Secrets of a Prayer Warrior

Secrets of a Prayer Warrior, by Derek Prince, was a practical guide to biblical prayer. The first three chapters discuss the fundamentals of prayer and changing any preconceived and negative images of God.

In chapter four, the author discusses the twelve different types of prayer while chapters five through eight looks at discovering God's will, spiritual warfare and our response to God's purposes. The final chapter is a look at the church.

Subject and scripture indexes are also included for easy reference.

Beguiled

Beguiled is a romantic suspense novel written by former critique group partners Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand. This easy-to-read novel is along the lines of those written by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark with Christian characters included in the story.

Rylee Monroe is a dog walker for Charleston's wealthy when a series of thefts from her clients makes her the prime suspect. Logan Woods, a newspaper reporter working on his own crime novel, is afraid of dogs but attracted to both the dog walker and the story. Their lives intertwine and a relationship develops as they unravel the secrets behind the thefts.

The Penny

Although The Penny by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford is a work of fiction, Joyce has shared glimpses into the abusive relationship with her father during her childhood through her conferences and television shows. In this book, the main character, Jenny Blake, and her sister Jean endure a similar childhood.

Jenny is convinced her life changed the day she found a penny stuck in hot asphalt and is offered a job at the local jewelry store. She soon discovers the owner, Miss Shaw, harbors secrets of her own and an unspoken bond forms between them. At the same time, Jenny befriends Aurelia and her family where she finds the love of family, hears the voice of Jesus for the first time at the Antioch Baptist Church and witnesses the ugliness of racism firsthand.

The Reason for God

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller uses several disciplines, including philosophy and anthropology, to examine the Christian faith on an intellectual level. It is divided into two parts addressing the doubts about Christianity in the first part and looking at faith in the second part.

In part one, The Leap of Doubt, the seven chapters address the following topics.

• There Can't Be Just One True Religion
• How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?
• Christianity Is a Straitjacket
• The Church is Responsible for So Much Injustice
• How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?
• Science Has Disproved Christianity
• You Can't Take the Bible Literally

In part two, The Reasons for Faith, the seven chapters address the following topics.

• The Clues of God
• The Knowledge of God
• The Problem of Sin
• Religion and the Gospel
• The (True) Story of the Cross
• The Reality of the Resurrection
• The Dance of God

The epilogue concludes by addressing the motives, the cost and the commitment, and ends with the matter of grace. The book addresses many of the issues while being respectful to the readers no matter what their beliefs.

The Immortal

The Immortal by Angela Hunt was one of those bargain books on sale. Although it was published in 2000, it used the legend of the Wandering Jew to present the return of Christ and the subject of forgiveness and grace in a new way. The only distraction was the switch from first person, Claudia, to third person, Asher, and back. Thankfully, the story moved along at a quick enough pace to overcome it.

The story begins with Claudia, a jury consultant in New York, who moves to Italy to work for a new global company focused on world peace. She uses her interviewing skills to screen potential employees for the company and hires Asher. After they become friends, Asher tells her that he has been wandering the Earth since Jesus time and believes his purpose is to find the potential Antichrist in each generation and witness to him until Christ's return.

Green

Ted Dekker's Green is part of his Circle Series and he notes that this book can be read first or last as part of that circle. Since I read it last, I had to skim back over Black, Red, and White to understand the circle theory and place Green into the circle's sequence.

Thomas Hunter, the main character, continues to travel between the past and the future with dire consequences to both worlds. In the histories, the fall of mankind keeps good and evil in the spiritual realm. But, in the future world, good and evil can be seen, touched and tasted until mankind once again rejects that reality creating apocalyptic results.

The circle's story continues with the The Books of History Chronicles broken down into two additional series: The Lost Books (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos) and The Paradise Novels (Showdown, Saint, Sinner).

Obsessed

In Ted Dekker's Obsessed, the death of a Holocaust survivor provides a clue that seemingly makes Stephen Friedman the heir to an incredible treasure. The story flashes back and forth between the 1940s, where two pregnant concentration camp inmates are tormented, and the 1970s, where Stephen becomes obsessed with learning his mother's secrets.

As a fan of Ted Dekker's books, I agree with some reviewers that this wasn't his best book. The characters make weird decisions along the way and it doesn't have that "wow, I didn't see that coming" ending I've come to expect. But, it did give the reader a chilling reminder of the evil of the Holocaust.

And, I disagree with a reviewer that felt this book crossed the line exploring the darkness of evil by portraying characters involved in satanic rituals. Since the "sheer depravity of the deeds" made the reviewer uncomfortable, wasn't that the point? Ted Dekker is known for his confrontations between good and evil so readers that are uncomfortable with spiritual warfare should steer clear of them.

Walking Lazarus

Since T.L. Hines gives away the subject of his book in the title, Walking Lazarus, it is no surprise that the main character, Jude, has died and come back to life. The twist is that it happened three times and seems to have an underlying purpose. Jude has changed his name, moved to a new town and become a recluse near an area where children are disappearing.

As Jude unravels the mystery of his own deaths and the evil lurking around his new hometown, he struggles to hide his identity while being accused of killing children. the book definitely has the one thing most appealing about a good supernatural suspense thriller ... things are not always as they appear while the reader is traveling through the pages of the unknown.

Driven by Eternity

Shortly after reading John Bevere's Driven by Eternity in January 2007, I joined the Christian Writers Guild and began a quest to expand my technical writing career to include writing for eternity. I recently read it again and reflected on how it motivated me. 

The book opens with a discussion about eternity and how, even though we can't comprehend it with our minds, we somehow know internally that it exists. The introduction and the first chapter started my thought processes down a path of contemplating life and eternity, but it was the allegory in chapters two through eight that motivated me to take action.

The allegory is set in the kingdom of Affabel and the school of Endel. At the end of ten years, students are given wealth and responsibility for a five-year period that determines how they'll live for 150 years. The allegory follows five students (Independent, Deceived, Faint Heart, Selfish and Charity) during the five-year period of testing and ends with the day of judgment.

The Last Days

The Last Days is one of  Joel C. Rosenberg's geopolitical thrillers where Jon Bennett, a former Wall Street strategist, becomes the point man for an Arab-Israeli peace plan. With the world watching, Jon and his beautiful CIA partner, Erin McCoy, arrive in the Middle East to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

However, before the historic meeting can take place, explosive events send Jon and Erin underground where they facilitate a peace plan in secret. The plan would harness vast supplies of oil and natural gas and make every Muslin, Christian, and Jew in Israel and Palestine wealthy. But men with evil hearts and the countries that support them want no part of peace in the Middle East and launch assaults aimed to kill all those involved with the peace plan.

The scary part about this fictional story is that you can easily imagine it tomorrow's headlines.

Scream

Scream, by Mike Dellosso, is a thriller that will keep you glued to the pages. The main character, Mark Stone, has his phone calls interrupted by otherworldly screams, the kind of screams that remind him of the weeping and gnashing of teeth describing hell.

When Mark realizes that the people on the other end of his phone calls die shortly after hearing the screams, he begins to search for their meaning. While struggling with his own broken faith and marriage, he receives a phone call from Cheryl, his kidnapped estranged wife. That phone call sends Mark racing to save Cheryl from both the kidnapper and the screams.

A final note from the author points out that while the book was written to entertain, it was also written to challenge us to think about life and death, heaven and hell, and where we will spend eternity. He also gives a call to action: to accept Jesus and then tell everyone about it. A good reminder that the Christian supernatural thriller I'm working on also has that dual purpose.



 

Saint

I attempted to listen to the audio book version of Ted Dekker's Saint several months ago to no avail. My attention span for listening I soon discovered is much shorter than it is for reading so I put the audio book aside and read the actual book.

Those who enjoy supernatural suspense will be glued to the pages while anticipating the next move. I enjoyed this book, like many of Ted Dekker's books, because I kept thinking I had it figured out until the final chapters  took an unexpected turn in another direction.

The main character is Carl Strople, a professional killer, trained as part of a covert secret group in Hungary. He begins his journey of betrayal, government cover-ups, and political conspiracy in New York, but  in his search for truth ends up in an unexpected place confronting unexpected forces.

Adam

Adam by Ted Dekker is about a serial killer known as Eve and the FBI agent who is tracking him, Daniel Clark. This one had me hooked from the opening pages and I read the entire book on a Saturday afternoon while doing laundry. Thankfully, stopping periodically to check the clothes gave my eyes enough rest to avoid blurred vision and red eyes.

Daniel Clark is obsessed with finding the serial killer until he becomes one of the killer's victims. When Daniel experiences death and is brought back to life, the case becomes more than a hunt for a serial killer. In the end, Daniel is forced to fight for his life, his sanity and his very soul while battling forces much greater than the mind of a deranged serial killer.

If you enjoy supernatural suspense thrillers, this book will let you (as stated on the inside cover) "Enter a world ... that blurs the lines between fiction and reality ... that will leave you stunned."

The Circle Trilogy

The Circle Trilogy by Ted Dekker consists of three books: Black, Red, and White. The trilogy is about the main character, Thomas Hunter, living in two worlds. He falls asleep in one world and wakes up in another. Although he isn't sure which world is the real one and which world is the dream one until the very end, he comes to realize his actions in one world has an impact on the other.

I must admit I struggled reading Black in the beginning and had to get past the first several chapters before I was hooked. Once I reached that point I spent several late nights (too late I'd discover the next morning) absorbed in the books and racing to find answers to Thomas Hunter's questions.

The story continues with the The Books of History Chronicles broken down into two additional series: The Lost Books (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos) and The Paradise Novels(Showdown, Saint, Sinner). I didn't realize Showdown was part of the this story and read it many months ago. It will fun to go back and scan through it in the context of the chronicles.

Love Comes Softly Series

One of my sister-in-laws recently sent the Love Comes Softly Series consisting of eight books. The series is about the pioneer lives of Marty and Clark Davis, their family and their neighbors. Although these are not the type of books I lean towards, I can't pass up reading a book once it makes its way through the front door.

It was good to take a break from trying to figure out a thriller plot and speed read through the stories about the frontier prairies of the 1800s. I'm sure I would have also enjoyed watching the movies on the Hallmark channel.

When I finished book eight, Janette Oke had a farewell note for series, however, it also had a P.S. note that she wrote the Prairie Legacy series picking up with Marty and Clark's youngest daughter's offspring. If you enjoy reading prairie novels and Janette Oke's books, I'm sure you'll also enjoy reading those books. As for me, I'm back to Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti novels.

Book Review: Bamboo & Lace

Bamboo & Lace by Lori Wick is a light romantic novel, an enjoyable read with a message, and a fun vacation. Who doesn't want to occasionally escape to Hawaii?

After being raised in a remote Asian village, the main character, Lily, finds herself in an exciting yet overwhelming world when she arrives on the island of Oahu. Watching Lily discover kitchen appliances, modern conveniences, and the grocery store for the first time gave me cause to reflect on the many things we take for granted and how much joy we miss when we rush through our multitasking lives.

A look into the Asian culture and the subservient status of women was both disturbing and thought provoking and again brought me back to the realization of how fortunate we are to live in a democracy.

As Lily struggles with choosing family honor or true love, the book shows in a masterful way how God can break through stubborn pride, change hearts, and move mountains.