"Through the Fire" by Shawn Grady

This is the debut novel from veteran fireman Shawn Grady, and it appears that the man has a talent for weaving an engaging story. The story centers around a fireman named Aidan who is still reeling from the accidental death of his father (who was also a fireman). As the book unfolds, Aidan passionately searches for answers regarding his father's death. He is so passionate, in fact, that it costs him his bride-to-be. With some help, Aidan begins to unravel the mystery around his father's death - while daily risking his own life. 

The story is solid and well-written. Shawn Grady also does a great job of letting an outsider like me peek into the daily life of those heroes who save lives every day. The details are not overwhelming - just enough to educate me on the ways of the firefighter. There is a back-story of Aidan's distance from the faith of his father, but I felt like it was a token nod to the target audience (mainly Christians). In fact, all of the scenes in the book that dealt with salvation or Christianity were EXTREMELY vague. So much so that the power of the Gospel is weakened to a degree. There is a difference between avoiding "preachiness" and muddying the water so much that it is no longer clear. I fear the author made the water just a tad too murky. In fact, the scenes of the character getting drunk were more clearly articulated than any of the Christian elements.

One other criticism that I have is the choice of adjectives and nouns used. I'm not talking about swear words. I'm talking about words I've never heard before. I like to think that I have a fairly decent vocabulary - but there were probably two dozen words in the book (maybe more) that were so uncommon that I had to break out the dictionary. This is not a bad thing, per se. Books SHOULD be educational! But it got wearisome. One could picture the author sitting at his writing desk with a fat thesaurus in hand, fervently flipping through the pages to locate the ideal word to use. Sometimes people just want to be moved by the story, not flabbergasted by the words.

All in all, I look forward to reading the next two books by Shawn Grady. I give "Through the Fire" 4 out of 5 stars.

Update on Book Reviews

I thought I would give you an idea of the books that I am planning on reviewing soon:

Recently finished reading, but not yet reviewed:
1. Passages Book 3: Annison's Risk - by Paul McCusker
2. Passages Book 4: Glennall's Betrayal - by Paul McCusker
3. The Man Who Was Thursday - by G. K. Chesterton
4. The Chronicles of Narnia (entire series) - by C. S. Lewis
5. The Knight - by Steven James

Have not yet finished reading (yes, I typically read about 5 books at a time):
1. Enemies Among Us - by Bob Hamer
2. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy - by Eric Metaxas
3. Unveiling the End Times in Our Time - by Adrian Rogers
4. Worship Matters - by Bob Kauflin

Will start reading soon:
1. The Bishop - by Steven James
2. Dreamhouse Kings Book 4: Timescape - by Robert Liparulo
3. Inside Threat - by Jason Elam and Steve Yohn
4. Going Deep - by Gordon MacDonald
5. Book of Days - by James Rubart

"Bright Empires Book 1: The Skin Map" by Stephen Lawhead

The writing of Stephen Lawhead has always impressed me. He is a true master of the craft. He has the rare gift of being able to approach familiar subjects (like time travel and parallel dimensions) and to introduce them in new and engaging ways. And, I must say, that this story is very engaging.
The summary of the plot doesn't quite do it justice: two modern-day people are magically transported to a different world, where they must race against the evil men to get the ultimate prize. That is the gist of the story, but there is SO much more to it!
Mister Lawhead is able to lead you along, following several different characters - and only give you enough information to know their stories are crucially connected, but never enough information to have you guess the outcome. That is the mark of a great writer. His version of time travel possibility is one of the more complete (and clearly stated) that I've ever read, which gives the story a certain credibility. And the idea of the map being made of human skin is certainly realistic (as it has been done by real people), but wonderfully creative nonetheless.
There were a few times where the story focused on one person for so long that, when the next chapter re-visited another character, it took me a moment to remember what was going on the last time I read about them - but this is not a criticism of the writing as much as it is a criticism of my memory! Other than that, I can think of no negative comments to make of this book. The characters are believable, the emotions are tangible, and the mystery is tantalizing. In short, I can hardly wait to read the second story in the series!
I received a free copy of this book from the publishers as part of the Booksneeze bloggers' program. I was not required to write a positive review.

"Swope's Ridge" by Ace Collins

The second book in the "Lije Evans Mysteries" series picks up easily where the last book left off. However, Ace Collins masterfully introduced a secondary plotline in such a way that you could read this book as a stand-alone novel. The talent required to pull this off is extraordinary!
Only a few minor items were negative to me. The first of which is the sheer complexity of the plot. I like twists and stories that bring it all together at the end, but I couldn't keep up with all the facts. (The characters in the novel could, though... and it kinda bothered me that they could but I couldn't....)
The next negative issue revolved around the fact that the protagonists too easily stumbled across necessary information at exactly the right time. Everything was WAY too neat and tidy. It was like one guy would say, "Hey, we need to find out if so-and-so ever had a condo in Miami." Then guy #2 would be like, "Let me check. (whips out cell phone for a brief conversation) Yep, between March and June of 1998."  Not all info was gathered so easily, however.
On a positive note, this book was a little more overtly Christian in content than the last one. And there was one pretty good twist at the end, even though you could see it coming for a little while. Many scenarios in the book were just too far-fetched, though. I'm fairly forgiving, but don't abuse my leniency.
I'd give this book an enjoyable 3.5 out of 5 stars.

"Strike the Dragon" by Charles Dyer and Mark Tobey

I hate to say this, but usually books are put on the "bargain buy" shelf for a reason. If you pay a buck for a brand new book in a bookstore, then don't expect it to be the best book you've ever read. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised though. This book falls somewhere in between. It was a decent (if unoriginal) concept, but the execution was lacking a little bit.... Let me start with the negatives so we can end on a good note.
There were typos scattered throughout, but I can forgive that. Really, my two biggest issues were these:
1) The authors frequently felt the need to describe in very minute detail things that had absolutely no bearing on the plot of the book. It got a little annoying as the book went on. Explanatory comments were inserted at times when they were not necessary at all.
2) Everyone talked like Christians. The cops, the CIA, the Mossad agents, the Muslim terrorists - all of them phrased things in ways that you only hear at church. Now, if you've read any of my other reviews, you know I appreciate CLEAN dialogue. I have little tolerance for Christian authors using curse words. But I mean, there were hardly any contractions used in the dialogue, no slang, no normal street language. (It's hard to explain, but just read about 25 pages from the middle of the book and you'll see what I'm talking about). And the CIA, Mossad, and Chicago Police apparently love to refer to terrorists as "bad guys" over their communication lines with each other. This made the dialogue unrealistic. In fact, more than once I almost gave up on reading the book at all.
Now for the good points. It was truly a Christian novel. In fact one character trusts Christ at the end of the book! The authors used a few opportunities to work in some apologetics, and I appreciated that (even though some would see that as a negative). The book also had some good action near the beginning and some more near the end (however, I feel the authors missed out on some GREAT opportunities for nail-biting suspense). In all, the story was weaved together fairly well.
I would give the book a 3 out of 5.