"The Ambition" by Lee Strobel

If you've never read the "Case for..." series of books by Lee Strobel, you are missing out on pages upon pages of excellent and worth-while apologetics reading. The interview-style writing of those books really helps keep your attention - and makes you feel like you are part of a conversation instead of just listening to a bunch of facts.

That being said, this debut novel by Lee Strobel had me anticipating great things. It failed to deliver....  The story centers around a megachurch pastor, Eric Snow, who has political aspirations. He is being pushed along on his journey by a member of his church leadership staff who (apparently) sees a jump-start for her own career. His co-pastor, however, feels like Snow is betraying his God and his church. His main rival for the political position has a few skeletons in his closet...  Following all of this action is a reporter, who also happens to be an atheist.

There's more to the story than that - but that's the main idea. I feel like Strobel really missed out on some great opportunities for suspenseful action. The ending was also very abrupt - which is dissatisfying when you've put so much time into reading a book.

On top of that, the story-line just wasn't as engaging as I'd hoped. Some of the plot twists were predictable (as was the resolution to the story). But the final straw was the totally unnecessary swear word that Strobel threw in. It doesn't matter that a "bad guy" said it, and he was really, really angry when he said it. There is no purpose or need for cursing in a book written by a Christian author and marketed to Christian audiences.

So, for the aforementioned reasons, I give this book a 2 out of 5 stars.