Sherlock Holmes and Watson Time Travel to Solve Biblical Mysteries

If you love mysteries and Sherlock Holmes, this is a great read. The author has done an excellent job of giving the book the feel of the Sherlock Holmes collection. I loved it.

After a three week disappearance, Watson finds Sherlock Holmes on an unused paddle steamer. At the request of a mysterious client, he has constructed a time machine; the plans for which he pilfered from Moriarty. In addition to commissioning the building of the time machine, the client gives them Biblical

mysteries to solve. Usually these require the sleuths to appear in other lands and other times, sometimes dressed as natives, sometimes a Londoners.

The Biblical puzzles are all fascinating. The author has done a considerable amount of research and all his facts seem to be accurate. I enjoyed each one, although some, like “The Hanging Man” were particularly well done.

I highly recommend this book, if you're a Sherlock fan. I think the mysteries can be enjoyed by both believers and non-believers for the sheer fun of the stories.

I reviewed this book for the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze Program.  

The Worlds of Ultra Running and Biotechnology Meet in the Fight to Save a Little Girl's Life

As the story opens, Caleb Oberest is running a 100 mile race across the mountains. He hasn't always been an ultra runner. He left his conservative job to join the cult-like training center run by Mack. The rules are strict and the punishment is expulsion. Caleb is breaking the rules, but he can't help himself, he has fallen in love with a new member and her baby daughter. When he learns that the baby has a rare and fatal genetic disease he calls on his brother Shane.

Shane works for a biotechnology company. He isn't exactly estranged from his brother, but he doesn't understand him. When Caleb explains that he needs Shane's help to save the little girl's life. Shane isn't sure what to do, but he is expecting his own baby, and he can't turn away from his brother's need.

I found this book hard to get into. The opening chapters focus on running with a graphic description of how painful running a 100 mile race is, calling on every ounce of endurance the runner has. It was interesting, but not being a runner, I found it a bit tedious.

The characters are not stereotypes, but they're not complex either. Likewise, the plot is quite straightforward. Since it revolves around the baby girl, it is easy to feel sympathetic toward the struggles of the characters. However, for my taste, it wasn't enough to keep my interest.

The book is well researched in both the areas of ultra running, and biotechnology and cancer research. The focus is on people pushing themselves beyond where they think they can go. This is what Caleb finds so addictive about running. I recommend this book if you're a runner, or interested in the sport, but if you're interest in running is low, this is probably not the book for you.

I reviewed this book for Net Galley.

Christianity and the Arts

Creativity is a gift from God. Great literature, music, and painting, whether by Christians or pagans, present the truths of human existence. This is the basis of Barrs' discussion of the arts as an important part of the Christian experience.

Echoes of Eden are the way God made the world. In almost all good literature the three fundamental themes are: “The beauty of creation, the appalling reality of evil, and the universal human longing for redemption and a better world.” (p. 131) Great works of art can come from the ancients, or from people who embrace another religion, but they all have in common a view of the world as God created it.

I enjoyed this book. In the opening chapters Barrs discusses the relationship of the arts to Christianity. In the subsequent chapters he uses the work of C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, Shakespeare, and Jane Austen to illustrate his point about the presence of Christian ideals in a variety of works.

Some readers may be surprised by the inclusion of J,K, Rowling in this list. However, Barrs makes good points about the themes of the Harry Potter books: self-sacrifice and love. Children and adults love these books, and I think it is as much for the themes as for the delightful world and interesting characters. If anything helps our children to become readers, we should encourage it. Creativity and the ability to enter imaginary worlds through the written word are gifts from God and should be treated as such.

I was disappointed that the only areas of the arts included in this book were the literary examples. However, since this is Barrs area of expertise it can be forgiven. I would love to see a similar book that included music and painting.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy literature. It is a treat.

I reviewed this book for Crossway.

A Thrilling Race to Recover a Kidnapped Child

Former US Marshal Simon Fisk has just recovered another kidnapped child in France and is heading home when he's detained by the French Police. Six-year-old Lindsay Sorkin has disappeared from the suite where she was staying with her parents. They are distraught. The police give Fisk an option: go to jail for smuggling the child he recovered out of France, or help find Lindsay. Simon avoids looking for kidnapped children unless an estranged parent is the kidnapper. He can't stand the reminder of his daughter's kidnapping and his wife's subsequent suicide.

With no real option, but to help the Sorkins, Fish takes off on at a high-speed chase through the seedy areas of Paris and on to Poland and Germany. Time is running out for Lindsay, and he doesn't want another dead child on his conscience.

Very fast paced thriller. If you like action this is definitely a book you'll enjoy. The plot has numerous twists.

The ending is a surprise, although the author is good about leaving clues throughout the story.

I highly recommend this book if you like thrillers and a good mystery.

I reviewed this book for Net Galley.

The Aftermath of a Family Scandal

Fifteen-year-old Thea Atwell is angry and somewhat frightened. She knows she's responsible for the tragedy that is ripping her family apart, but she hates the idea of being abandoned at the Yonahlossee Riding Camp in the mountains of North Carolina far from her beloved home in Florida.

Thea has lived a sheltered life with her parents and twin brother, Sam, on their thousand acre citrus plantation. Taking lessons from her father, she's never been to school and has no girl friends. Her favorite companion is her pony Sasi. This makes Yonahlossee particularly difficult. She has no idea what to expect from other girls.

Thea, however, is adaptable and soon has a best friend. She's an excellent rider and shows that she can excel in an area important to camp status. Although she makes a place for herself at Yonhalossee, she is homesick throughout the first half of the novel. It is only after an illness when she realizes that her parents won't come for her that she decides to make a way for herself and forget her family. How well she succeeds is the second half of the book.

I enjoyed the book, particularly the descriptions of the riding camp. The author does a good job of portraying a girl who loves horses and lives to ride. The thirties were a different time when being respectable was much more important than it is today. I thought the setting and time period were well done.

The characters were interesting. The girls all have individual personalities and it was fun to get to know them and become involved in their lives. My one criticism of the book is that the secret that seemed so terrible was used a gimmick to keep the tension high. Personally, I figured out what had happened, if not in all the particulars, at least in general. It was obvious from the opening, so dragging the secret out through three hundred plus pages got a bit wearing.

If you love horses, you'll enjoy this book. I did.

I reviewed this book for the Amazon Vi

ne Program.

Racial Relations in the South of 1958

Ivy arrives home at four in the morning. She hopes to not be caught, but that hope vanishes when she hears her sister, Mary Ella, screaming in the upstairs bedroom. It's not a nightmare. Mary Ella is ready to have her baby. The problem is the baby's father is unknown, and Ivy is terribly afraid that Eli, their black neighbor, is the father.

This is the south, North Carolina to be exact, in 1958 and having a black baby could mean that Ivy, Mary Ella and their grandmother

lose their home.

Ivy was late coming home because she and Henry Gardiner, her long time playmate, were fooling around with a Ouija board in the church. Did they really call up a spirit?

The short story is a good introduction to the longer work “Necessary Lies.” It portrays the difficulty of growing up poor in the south and the racial tensions that sprang from blacks and whites living close together, but supposed to stay apart.

Ivy is a delightful character. She's game to wander around with Henry late at night having adventures, but she cares a lot about her family and tries her best to make things work so that Mary Ella's baby will be born alive.

I thoroughly enjoyed this taste of “Necessary Lies” and hope to enjoy the full book.

What Happens to Someone Caught in a Cover-up?

George is Beckett is naïve. He's invited to a party at the home of super-rich Senator Gregory and envisions himself shaking the senator's hand, telling him he admires his work and learning something about the Washington scene. Instead, he witnesses two of the senator's nephews molest a virtually unconscious girl. It's the turning point in his life.

George castigates himself for not doing something about the rape until it's over. He's even more unhappy when both the father of the girl and a representative from the Gregory family come to solicit his help. The Gregory's want him to cover-up what he saw. The girl's father wants justice.

Years later another murder on Cape Cod appears to involve the Gregorys. George is now an Assistant District Attorney. He owes his job to the Gregorys, but can he let this murder go by and not do the right thing? 

The super-rich, politically well connected family is featured in the book, but the story isn't about the crimes or misdemeanors committed by family members, it's about the cover-up of those criminal behaviors and what happens to the people who are bought off. It affects each life in a different way, but all the people who accept the largess to keep quiet are changed.

The story opens well. Although it's clear from the beginning who is responsible for the murder and rape, the story has momentum because the main character, George, follows the clues and changes his outlook by what he finds. That said, the book begins to drag about halfway through. George visits a great many people but asks basically the same questions. It gets boring, but there is enough violence to keep the story moving.

The setting is good. Wallace clearly knows Cape Cod. T

he other settings are well done although they range from Idaho to Costa Rica. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it as a character study rather than a mystery.

I reviewed this book for Net Galley.