Book Review of Between Two Kingdoms by Joe Boyd

Premise:

In this work of allegorical fantasy, author Joe Boyd takes us on a pilgrimage to a land of two kingdoms, but with only one true King. An ancient land, where children never grow old, is the first setting as a living land called the Upper Kingdom. Here foundations grow in trees and rivers sing and breathe. The second setting is a dying land, where the darkness of a false prince threatens to swallow everything in its shadow, called the Lower Kingdom.

Enter the adventure with Tommy, a child of the Great King, as he and his friends accept the challenge to live as grown men and women in the Lower Kingdom. Here hope is hidden, vision is clouded, and pride twists truth into a beautiful yet deadly deception.

Review:

Between Two Kingdoms is a fantasy book with use able data for our daily lives. This is the first thought I had while reading these stories filled with verbal imagery. What I found was so much more. There was one surprise after another as I read each and every chapter. I saw me in those pages. I saw you in those pages. Joe Boyd has a great imagination and grasp on all things not of this world and of this world. The way he describes constant distractions that keeps our lives from being 100% happy and free is one extreme. All the ideas I realized I have on Heaven and the way the church should be are revealed as another.

The Lower Kingdom in this book is filled with filth, doubt, pain, tears, fear and so much more. It is what we may already know about Earth and things we wish we could forget. On the other hand, the Upper Kingdom with the King on the throne and the Prince by his side are glimpses of Heaven for me.

Do you like to read stories that stand alone as individual pieces or be a part of one giant story or puzzle? Do you like C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien fantasy books like The Chronicles of Narnia or The Lord of the Rings? Have you read The Shack by William P. Young? If you have, then this book fits right in with those stories and descriptions of who, what and where God is and Jesus his son. If you have not, I hope that you will read them all in the future. You don’t have time to read them all? Ok, then read this one first because it is the shortest and then work your way to one of the others. I believe you will love this story and place it on your shelf for many to read. It will be a classic in the future just like all of C. S. Lewis’ works. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Be blessed!

Brad

Forsaken by James David Jordan Book Review

Have you ever started reading a book and realized at some point, usually about half way, that it is a sequel or Book 2 of an author’s series? Does it make you feel empty or feel like you are missing something? When I read Double Cross by James David Jordan a few months ago, I realized pretty quick that this was a continuation story in a series. I didn’t know at the time as to how many in the series there were. This did not matter when I finished it because I loved the story and the interplay with the characters of Kacey Mason, daughter of Evangelist Simon Mason, and the main character of Taylor Pasbury.

After I finished the story, I searched for previous works by Mr. Jordan and wanted to see how the back-story unfolded. To my delight, I discovered Forsaken was the only other book in this series when I went to get it from my local library. ** Side note: You would be amazed at how many Christian fiction books you can find at your local library that you can check out for free. **

As I started reading this book, I was filled with excitement to discover Taylor Pasbury’s adventures dealing with Evangelist Simon Mason. Simon, in Forsaken, had to face a faith defining moment after the kidnapping of his 20 year old daughter Kacey. He called on Taylor, a former Secret Service agent, for help after receiving death threats while in Chicago.

The past history Taylor Pasbury had with her Dad becomes more in focus as she deals with Kacey’s kidnapping and ultimately her own emotions developing for Simon Mason until the end.

I believe that James David Jordan is now added to my list of favorite male authors. I am glad that Christian fiction is gaining more men that many can turn to and feel good about reading. I hope that as you look for your next suspense book; give James David Jordan a try. I give this book Forsaken a 5 out of 5 stars. It kept me wanting to come back for more.

Be blessed!

Brad

Burn by Ted Dekker and Erin Healy -- Book Review

Premise:

Janeal Mikkado has long felt trapped in her father’s Gypsy culture. One night a powerful man named Salazar Sanso promises her the life she longs for if, she will help recover a vast sum of money tied to her father just to save his life.

When the plan implodes, Sanso and his men attack the gypsy settlement and burn it to the ground. During the blaze, Janeal is faced with staggering choices. The impact of the attack at that moment would change her life forever.


Review: Coming off reading the best seller Kiss by this dynamic duo of Christian fiction writing a few months ago, Dekker and Healy have shown they are a great team again bouncing ideas together & making yet another best seller in Burn.

When I first started reading this book, I was hoping for an even better version of Kiss with all the supernatural powers or borderline God level powers in a human form. When you deal with stealing memories with a kiss in the last one, where can you go? How crazy was I for asking that question? Of course, I knew they were capable of using another of the major senses we deal with everyday all twisted up in a crazed thriller over a 15 year time-line.

This high octane rocket of a story dealing with Janeal Mikkado and her father Jason Mikkado, who runs a gypsy carnival of thrillers troop, was an interesting starting point. Another great starter was showing the villain right out of the box in drug dealer Salazar Sanso who is a man that always gets what he wants. There was no exception by seducing and duping Janeal to believe that her father was in danger and the DEA was going to hurt him too if the money was not found. One million dollars missing is a big deal. How about the idea of that million to be counterfeit? The power struggle to protect one’s self from prison because it is counterfeit can make a man desperate. Mr. Sanso would do just about anything. This includes burning down a whole camp filled with gypsies & killing them all.

As the story unfolds, I found that it was easy to follow and then imagery of the scenes rocketed through my head. I will not spoil the ending so I will end my review this way. I recommend anyone who wants to read a very good action packed adventure to add this one definitely to your reading list. I feel it will be a movie someday. The Dekker fans out there will just enjoy another great story. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Be blessed!

Brad

Illuminating Angels and Demons Movie Documentary

Recently, I watched the movie Angels and Demons directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. After my viewing, I wanted to know more of the behind the scenes and factual content discussed and described in the film. The movie’s title is the same name as the book by Dan Brown. The main character, Robert Langdon, dealt with tracking down historical Biblical clues to stop the killing of Bishops and possibly the Pope in the Vatican and around Rome, Italy.

In this 90 minute documentary taken from the book title of the same name, Illuminating Angels & Demons by Simon Cox, is the examination of the book Angels and Demons which was written by Dan Brown. For those of you who may have recently seen the movie of Dan Brown’s book, Angels and Demons, watching this documentary might have you finding yourself more enlightened or illuminated on the back story to Dan Brown’s research and writing of his best selling book. It focuses on the “Path of Illumination” that is heavily discussed in Mr. Brown’s book.

As you watch the documentary, people might say it and Dan Brown’s book are conspiracy theory and innuendo that can not really be confirmed by any one. With Simon Cox’s gathering of people that are interviewed throughout his investigations, if it is all conspiracy theory then it is very entertaining for this reviewer.

Simon Cox gathers a few of the supposed foremost researchers and writers on the subject matters discussed. He brings in Ruled by Secrecy author Jim Marrs to explain various secret societies from the Knights Templar to the supposed Bilderburg group that is said to exist and run many things around the world. Mr. Marrs should know about conspiracies with his history of researching them according to a Wikipedia article on him.

In addition to Mr. Marrs, Simon Cox calls on fellow authors who have written books on the Vatican and various secret societies. Clive Prince and Lynn Picknett, who have written various religious books on the history of various Christian groups, to Devon Jackson and Jon Rappaport are among these authors. The final interviewee was Paul L. Williams, a former FBI consultant dealing with organized crime.

Illuminating Angels & Demons directed by Dan Hall, is a good layout of information so that the viewer can take the information and believe it or chalk it up as another 90 minutes of entertainment for one night. This is a religious documentary and I’m glad I watched it. I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.

Be blessed!

Brad

Return Policy Book Review

Premise of the story:

Meet Willy Finneran, a washed-up genre novelist with an espresso maker that just won’t die. Ozena Webb is a customer service representative and single mother of a mentally handicapped twelve-year-old boy. Shaq is the homeless man who believes he’s everyman. This is a brilliant and poignant novel from the author of My Name Is Russell Fink.

Review:

In his second novel Return Policy, novelist Michael Snyder introduces us to three very unusual and relatable characters all dealing with tragedy. Willy Finneran, a washed-up genre novelist, has an espresso maker that just won’t die. When he calls Javatek, the company that makes the espresso maker, he doesn’t realize the needs and wants surrounding it even though he wants it gone. Ozena Webb, single mother and Javatek’s top customer service rep, is the person Willy contacts. The story begins to unfold sucking you in for more in all 4 chapters.

As for Ozena, she spends every evening playing board games with her young son who is mentally disabled from an early unknown childhood accident.

The final character, Shaq, is a small and scraggy homeless man with trauma-induced blank spots on his memory. While assisting Father Joe at the Mercy Mission, he crosses paths with Willy Finneran after an unexpected event caused by Willy while driving.

As the stories of these 3 characters intersect, the narrative deals with hope, naïveté, comic relief & childlike attraction. This unforgettable book reveals that no matter how far one has strayed from hope and faith, there is always a way to return. I believe this story is already a classic even though it has not been out a long time. It reminds me of Forrest Gump meets Fried Green Tomatoes which meets the face of God because I think all three deals with hope, faith and perseverance to be better than we all wanted to be the day before. Forrest Gump did, Idgie Threadgoode did, and God wants to meet us where we are and make us better. Just like Forrest Gump and Fried Green Tomatoes left me wanting for more, Return Policy left me asking for more. The ending was sweet and not too abrupt. I felt like I was finishing reading a good diary or journal of someone, just as the story seemed to begin. I give this book 4 ½ out of 5 stars. Thank you for your humor and southern comfort in the story Mr. Snyder!

Be blessed….

Brad

Book Review of “Double Cross” written by James David Jordan

“Double Cross” is the second novel in a series by James David Jordan. This book, not to be confused with a title of the same name by James Patterson, is a suspense thriller following the former Secret Service agent Taylor Pasbury. Her story this time deals with the fallout after the death of prominent televangelist Simon Mason. This tragedy came at the hands of Muslim extremists in the Middle East while they held his daughter Kasey hostage. His death should have been the end to all injustice that happened around Simon Mason Ministries but now the target is Taylor. Taylor’s viewpoint is expressed throughout the book.

Having not read Mr. Jordan’s first book “Forsaken,” I did not feel that I missed out on anything since he seemed to summarize what happened in it well as this story first began. I appreciate it when author’s do this so that I do not feel lost and can pick up the story from any book. “Double Cross” has a great suspense character in Taylor Pasbury. It is like following Jason Bourne, Jack Ryan or Jack Bauer from their points of view. I hope that Mr. Jordan continues this character so I can follow it as long as James Patterson’s Alex Cross character has continued for him. This is my first reading of a James David Jordan book and I must say that I am impressed. I give it 4 out of 4 stars.

Be blessed!

Brad

Deliver Us From Evil book review

In “Deliver Us From Evil” by Robin Caroll, the plot of U.S. Marshall Roark Holland having to transport a heart to a critical witness of a case dealing with the largest child sex trafficking ring in history is a grabbing premise. The setting, of the Great Smoky Mountains as a backdrop during a blizzard, is filled with high energy throughout and this could also be another attention getter. Robin Caroll’s beautiful descriptions and story telling is magic. She has twists and turns, likable characters, and a little bit of romance for all to enjoy.

Why should men want to read this female author? The tastefully done suspense scenes with exploding elevators and gun violence taking you from Point A to Point B in Knoxville, Tennessee in one piece, hopefully is a first reason why. Another reason is how Roark works with a strong female character Brannon Callahan. She is a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Forestry Service and a real professional. They become attracted to one another and this is played out well. The borderline descriptions of what child sex trafficking looks like and how males and females deal with it, made me as a reader also interested in the storyline.

What makes this a Christian book? God is questioned, shown and called upon through various characters in this story. Brannon Callahan and her partner, Lincoln Vailes, are very good friends who happen to be coworkers. In many scenes with them, glimpses of God are told the best as they quiz each others knowledge of scripture.

I give this book a 3 ½ out of 4 stars and a rating of PG-13 for the content discussed. This book is for those wanting to escape into great storytelling. I hope you pick up a copy and enjoy it as I did.

Be blessed!

Brad

By the way, This book does not come out until February 2010.

“From Peanuts To The Press box” book review

Eli Gold, when you hear that name does anything come to mind? Well, unless you are a sports fan of NASCAR, college football or hockey you probably don’t have a clue. Eli Gold is the voice of University of Alabama football and a voice on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) every Sunday during race weekends. He is also on “NASCAR Live” Tuesday nights talking about NASCAR racing. If you are a die hard sports fan or know someone who is a die hard one then you need to read this book. It is titled “From Peanuts To The Press box: Insider Sports Stories from a life behind a Mic.” The stories told are endearing, funny, informative, sad and entertaining. I really enjoyed the book and will recommend it to all my friends who are fans of the sports mentioned above. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. Thank you Mr. Gold for an interesting and entertaining history book for this reader!

Be blessed….

Brad