Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1069
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
The Cross and The Shack 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.
The far-and-away top-selling Christian book this summer has been "The Shack." In fact, it is currently the third top-selling book on Amazon.com for all categories.
I read "The Shack" in May. Since then, I have talked to friends who have read the book, read rave (and critical) reviews about the book, and heard of a few Christian leaders I know who have distributed the book en masse.
I feel that this book is theologically wrong on at least one deal-breaker point and, therefore, dangerous. This is especially true because novels (like "The Shack") often have a unique power to change one's "emotional mind" - often without the reader even knowing it.
Side note: It is not cool to dismiss or not care about "theology." Theology can be defined as "understanding God." It is 'reality suicide' to dismiss it because our theology forms the bedrock of everything we believe, are and do.
I am going to express my concern about "The Shack" with a single example. Arguments with a single example are often weak. Unless that example is true and critically-important.
"The Shack" twice points out that God the Father ("Papa") has nail-prints in his/her hands. The author says that God the Father was hanging on the cross as much as Jesus was, and that God the Father was right there with Jesus throughout the whole process. God the Father is then asked why the Bible quotes Jesus on the cross as saying "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He answers that it just felt to Jesus that God the Father had forsaken Him, but it didn't really happen.
If this is true, then our sins remain unpaid for, the Bible is wrong, and the cross was a fallacy. The Bible says that when Jesus Christ died on the cross, God the Father 'made him sin' (2 Corinthians 5:21) and forsook him (Matthew 27:46). To say that God did not 'actually' forsake Jesus is to call Christ ignorant of what was really happening (which is scary). Indeed, God was the one who punished Christ. It was the Divine Paradox of history. And through it Christ conquered sin and death (John 11:25-26).
So let's be on guard with "The Shack" and everything else that comes our way. Let us not be grace-killing, nit-picking, hypocrisy-filled, division-causing armchair Christians. At the same time, let us not be easily swayed and weak-willed (2 Timothy 3:6), let us be on our guard against false teaching (2 Timothy 2:15, 2 Peter 2:1-3; 11-19), and, as our Lord exhorted us, let us be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16). It is the only way.
Editorial Review:
Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
The extraordinary new Gabriel Allon novel from the gold standard (The Dallas Morning News) of thriller writers.
Over the course of ten previous novels, Daniel Silva has established himself as one of the worlds finest writers of international intrigue and espionage a worthy successor to such legends as Frederick Forsyth and John le Carré (Chicago Sun-Times)and Gabriel Allon as one of the most intriguing heroes of any thriller series (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
Now the death of a journalist leads Allon to Russia, where he finds that, in terms of spycraft, even he has something to learn. Hes playing by Moscow rules now.
This is not the grim, gray Moscow of Soviet times but a new Moscow, awash in oil wealth and choked with bulletproof Bentleys. A Moscow where power resides once more behind the walls of the Kremlin and where critics of the ruling class are ruthlessly silenced. A Moscow where a new generation of Stalinists is plotting to reclaim an empire lost and to challenge the global dominance of its old enemy, the United States.
One such man is Ivan Kharkov, a former KGB colonel who built a global investment empire on the rubble of the Soviet Union. Hidden within that empire, however, is a more lucrative and deadly business: Kharkov is an arms dealerand he is about to deliver Russias most sophisticated weapons to al- Qaeda. Unless Allon can learn the time and place of the delivery, the world will see the deadliest terror attacks since 9/11and the clock is ticking fast.
Filled with rich prose and breathtaking turns of plot, Moscow Rules is at once superior entertainment and a searing cautionary tale about the new threats rising to the Eastand Silvas finest novel yet.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 71
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: Brunonia Barry dreamt she saw a prophecy in a piece of lace, a vision so potent she spun it into a novel. The Lace Reader retains the strange magic of a vivid dream, though Barry's portrayal of modern-day Salem, Massachusetts--with its fascinating cast of eccentrics--is reportedly spot-on. Some of its stranger residents include generations of Whitney women, with a gift for seeing the future in the lace they make. Towner Whitney, back to Salem from self-imposed exile on the West Coast, has plans for recuperation that evaporate with her great-aunt Eva's mysterious drowning. Fighting fear from a traumatic adolescence she can barely remember, Towner digs in for answers. But questions compound with the disappearance of a young woman under the thrall of a local fire-and-brimstone preacher, whose history of violence against Whitney women makes the situation personal for Towner. Her role in cop John Rafferty's investigation sparks a tentative romance. And as they scramble to avert disaster, the past that had slipped through the gaps in Towner's memory explodes into the present with a violence that capsizes her concept of truth. Readers will look back at the story in a new light, picking out the clues in this complex, lovely piece of work. --Mari Malcolm
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 106
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
Brad Thor, master of suspense and New York Times bestselling author of The First Commandment, returns with his highest-voltage thriller to date. In a pulse-pounding, adrenaline-charged tour de force, Navy SEAL turned covert Homeland Security operative Scot Harvath must race to locate an ancient secret that has the power to stop militant Islam dead in its tracks.
June 632 A.D.: Deep within the Uranah Valley of Mount Arafat in Mecca, the Prophet Mohammed shares with his closest companions a final and startling revelation. Within days, he is assassinated.
September 1789: U.S. Minister to France Thomas Jefferson, who is charged with forging a truce with the violent Muslim pirates of the Barbary Coast, makes a shocking discovery - one that could forever impact the world's relationship with Islam.
Present day: When a car bomb explodes outside a Parisian café, Scot Harvath is thrust back into the life he has tried so desperately to leave behind.
Saving the intended victim of the attack, Harvath becomes party to an amazing and perilous race to uncover a secret so powerful that militant Islam could be defeated once and for all without firing another shot, dropping another bomb, or launching another covert action.
But as desperate as the American government is to have the information brought to light, there are powerful forces aligned against it - men who are just as determined that Mohammed's mysterious final revelation continue to remain hidden forever.
What Jason Bourne was to the Cold War, Scot Harvath is to the War on Terror. Brad Thor has created "the perfect all-American hero for the post September 11 world" (Nelson DeMille) and will keep readers glued to the pages as he once again takes them across the globe on a heart-pounding chase where the stakes are higher than they have ever been before.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain.
Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense.
It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife.
Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds–a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death.
And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith.
Praise for The 19th Wife “This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult...Ebershoff (The Danish Girl) brilliantly blends a haunting fictional narrative by Ann Eliza Young, the real-life 19th “rebel” wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, with the equally compelling contemporary narrative of fictional Jordan Scott, a 20-year-old gay man…With the topic of plural marriage and its shattering impact on women and powerless children in today's headlines, this novel is essential reading for anyone seeking understanding of the subject.” –Publishers Weekly, Starred and “Pick of the Week”
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 366
Average rating: 3.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
Personal vendettas, hidden treasure, and a monkey named Carl will send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most explosive adventure yet.
The Crime: Armed robbery to the tune of nine million dollars
Dom Rizzi robbed a bank, stashed the money, and did the time. His family couldn’t be more proud. He always was the smart one.
The Cousin: Joe Morelli
Joe Morelli, Dom Rizzi, and Dom’s sister, Loretta, are cousins. Morelli is a cop, Rizzi robs banks, and Loretta is a single mother waiting tables at the firehouse. The all-American family.
The Complications: Murder, kidnapping, destruction of personal property, and acid reflux
Less than a week after Dom’s release from prison, Joe Morelli has shadowy figures breaking into his house and dying in his basement. He’s getting threatening messages, Loretta is kidnapped, and Dom is missing.
The Catastrophe: Moonman
Morelli hires Walter “Mooner” Dunphy, stoner and “inventor” turned crime fighter, to protect his house. Morelli can’t afford a lot on a cop’s salary, and Mooner will work for potatoes.
The Cupcake: Stephanie Plum
Stephanie and Morelli have a long-standing relationship that involves sex, affection, and driving each other nuts. She’s a bond enforcement agent with more luck than talent, and she’s involved in this bank-robbery-gone-bad disaster from day one.
The Crisis: A favor for Ranger
Security expert Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, has a job for Stephanie that will involve night work. Morelli has his own ideas regarding Stephanie’s evening activities.
The Conclusion: Only the fearless should read Fourteen.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37
Average rating: 4.0 of 5
Editorial Review:
Lee Child on Rules of Deception Lee Child has crafted one of literature's most popular anti-heroes in the form of Jack Reacher, the iconic ex-military policeman of his bestselling novels. The author of Nothing to Lose talks about what makes a good thriller -- and why Christopher Reich is a novelist worthy of a gold medal.
I discovered Christopher Reich exactly ten years ago. His first book came out around the same time my second book was published. The modest prosperity that one's first book deal brings allowed me to pick up hardcovers that caught my eye. And Numbered Account caught my eye. And it lived up to its promise. It was fast, fresh, glossy, and very exciting. I thought: Reich is a keeper.
And then he got better. It was always clear that he had talent to burn, but he chose to accompany it with a real work ethic. His second, third and fourth books built and built until the release of the next one was an event to be anticipated. (And right there is my only complaint: Reich doesn't write fast enough.)
His fifth book - The Patriot's Club - was a real achievement. It was a slam-dunk winner of the International Thriller Writer's first annual Best Novel award. Awards are often awkward. There's usually a measure of grumbling, because often people don't agree with the choice of winner. But not a word was heard against "The Patriot's Club." In fact nothing was heard, because the applause was too loud.
So I was really looking forward to Rules of Deception. I got an advance copy. I cracked it open. I started reading. Mostly I read like any other reader, but a small part of me reads like a writer. I think all writers experience the same thing. We sense things between the lines, especially energy and inspiration.
And ambition.
Rules of Deception starts with a short prologue, and then the first chapter introduces Jonathan Ransom, the main character. Two pages, and then nine pages. The prologue is a teaser. It baits the hook. It's a two-page masterpiece. It's intriguing, and then it's really intriguing. It promises big things ahead. Then chapter one introduces the guy who's going to have to deal with them. And why, indirectly.
Eleven pages. The reader in me wanted to race ahead. But the writer in me had to pause a moment. Because between the lines I was sensing something. Maybe because it's an Olympic year I can only explain it like this: picture the high jump event. Six competitors are still in. Then five, then four. Then three. Then the gold, the silver, and the bronze are settled. But the rules of track and field allow the winner to go on. The bar is raised. A personal best. The Olympic record. The bar is raised again. World record height. The stadium goes quiet. The jumper stills himself on the runway. Intense concentration. The gold medal is already in the bag. Uncharted territory. The jumper rocks from foot to foot, his mind on nothing except jumping higher than he has ever jumped before.
That's exactly the between-the-lines feeling I was getting from Reich, eleven pages into Rules of Deception - a world-class writer preparing to accomplish something truly noteworthy.
There are a further 377 pages. They live up to the promise.
--Lee Child
Amazon Exclusive Essay: Christopher Reich on Thrillers Name your five favorite books.
For me they're all thrillers. The Day of the Jackal, Eye of the Needle, The Bourne Identity , Noble House, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. My life stopped when I picked up each of those books and it didn't start again until I finished the last page. I didn't actually read them so much as disappear between their covers. That was me trying to catch the Jackal before he assassinated Charles De Gaulle, and me again at the wheel of a Jaguar XKE convertible racing down the Peak in Hong Kong. The fact is that for me life is somehow better when I'm reading a great book. Richer, more exciting…heck, I don't know, just better.
About two years ago, I decided that it was my turn to write the thriller I'd always wanted to read. I knew exactly where to start. All I had to do was "write what I know." These days, I know a lot about the intelligence community. Not the stuff you read about in the papers -- the stuff you never read about. Over the years, I've made a lot of friends in Washington and overseas. Diplomats, spies, soldiers, politicians - men and women at the highest levels of government. And, I can assure you that what they've taught me about how the world really works is a lot more interesting and a lot more frightening than you'd ever imagine.
That's where my newest book, Rules of Deception, comes in. It's a story about an honest and courageous doctor named Jonathan Ransom. He's a surgeon who works for Doctors Without Borders in some of the toughest parts of the world. He's a happily married man with a big heart and a beautiful English wife he deeply loves named Emma who works with him. What Jonathan doesn't know is that nothing about his life is what it seems. In fact, it's all a web of lies and he's caught in the middle of something extraordinarily dangerous.
I can't say more than that, and I shouldn't have to, because if I've done my job right, when you get to page five you'll be hooked and you won't come up for air until it's all said and done.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1752
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
"When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.... When enough years had gone by to enable us to look back on them, we sometimes discussed the events leading to his accident. I maintain that the Ewells started it all, but Jem, who was four years my senior, said it started long before that. He said it began the summer Dill came to us, when Dill first gave us the idea of making Boo Radley come out."
Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, Alabama, during the Depression, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child. The result is a tough and tender novel of race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.
Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale; we first meet the Finches the summer before Scout's first year at school. She, her brother, and Dill Harris, a boy who spends the summers with his aunt in Maycomb, while away the hours reenacting scenes from Dracula and plotting ways to get a peek at the town bogeyman, Boo Radley. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." By turns funny, wise, and heartbreaking, To Kill a Mockingbird is one classic that continues to speak to new generations, and deserves to be reread often. --Alix Wilber
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 108
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Sail 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
Bought this for my mother who is legally blind and listens to audiobooks every day. She thought this was a good read - entertaining and interesting.
Gift for family member in another state 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
I cannot review anything other than Amazon getting the book to my Mother in Wyoming in a timely fashion...
Editorial Review:
Since the death of her husband, Anne Dunne and her three children have struggled in every way. In a last ditch effort to save the family, Anne plans an elaborate sailing vacation to bring everyone together once again. But only an hour out of port, everything is going wrong. The teenage daughter, Carrie, is planning to drown herself. The teenage son, Mark, is high on drugs and ten-year-old Ernie is nearly catatonic. This is the worst vacation ever. Anne manages to pull things together bit by bit, but just as they begin feeling like a family again, something catastrophic happens. Survival may be the least of their concerns. Written with the blistering pace and shocking twists that only James Patterson can master, SAIL takes "Lost" and "Survivor" to a new level of terror.
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Editorial Review:
Jason Bourne returns to Georgetown University and the mild world of his alter ego, David Webb, hoping for normalcy. But after so many adrenaline-soaked years of risking his life, Bourne finds himself chafing under the quiet life of a linguistics professor.
Aware of his frustrations, his academic mentor, Professor Specter, asks for help investigating the murder of a former student by a previously unknown Muslim extremist sect. The young man died carrying information about the group's terrorist activities, including an immediate plan to attack the United States.
The organization, the Black Legion, and its lethal plot have also popped up on the radar of Central Intelligence, where new director Veronica Hart is struggling to assert her authority. Sensing an opportunity to take control of CI by showing Hart's incompetence, National Security Agency operatives plan to accomplish what CI never could-hunt down and kill Bourne.
In Europe, Bourne's investigation into the Black Legion turns into one of the deadliest and most tangled operations of his double life-the pursuit of the leader of a murderous terrorist group with roots in the darkest days of World War II-all while an assassin as brilliant and damaged as himself is getting closer by the minute . . .
I discovered Christopher Reich exactly ten years ago. His first book came out around the same time my second book was published. The modest prosperity that one's first book deal brings allowed me to pick up hardcovers that caught my eye. And Numbered Account caught my eye. And it lived up to its promise. It was fast, fresh, glossy, and very exciting. I thought: Reich is a keeper. 
For me they're all thrillers. The Day of the Jackal, Eye of the Needle, The Bourne Identity , Noble House, and The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. My life stopped when I picked up each of those books and it didn't start again until I finished the last page. I didn't actually read them so much as disappear between their covers. That was me trying to catch the Jackal before he assassinated Charles De Gaulle, and me again at the wheel of a Jaguar XKE convertible racing down the Peak in Hong Kong. The fact is that for me life is somehow better when I'm reading a great book. Richer, more exciting…heck, I don't know, just better. 
