Serials and Scenarios ~ Deceit ~ Brandilyn Collins

This week, the

Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

is introducing

Deceit

Zondervan (June 18, 2010)

by

Brandilyn Collins





ABOUT THE AUTHOR:





Brandilyn Collins is an award-winning and best-selling novelist known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®. These harrowing crime thrillers have earned her the tagline "Don't forget to b r e a t h e..."® Brandilyn's first book, A Question of Innocence, was a true crime published by Avon in 1995. Its promotion landed her on local and national TV and radio, including the Phil Donahue and Leeza talk shows. Brandilyn is also known for her distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons). She is now working on her 20th book.



In addition, Brandilyn’s other latest release is Final Touch, third in The Rayne Tour series—young adult suspense co-written with her daughter, Amberly. The Rayne Tour series features Shaley O’Connor, daughter of a rock star, who just may have it all—until murder crashes her world.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Skip Tracer Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed his second wife---and Joanne's best friend---seven years ago. But Jackson, a church elder and beloved member of the town, walks the streets a free man.

The police tell Joanne to leave well enough alone, but Joanne is determined to bring Jackson down. Using her skip tracing skills, she sets out to locate Melissa Harkoff, now twenty-two, who lived in the Jackson home at the time of Linda Jackson's disappearance.

As Joanne drives home on a rainy winter night, a hooded figure darts in front of her car. In her headlight beams she glimpses the half-concealed face of a man, a rivulet of blood jagging down his cheek. She squeals to a stop but clips him with her right fender. Shaking, she gets out of her car in the pouring rain. The man will not let her see his face. Before he limps off into the night he warns her not to talk to police.

As Joanne tries to find Melissa, someone seems to be after her. Who was the man she hit on the road. Is Baxter Jackson out to silence her? Or is some other skip she's traced in the past now out for revenge?

"
If you would like to read the first chapter of Deceit, go HERE

Read more reviews of Collins's books and an interview HERE.

My Review of Deceit:


Brandilyn Collins twists and turns her way through yet another page turner. Joanne Weeks knows Baxter Jackson killed her best friend. But she doesn't have any proof. After voicing her opinion of the investigation's early death, shortly after the demise of Jackson's second wife, her comments are plastered on the front page of the small town newspaper. A town that is pretty much owned by, or at least in the back pocket of, Jackson.

A series of events unfolds at a break-neck pace that definitely tossed me against my seatbelt restraint a time or two. Collins strength in writing page-turning events is strong and I found myself whipping through them. A few similarities to previous novels, a very strong female lead for starters, and a back and forth parallel but different time frame telling of two enjoined stories will delight Collins fans. The twists may keep said fans on their toes. Chickens might be able to read this one without pulling the blankets over their heads, however, Collins tackles some interesting subject matter. This isn't a tame "Christian" read...rather something closer to what you might see in headlines.

Serials and Scenarios ~ The Last Christian ~ David Gregory

I was a bad, bad blogger. I agreed to read and review this book and post it last week. And I did none of the above. However, I do have the book and it looks very intriguing. I've read Gregory's previous books...Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, Day with a Perfect Stranger and the Next Level and was impressed with the message and storytelling skills. So. I'm looking forward to reading The Last Christian and I'll be back with a review. Soonish. In the meantime, here's Nora's review.


THE LAST CHRISTIAN
By David Gregory
Published by: WaterBrook
ISBN# 978-1-4000-7497-6
407 Pages

Back Cover:

When missionary Abigail Caldwell emerges from her jungle village in A.D. 2088, she arrives in America to find Christianity has disappeared---and brain transplants promise eternal life! Determined to restore the nation to God, Abby joins forces with historian Creighton Daniels. What will they do when a powerful conspiracy threatens humanity's spiritual future---and their own lives?


REVIEW:

I’ve read Dinner with a Perfect Stranger, Day with a Perfect Stranger and The Next Level by David Gregory and jumped at the chance for a review copy of his newest book. I had a feeling it would be something special. I wasn’t disappointed.

After reading the prologue, dated April 2088, I knew I was on a completely fresh, incredible, serious journey with David as he whisked me into this Sci/Fi thriller. I buckled up, regrouped and tuned into this high-tech scenario. David reveals amazing computer gadgets, a mainstream super highway, and the absence of the Christian influence in the world.

I could imagine this incredible high tech world with the help of seeing movies like the Star Trek and The Matrix. This author shows how technology can change the world and do great things, but along with the benefits there are serious ethical and moral consequences. Neuron implants are put into people in the form of a chip that allow them to surf the grid (much like the web-but more remarkable) so they can spend most of their lives in VR (a virtual reality world of their making).

This is not a comfortable, warm fuzzy read with a happily ever after ending. It’s a book that made me think about life, in relationship to Christ and the people around me. I knew that after I finished the last page of The Last Christian, I would keep whirling the characters dilemma and the deep message David gave over and over in my mind, heart and soul. David’s books do that to me. .

Abigail Caldwell was the only one to survivor a virus that wiped out her whole village. She’s an American Missionary trying to make sense of a sixteen year old message recently received from her Grandfather in America.

When Abby arrives in the USA she discovers Christianity is gone. Not because the government stripped it from society but humanity had changed. Science and technology became more important to them. It replaced the need for God and Christianity. Abbey thought, Could one person make a difference? She soon found out people weren’t interested in the message of forgiveness through Christ in this foreign land.

Someone says to Abbey, “I found that out long ago. That’s because they no longer sense their need to be forgiven. People didn’t believe in absolutes anymore, in right and wrong. So what is there to be forgiven for?”

This author challenges everyone to evaluate how they are living this Christian life and how they share Jesus. I have to say I was pierced by the Holy Spirit to re-evaluate some things in my own life. Wow, what a story. You’ll definitely have to check this one out!

Reviewed by: Nora St. Laurent
ACFW Book Club Coordinator

Serials and Scenarios ~ Limited Time Contest

Teach your kids about prayer, have fun and be entered to win 30+ kids books!

Teaching your kids about prayer is important, but it can also be enlightening to get a child's perspective on something that we as adults take for granted.

Here's your mission (should you choose to accept it):

• Video your child(ren) talking about prayer, praying, explaining what prayer is, etc. It can be creative, informational, enlightening, funny, or all of the above but it needs to be no more than one minute and thirty seconds long.
  
  
• The video doesn't need to be professional quality. You can shoot it using your phone's video recorder or use that "video" feature on your digital camera for the first time!
  
  
• Post your video on YouTube, Tangle or Vimeo.
  
• Go to our website and enter your information and include the link of your video (the full list of instruction on how to enter can be found here).
  
• The winning video will win a full library of WaterBrook Multnomah children's books, including the new release This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano. That's over 30 books!

Teaching your kids about prayer has never been so fun! See here for contest rules and more information.

HURRY! This contest ends on 6/7/2010 so time is limited.

ENTER NOW!

Serials and Scenarios~ Travis Thrasher's Broken

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Broken
FaithWords (May 25, 2010)
by
Travis Thrasher

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

It was during third grade after a teacher encouraged him in his writing and as he read through The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis that Travis decided he wanted to be a writer. The dream never left him, and allowed him to fulfill that dream of writing fulltime in 2007.

Travis Thrasher is the author of numerous works of fiction, including his most personal and perhaps his deepest work, Sky Blue, that was published in summer of 2007. This year he has to novels published, Out of the Devil’s Mouth, and a supernatural thriller, Isolation.

Travis is married to Sharon and they are the proud parents of Kylie, born in November, 2006, and Hailey, a Shih-Tzu that looks like an Ewok. They live in suburban Chicago.

Stop by and visit Travis at his Blog where you can sign up to follow him on Facebook and Twitter!


ABOUT THE BOOK

Laila had it all--love, family, wealth, and faith. But when her faith crumbles, her world falls apart and Laila finds herself living an empty, dangerous life as a call girl in Chicago.

When she is threatened, Laila shoots and kills a client in self-defense, sending herself into a spiral of guilt and emptiness. Six months later, she is trying to move on, but she's haunted by the past. She hasn't told anyone about the man she killed, and she's still estranged from her family.

When she is approached by a stranger who says he knows what she did, Laila has no choice but to run. But the stranger stays close behind, and Laila begins having visions of the man she killed. Little does she know she's being hounded by something not of this world, something that knows her deepest, darkest secret.

Scared and wandering, will Laila regain her trust in God to protect her from these demons? Or will her plea for salvation come too late?

If you would like to read the first chapter of Broken, go HERE.

Read my thoughts on Ghostwriter here.


My Thoughts:

Broken is one of the few novels I've read in a horror genre so read my comments in that light whether you are a horror fan or not.

Travis Thrasher writes complicated characters with page-turning tension. Broken is written in the 3rd-person-present-tense point-of-view that is at times difficult to read but one that amps up the tension. As with the other horror books I've read, there are several moments within Broken that had me looking over my shoulder or responding to hair-raising shudders.

I was intrigued with Thrasher's creative twists and turns and feel the need to check out more of his novels. The themes of ghosts, redemption, demons and hope in Christ are a blend that works, especially for folks who don't mind feeling creeped-out a few times. There is low key language and there are some difficult adult themes so I don't recommend it for children or young teens.

I did struggle with some confusion as the story played out. Each chapter opens with a page or two of the main character's journal. These were my favorite sections of the book because I felt they fully fleshed Laila out and made me feel involved in her story. In between the journal pages were scenes that either played off the journal section, added more details or twisted/contradicted it.

Some of the secondary characters crossed over into stereotypical or cheesy a few times and I don't know that they really added the element of fear because of it.

I can't say I loved this novel. It was an interesting read, definitely, and a page-turner most of the time. But.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Pre-Thursday Deep Thoughts

If you don't want to get fleas, you shouldn't roll with dogs who are infested.

If you want your dreams to come true... stop participating in nightmare inducing activities.

Life is generally not a series of random Murphy's Laws targeting a few unfortunate, innocent souls. Bad stuff happens, but, more often and more likely, bad stuff is something you dragged in on your shoe after sneaking through a path of chosen naivety.

If you want happily ever after, you gotta stop seeking out the villain.

If you hope to be respected, you really need to behave as if you deserve respect.

Need someone to love you? Quit pushing away the ones who care and clutching at selfish ones who never will.

Cause and effect, it's not just a quippy phrase, it's what happens in response to what you chose to do.

If you want to be grown up, then you have to suck it up and act like one.

Serials and Scenarios ~ Frenzy~ Robert Liparulo

This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
Frenzy
Thomas Nelson (May 18, 2010)
by
Robert Liparulo

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Robert Liparulo is a former journalist, with over a thousand articles and multiple writing awards to his name. His first novel, Comes a Horseman, released to critical acclaim. Each of his subsequent thrillers—Germ, Deadfall, and Deadlock—secured his place as one of today’s most popular and daring thriller writers.

He is known for investing deep research and chillingly accurate predictions of near-future scenarios into his stories. In fact, his thorough, journalistic approach to research has resulted in his becoming an expert on the various topics he explores in his fiction, and he has appeared on such media outlets as CNN and ABC Radio.

Liparulo’s visual style of writing has caught the eye of Hollywood producers. Currently, three of his novels for adults are in various stages of development for the big screen: the film rights to Comes A Horseman. were purchased by the producer of Tom Clancy’s movies; and Liparulo is penning the screenplays for GERM and Deadfall for two top producers. He is also working with the director Andrew Davis (The Fugitive, Holes) on a political thriller. Novelist Michael Palmer calls Deadfall “a brilliantly crafted thriller.” March 31st marked the publication of Deadfall’s follow-up, Deadlock, which novelist Gayle Lynds calls, “best of high-octane suspense.”

Liparulo’s bestselling young adult series, Dreamhouse Kings, debuted in 2008 with House of Dark Shadows and Watcher in the Woods. Book three, Gatekeepers, released in January 2009, and number four, Timescape, in July 2009, and number five, Whirlwind in December 2009. The series has garnered praise from readers, both young and old, as well as attracting famous fans who themselves know the genre inside and out. Of the series, Goosebumps creator R.L. Stine says, “I loved wandering around in these books. With a house of so many great, haunting stories, why would you ever want to go outside?”

With the next two Dreamhouse books “in the can,” he is currently working on his next thriller, which for the first time injects supernatural elements into his brand of gun-blazing storytelling. The story is so compelling, two Hollywood studios are already in talks to acquire it—despite its publication date being more than a year away. After that comes a trilogy of novels, based on his acclaimed short story, which appeared in James Patterson’s Thriller anthology. New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry calls Liparulo’s writing “Inventive, suspenseful, and highly entertaining . . . Robert Liparulo is a storyteller, pure and simple.” He lives with his family in Colorado.

Visit Robert Liparulo's Facebook Fan page: http://www.facebook.com/LiparuloFans


ABOUT THE BOOK

Their destiny is to fix history. Their dream is to get home.



When you live in a house that's really a gateway between past and present, you have to be ready for anything. It's a painful fact the Kings have faced since moving to Pinedale eight days ago. Desperately trying to rescue their mother from an unknown time and place, brothers Xander and David have lunged headlong into the chaos of history's greatest--and most volatile--events. But their goal has continually escaped their grasp.

And worse: Finding Mom is only a small part of what they must do, thanks to the barbaric Taksidian. His ruthless quest to seize their house and its power from them has put not only the family, but all of mankind, in grave danger.

Somehow, the key to it all hinges on Uncle Jesse's words to the boys: "Fixing time is what our family was made to do." But how can they fix a world that has been turned upside down--much less ever find their way home?

At long last, the secrets of the house and the King family are revealed in the stunning conclusion to this epic series.


If you would like to read the Prologue and first Chapter of Frenzy, go HERE.
Sign up for the Frenzy Newsletter HERE.

To read reviews of Bob's other books and his Dregs interviews. Here.


My Thoughts:

With more twists and turns than the crazy Dreamhouse, Robert Liparulo whips, yanks and stretches the complex storyline to a close...well...not exactly. How about a rest? Kind of.

The six book series span a week in real time and centuries in time travel. The King family is stretched to breaking during their adventures that made me weak in the knees more than once.

Frenzy pulls loose ends tight and reveals more pieces of the Dreamhouse puzzle. Liparulo played out the tiny Christian element beautifully and the book series ended on a satisfying note. There are elements that would be a lot scary for easily disturbed kids so keep that in mind. Otherwise this series is a terrific, page-turning read.

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Hands

Today, while my father-in-law dozed, I noticed his hands.

Remarkably, I recognized them because my husband's are copies of the original. At first I choked up because Dad is in the hospital and he's feeling cruddy and he's in the process of... is there a pretty or gentle way to say this... dying.

But then I began to think about what his hands have accomplished in his eighty years on this planet and I wanted to weep for another reason. Like a potter working with soft, wet clay, his hands have shaped my life and the lives of so many others. We all bear unique marks from this man. Almost as if he pressed a thumbprint into us that is covered by the different glazes we wear.

Dad's hands are the hands of a hard-working man of great character. I imagine there are still a few callouses on his hands because he has never really retired from working for his family and their futures. He has been unafraid to get his hands dirty while being a picture of a faithful and loving husband, a tireless listener, and a problem solver. He is respectful but he cuts through the nonsense and gets to the point. He laughs and though rare, I've now seen him cry. Above all he points, unashamedly, to God as the ultimate need in our lives.

Though he is weakening, and I saw a slight tremor, those hands remain as a testimony of who he has been and what he has accomplished. And they are doing a new work. They are teaching us about dying with faith, with dignity and with character.