s what they would like you to believe. In this book Captain Jeff Struecker shows us a very human side of a man who shows unbridled courage, even in horrific situations.

That fear is exemplified by an incident in 1993. An elite military force was sent into Mogadishu, Somalia to rein in a warlord’s abusive control over the population and ruination of what should be a beautiful nation. On October 3, 1993, a Sunday afternoon, they received word of an opportunity to capture two of the warlord’s (Mohamed Farrah Aidid) top aides. What resulted was eighteen hours of trekking through bullet and RPG (rocket propelled grenade) laden streets in an attempt to rescue troops from two downed Black Hawk helicopters, an incident we know today as Black Hawk Down.

While the Black Hawk Down incident dramatically represents fear, Struecker doesn’t stop there. He writes about experiencing terrifying nightmares as a child—nightmares that went away when he became a Christian. He tells about his fear of being a good enough husband and father, when the family he’d grown up in was terribly broken. He tells about the fears of sharing his faith with his fellow soldiers—a group comprised of tough men, many who would claim that reliance on God is a weakness. How could he be a Christian and still garner respect from the men he leads? When he felt God’s call to the ministry, he feared the change.

But through it all, he was obedient to God’s call, and went forward despite his very human fears, and is now ministering as a Chaplain in a Ranger unit.

***Captain Jeff Struecker is a decorated member of the U.S. Army Rangers. He was featured prominently in the book, Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, by Mark Bowden, and was represented in the movie by the same name. In 1996 he, along with partner, Isaac Gmazel, won the competition for Best Army Ranger, an event far more difficult than Hawaii’s famous Ironman triathlon. He is currently a Chaplain ministering to 1,000’s of troops serving in hot spots around the globe.

The Pawn

(The Patrick Bowers Files, Book 1)

by Steven James

Published by Revell (2007)
432 pages

The game is on …

And FBI Special Agent Patrick Bower’s opponent always seems to be steps ahead in this life or death match. If Bowers doesn’t capture the serial killer soon, his own stepdaughter may be the next victim. But if he continues the grueling and time-consuming search, will he be responsible for the death of the very relationship he needs to resuscitate?

When Patrick Bowers arrives in Asheville, North Carolina, the killer has already claimed six female victims. Six families have lost their daughters. Bowers makes it his job to ensure that no more daughters are stolen from their families.

Underscoring Bowers determination to capture the assassin is the rocky relationship with his seventeen-year-old stepdaughter Tessa. Less than a year into his marriage to Tessa’s mother, Christie was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, six months following his wife’s death, Bowers has no clue who his stepdaughter is.

The author, Steven James, deftly weaves together a riveting story with the complexity of a chess match, using strategic planning and misdirection to guide the reader down numerous dead-end paths ultimately ending in a satisfying victory … or is it?

His protagonist, Patrick Bowers is an environmental criminologist, someone who studies the offender’s relationship with the victim and the environment. This position requires remarkable attention to—and analysis of—all details, in addition to ability to read between the lines. As the reader we experience, along with Bowers, appeals to all five senses, and we are given insight to the sixth: intuition. It’s Bowers job to get into the killer’s head, to know precisely what the killer’s thinking, to understand him, almost adding a compassionate and human element to the evil perpetrator.

Ironically, the very man who whose job it is to notice the details no one else will see, fails to see the blessing he has in front of him in Tessa.

Patrick Bowers is an everyman hero, a father who is believably flawed, who wears an arrogance born of experience, education, and natural ability. He’s a man who, like so many of us, wonders, “Where is God in the midst of all the evil?” Yet he’s wise enough to learn the very important lesson of hope:

“Chaos is evidence of human beings.
Hope is evidence of God.”