"Illusion" by Frank Peretti

There is no author of Christian fiction that I admire more than Frank Peretti. His book "The Visitation" is my all-time favorite Christian fiction novel (I've read it over a dozen times - I lost count). So many of his books are so good, I'm totally convinced that he is incapable of writing a bad book. He first captured my attention when I was a kid - I read the Cooper Kids series over and over and over again. I then determined to buy every single book that he would ever write. And I've never been disappointed. He writes stories that have wonderful spiritual significance.

Peretti takes a surprising turn with this novel - it is a love story and a time-travel story. As I mentioned in my review of "The Skin Map", time-travel books are very difficult. Some authors try too hard to explain the scientific concepts behind the traveling through time and, in the process, lose the power of the story itself. Peretti not only presents a fascinating description of the process of traveling through time, he ensures that the story itself is what keeps the pages turning. And what a superb story it is! Veteran magician Dane Collins loses his wife in an accident, but then he finds a young girl who is EXACTLY like his wife was - 40 years ago. Could it really be Mandy? It is, and she has somehow figured out a way to manipulate time and space. (By the way, every time I saw the phrase "Dane and Mandy" in the book, I couldn't help but think of my old Greek grammar textbook from Greek II in Bible college, which my professor referred to as "Dana and Mantey", after the authors of the grammar book!)
The love story is really tangible. It is refreshing to see an author write a love story that presents the mystery of true lasting love - no sexuality or youthful lusts necessary. Just love. Sacrificial, committed, never-ending, overcoming love. (Like God's love for us...) This gives me an idea of the character of the man who wrote the novel and what kind of husband he might be.
The ending was everything you could hope for a Peretti novel. There were some fantastic surprises that just blew my mind, and I'm still trying to figure out some of them. The last 100 pages of the book flew by so fast...
What great lessons Frank Peretti is trying to teach us! As Christians, we are living in 2 worlds simultaneously. But, we will never be at rest until we are united with the One we love more than anything!
If you have never read any of Peretti's books, I recommend you start with some of his earlier novels and read this one later. You can tell in this book that he is a veteran author who is very comfortable writing - but you have to read an early book to see how much he has grown as an author.
In short, I give this book an easy 5 out of 5 stars! Bravo, Mr. Peretti!
By the way, you can hear Frank Peretti read the first chapter and watch a video of him talking about recording the audiobook here.