Randy Alcorn

Dear Readers,

I have long “blamed” Randy Alcorn’s book Dominion for me having my job here at Baker.  I read it 15 years ago and it sold me on how good Christian fiction can be.  I started shopping for fiction books at Baker and because at the time I didn’t have a blog, this is one that I have never reviewed any of this series on my blog.  So when Waterbrook offered me a chance for a free copy of Deadline for a review I took it.

Deadline, Dominion and Deception as a very interesting series that Randy wrote over several years.   I read them out of order by reading Dominion first, but that really didn’t make much difference and I went back for Deadline as soon as I got a chance.  I recommend them in order just so you won’t know the answer to the mystery of the book before.

Deadline first released in 1994, and is still a strong seller here in the store.   It is a good murder mystery, with a twist.  I don’t really want to tell you what that twist is, but if you have ever read his book In Light of Heaven you will know what it is.  (Small hint, In Light… came into being because so many people were asking Randy about his view of Heaven found in Deadline and Dominion)

Jake is an award-winning journalist.  When two of his closest friends are killed in a car accident, which he survived, Jake knows he has to find their killer.  He doesn’t know that he was the intended target and the killer is still on his trail. 

I enjoyed the mystery of this book, but I also loved the characters that Randy created.  Randy has a gift for making the characters in the book someone you want to hang out with or help.  His bad guys are usually not someone you personally want to have to deal with and that is what makes his book so fun to read.

Happy Reading

Randy Alcorn

Dear Readers,

Ok so this is the second time I started this review.  It has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with me being unable to put down something that makes sense about this book. 

The Chasm by Randy Alcorn is an allegory, which does make it harder to write a review for.  I myself am not a huge fan of allegories.  They must be well written and capture my attention almost from the beginning. Otherwise I lose interest and then I lose track of what the author is trying to do and it stops making sense and so I stop reading.

I actually had the nerve to think I wouldn't like this book.  I have read all of Randy's fiction books and have yet to find one I didn't like, but I just wasn't sure about another allegory. 

The main character here is also the main character in Edge of Eternity.  It actually doesn't matter which you read first this one or Edge, they makes sense no matter which order you read them in.  In fact the ending (don't worry I am not giving anything away) says, "Nick Seagrove's full story  - all that happened before and after he came to the Chasm - is told in the novel Edge of Eternity." 

Nick is on a strange and wonderful journey that has/had taken him through a strange land.  It is full of characters that are hard to tell the good from the bad and yet it is never the one you think of that will lead you astray. 

That is all I am really going to say about this book.  I enjoyed it, but know it is not written for you to keep on your shelf, I believe it is written to be shared with all that are around you.  To understand you will have to enter the strange land of Nick Seagrove.

Happy Reading