by Jason Joyner | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews, suspense, Ted Dekker
Read on below, to find out about a free giveaway contest!
This week, the CFBA Tour is featuring the latest thriller from Ted Dekker:
Is this the book that changes what Christian fiction can be about? First, the concept:
It is set in Eastern Europe in 1772, a time of war between the Russian and Turkish empires. The small principality of Moldova, neighbor to Transylvania, is wedged between these two powers, and is a strategic interest.
The empress Catherine the Great sends one of her best soldiers, Toma Nicolescu, to guard over the Cantemir estate. This noble family holds the key to politics in this critical area. It is ruled over by the matriarch Kesia Cantemir, and her twin daughters Natasha and Lucine.
Toma enters this world just as a neighboring duke begins to make his presence known to the Cantemirs. The dashing Vlad van Valerik has his sights on one of the Cantemir twins. But Toma has been smitten by one of the beauties as well.
As passions intertwine, a torrid love story bursts forth. Evil seduces. Death will be known. Love will bloom. And as the back copy says, “Blood will flow.”
—
Ted Dekker is one of the most imaginative writers in CBA fiction today. He writes taut suspense that seldom fails to grip the reader until the last page. He takes chances, and Immanuel’s Veins is a bold thrust against some of the prevailing themes in popular fiction right now.
Dekker will not win over the literati with this novel. This book has a strong idea, and it pushes that idea relentlessly. The two main characters are noble but flawed, and their choices have consequences. Other characters serve the plot, and are not fully fleshed out. In other books, this would bother me. In Immanuel’s Veins, this almost seems necessary, as it is a love affair between two people, in the best sense of the phrase.
It certainly is a sensual book. Dekker dedicates it to King Solomon, he who is often thought to be the author of the Biblical Song of Solomon. He doesn’t hold back in driving home the emotion. He doesn’t titillate, but some may not be able to handle the force he uses to write this book.
Some are saying this is Ted Dekker’s version of a vampire story. I suppose you could say that. Perhaps you should check it out for yourself.
The end point: I am a fan of Dekker’s, but not every book of his is a home run. Immanuel’s Veins is unique in his bibliography, and it is a significant contribution to what fiction can do. I enjoyed it, and I ponder it still. It certainly gets the blood pumping, and it may just be my favorite Dekker book.
He asks the question “what is sacrificial love?” It is a novel written to address that one idea. In conjuction with it, I wrote about it yesterday.
And what did I mean by “Is this the book that changes what Christian fiction can be about?”
Well it seems I’m out of time for today ;). Check back tomorrow for that thought.
And I promised a giveaway! One person who comments on this post will be chosen at random to win a special t-shirt designed by Dekker’s publisher to help share the message “spread the love”. It is a cool T, and I think you’ll like it! Leave a comment, and I’ll choose a winner by Monday, Sept 20.
by Jason Joyner | Sep 15, 2010 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews, suspense, Ted Dekker
Read on below, to find out about a free giveaway contest!
This week, the CFBA Tour is featuring the latest thriller from Ted Dekker:
Is this the book that changes what Christian fiction can be about? First, the concept:
It is set in Eastern Europe in 1772, a time of war between the Russian and Turkish empires. The small principality of Moldova, neighbor to Transylvania, is wedged between these two powers, and is a strategic interest.
The empress Catherine the Great sends one of her best soldiers, Toma Nicolescu, to guard over the Cantemir estate. This noble family holds the key to politics in this critical area. It is ruled over by the matriarch Kesia Cantemir, and her twin daughters Natasha and Lucine.
Toma enters this world just as a neighboring duke begins to make his presence known to the Cantemirs. The dashing Vlad van Valerik has his sights on one of the Cantemir twins. But Toma has been smitten by one of the beauties as well.
As passions intertwine, a torrid love story bursts forth. Evil seduces. Death will be known. Love will bloom. And as the back copy says, “Blood will flow.”
—
Ted Dekker is one of the most imaginative writers in CBA fiction today. He writes taut suspense that seldom fails to grip the reader until the last page. He takes chances, and Immanuel’s Veins is a bold thrust against some of the prevailing themes in popular fiction right now.
Dekker will not win over the literati with this novel. This book has a strong idea, and it pushes that idea relentlessly. The two main characters are noble but flawed, and their choices have consequences. Other characters serve the plot, and are not fully fleshed out. In other books, this would bother me. In Immanuel’s Veins, this almost seems necessary, as it is a love affair between two people, in the best sense of the phrase.
It certainly is a sensual book. Dekker dedicates it to King Solomon, he who is often thought to be the author of the Biblical Song of Solomon. He doesn’t hold back in driving home the emotion. He doesn’t titillate, but some may not be able to handle the force he uses to write this book.
Some are saying this is Ted Dekker’s version of a vampire story. I suppose you could say that. Perhaps you should check it out for yourself.
The end point: I am a fan of Dekker’s, but not every book of his is a home run. Immanuel’s Veins is unique in his bibliography, and it is a significant contribution to what fiction can do. I enjoyed it, and I ponder it still. It certainly gets the blood pumping, and it may just be my favorite Dekker book.
He asks the question “what is sacrificial love?” It is a novel written to address that one idea. In conjuction with it, I wrote about it yesterday.
And what did I mean by “Is this the book that changes what Christian fiction can be about?”
Well it seems I’m out of time for today ;). Check back tomorrow for that thought.
And I promised a giveaway! One person who comments on this post will be chosen at random to win a special t-shirt designed by Dekker’s publisher to help share the message “spread the love”. It is a cool T, and I think you’ll like it! Leave a comment, and I’ll choose a winner by Monday, Sept 20.
by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2010 | Blog, Brandilyn Collins, CFBA, christian fiction, suspense
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
—-
by Jason Joyner | Jun 5, 2010 | Blog, Brandilyn Collins, CFBA, christian fiction, suspense
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
—-
by Jason Joyner | Jun 1, 2010 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews, suspense
I barely missed finishing Travis Thrasher’s latest book, Broken, in time for the CFBA Tour for last week. Here’s my take on the book.
Synopsis:
Laila Torres is a beautiful woman on the outside, by anyone’s standards. Inside she is tormented by choices she has made in the past, and she keeps everyone outside of a shell she has constructed as she tries to run from her past. Holed up in Greenville, South Carolina, working in an inconspicuous job, she is found by a stranger who knows things about her past.
As this stalker haunts her, leaving threatening messages, she starts seeing visions of a dead man. And something more, buried even deeper in the wasteland of her history. Even as a co-worker tries to peel back some of her layers, and her brother tries to track down his long-lost sister, the risks may be too deep for any of them to overcome.
Review:
Nebulous. From Merrian-Webster Online: “lacking clarity of feature or sharpness of outline.” That is the one word that describes Broken the best. Thrasher is staking a claim to the suspense/horror side of Christian fiction. I know other writers that really enjoy his work. As for me, not as much.
There is plenty of building of tension in Broken, and there are some intriguing twists along the way. Laila has a complicated past, so Travis pulls back the layers ever so slowly. This leads to the problem of being nebulous – the book takes too long to develop. By the time I found out certain things that drove along Laila and even other characters, I was reading the book more for obligation than for enjoyment. In trying to keep the mystery hidden, it ends up obscured.
There is some touching resolution towards the end, and I did enjoy that. Some of the circumstances Laila faced did catch my interest to see how she escaped. Still, too much was veiled and strung along by “something in her past is spooking her” throughout the book.
I haven’t really connected with Travis Thrasher’s books in the past, so I think I’ll stop trying. For another point of view, check out my friend Nicole’s take on Broken at her blog, Into the Fire.
—
Disclosure of Material Connection: I’d like to thank Faith Words Publishers for providing me this Book free as part of the CFBA book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
by Jason Joyner | Jun 1, 2010 | Blog, CFBA, fiction, reviews, suspense
I barely missed finishing Travis Thrasher’s latest book, Broken, in time for the CFBA Tour for last week. Here’s my take on the book.
Synopsis:
Laila Torres is a beautiful woman on the outside, by anyone’s standards. Inside she is tormented by choices she has made in the past, and she keeps everyone outside of a shell she has constructed as she tries to run from her past. Holed up in Greenville, South Carolina, working in an inconspicuous job, she is found by a stranger who knows things about her past.
As this stalker haunts her, leaving threatening messages, she starts seeing visions of a dead man. And something more, buried even deeper in the wasteland of her history. Even as a co-worker tries to peel back some of her layers, and her brother tries to track down his long-lost sister, the risks may be too deep for any of them to overcome.
Review:
Nebulous. From Merrian-Webster Online: “lacking clarity of feature or sharpness of outline.” That is the one word that describes Broken the best. Thrasher is staking a claim to the suspense/horror side of Christian fiction. I know other writers that really enjoy his work. As for me, not as much.
There is plenty of building of tension in Broken, and there are some intriguing twists along the way. Laila has a complicated past, so Travis pulls back the layers ever so slowly. This leads to the problem of being nebulous – the book takes too long to develop. By the time I found out certain things that drove along Laila and even other characters, I was reading the book more for obligation than for enjoyment. In trying to keep the mystery hidden, it ends up obscured.
There is some touching resolution towards the end, and I did enjoy that. Some of the circumstances Laila faced did catch my interest to see how she escaped. Still, too much was veiled and strung along by “something in her past is spooking her” throughout the book.
I haven’t really connected with Travis Thrasher’s books in the past, so I think I’ll stop trying. For another point of view, check out my friend Nicole’s take on Broken at her blog, Into the Fire.
—
Disclosure of Material Connection: I’d like to thank Faith Words Publishers for providing me this Book free as part of the CFBA book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
