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Christian Novel Review

Having always been an avid reader, since becoming a Christian I have found a wealth of reading material in Christian bookshops and in various second hand bookshops. I have found that in Christian novels one often finds truths that help in one’s Christian walk. I enjoy reading about how the various characters deal with life, and I also find I am the richer for reading a really good Christian novel. Certain authors, through their books, give you a real insight into their joys and struggles, which I find very interesting. The books which I am going to review are those which I have really enjoyed, and have read at least twice – some books, for example the “Mark of the Lion “ series by Francine Rivers, I have read at least five times each. The first books that I am going to talk about are the latest two novels by Francine Rivers,


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Monday, 11 July 2011

STORM GATHERING, THE SPLITTING STORM & STORM SURGE BY RENE GUTTERIDGE

STORM GATHERING, THE SPLITTING STORM & STORM SURGE by Rene Gutteridge are a series of thrillers which are well worth reading for the exciting plots and for the strong Christian message that runs throughout.  The storm theme and the theme that "things are not as they seem" flow through the three novels. 
In the beginning of "Storm Gathering" we come across a strange child who is obsessed with fighting the dragon that is trying to hurt his mother.  We only find out who this tortured soul is at the end of "Splitting Storm". The main character, Mick Kline, has always been fascinated with the weather, and is a keen storm chaser.  He is a qualified accountant, who now has a job as a high school coach where he is very undervalued.  He starts out in "Storm Gathering" as a very angry man, a heavy drinker, estranged from his brother Aaron, who is a cop and a committed Christian and who frustrates Mick by always doing things right, while Mick's life is falling apart.  The main cause of the falling out is that Aaron gets engaged to Jenny, who Mick is in love with and who was his girlfriend.  Mick's relationships with women have never been very committed, and he plays hard to get with Jenny and loses her to Aaron. Jenny is a Christian and is drawn to Aaron which infuriates Mick and the story starts with the two brothers in a fist fight.  It is sad, as they have always been close, and Mick used to look up to his older brother until he became "religious" and became a thorn in his side. 
Aaron has always tried to make Mick see that he is not inferior in any way, and tries hard to get Mick to see himself as special, someone who matters to God and to his fellow man.
While Mick is in a state of rejection and anger he goes to a bar to drown his sorrows and meets Taylor Franks, a beautiful blonde who has her own problems of rejection by her ex boyfriend, Sammy Earle, an arrogant attorney who is not all that honest in his legal dealings and who has destroyed Taylor financially whilst destroying her self esteem.  Mick is very drunk and goes home with her.  He wakes up in the morning on the floor with a huge hangover and not much memory of what happened the night before, with Taylor having disappeared.  Mick ends up being accused of kidnapping and possible murder. 
There is an undercurrent of evil, and we feel that with the storm gathering against Mick, his life could go one way or another -he could be destroyed by the storm building up against him, or saved by admitting his inability to cope on his own and surrendering to the only One who can help him.  He is falsely accused and knows he has been set up somehow, not only for Taylor's kinapping and possible murder, but also for the murder of Stephen Fiscall.  Aaron tries to help prove Mick's innocence, but Mick doesn't help matters by running off.  Shep Crawford, a rather weird homicide detective, seems to be the only one who believes in Mick's innocence. Mick's search for truth leads to restored relationships - with his brother and also with the Lord - when he is brought to the end of himself and literally goes through fire and water, and also nearly dies from food poisoning.
In "The Splitting Storm" we find a regenerated Mick Kline, who is now working for the FBI and is living a very different life as a committed Christian.  We find that Aaron has been murdered, and Mick is determined to find his killer.  He has a theory that Aaron was murdered by a serial killer, and looks into several cop murders. Because of his obsession with his brother's murder he is sent to the FBI psychiatrist, Abigail Grenard, who has worked in profiling and who believes in Mick's theory and does some research of her own.  He is also put on thirty days' forced leave as he is not meant to be looking into Aaron's murder and interfering with the FBI's investigation.  One of the murder files fascinates him and he finds Faith Kemper, the blind wife of Paul Kemper, who was murdered in front of Faith.  Paul was a committed Christian, but his brutal murder and her fear for her own life, has made Faith turn away from her childhood faith.  Mick wants revenge against his brother's killer, and Faith is so afraid that she just wants to hide away behind her dark glasses and live quietly with Sissy, her dog.  She trusts no one. She moves every two or so years and tries not to interact with anyone, but she finds a good friend in Dixie and becomes fond of the people who work at the local diner, who are kind to her.  Dixie does all she can to get her to church, but it is through what she and Mick go through in the search for Paul's killer that she eventually turns to the Lord. She and Mick become close and Faith eventually learns to trust him. A splitting storm is one that divides in two - one part dying out and the other one developing into the storm.  Mick has two suspects in Paul's murder case. Abigail helps with profiling both the suspects and the end of the book is very exciting and full of suspense.
Ten years pass in Mick's life and we come to "Storm Surge."  Mick now chases storms and photographs them.  He has always, even during his rebellious days, been someone who wants to help people.  In fact, in the Taylor Franks' case he is the only one who seems to want to find out what has happened to her, to see if she is all right or if she has indeed been murdered. We see him risking his life over and over again to save people's lives.  His fight for truth and justice even causes him to try and find the truth about Stephen Fiscall's murder,  when Sammy Earle protests that he is innocent and is about to be executed for a crime he did not commit.  In fact, it is the realization that Mick risked his life for him which leads Sammy to accept the Lord. He realizes that he has been like Judas at the Last Supper who allowed Jesus to wash his feet and then betrayed Him.  Sammy realizes that he can either be self-sufficient and try and make up for his own sins as best he can, or he can become weak and humble before the Lord and accept what He did for him on the cross. 
Mick and his partner Reggie are called to a fire where they meet Libby Lancaster who works for the ATF.  It is a well known fact that the FBI and the ATF do not enjoy sharing their cases.  At first Libby is very standoffish, but eventually she and Mick become friends and work well together.  The man who is found burnt in the building is Joel Sanderson, who is being investigated by the FBI in an embezzlement case.  He used to work for Ira Leville, who is also under investigation.  There have been a series of arson cases that are connected with businesses that are involved in insurance fraud that lead back to Sanderson and Leville. 
Mick and Libby are injured in another fire where she rushes in to try and save the firefighters and injures herself badly, and Mick tries to go in after her and is flung back and breaks his arm.
Reggie spends his life trying to set Mick up with dates, and he is quite surprised when Mick has not only one woman who he may be interested in but three!  We find out in the end who it is - will it be Jenny, Faith or Libby?
In the end we find Mick and Libby in the middle of a category 5 hurricane, Hurricane Eve, being tossed around by the storm and at the mercy of a deadly killer who has been playing mind games with Mick all along.  Mick comes face to face with evil in the form of a psychopathic killer.
In the end Mick decides what he wants to do with the rest of his life, and who the woman is that he wants to spend the rest of his life with.





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