Adam
Ted Dekker
BOOK/FICTION
Release date: 04.01.2008
382 pages

FBI agent Daniel Clark is on the hunt for a serial killer known simply as Eve, who has already killed 16 victims. It's already clear to others that his investigation has become an obsession, but can Daniel put an end to this murdering spree? As Daniel gets closer to the truth about Eve, he must also face the truth in himself. 

Dekker returns with another novel, this one falling under his "thriller" section. Dekker is churning out books on a level with James Patterson (doesn't he always have a new one on the stands?) but without the benefit of ghost writers. It's a testament to Dekker's creativity and determination to get ideas fleshed out on paper in a timely fashion.

Ultimately, however, his last few books have come across as feeling a bit rushed, and Adam is no exception. Maybe my expectations were a bit too high. After reading books like Saint and Skin that relied heavily on supernatural elements and quirky characters, I was hoping for something a bit different. While Adam starts off that way, by the end it becomes very similar to the last part of Dekker's other works.

I don't particularly blame the supernatural stuff for this, since I thought Black and Red (and even Blink) were extremely well-written and had a good balance and strong characters. Maybe it's just a matter of Dekker writing too fast or having too many irons in the fire. Either way, his current stuff still doesn't match up to his earlier stuff.

Although Dekker does save one big twist for the end, it comes off feeling a bit cheap since there was no hint of it throughout the book. I understand not wanting to telegraph a big reveal, but the result is that it's less of a twist and more of a "what?" moment. So it's not a 'surprise birthday party' kind of surprise, but more like a 'you just ran over a nail and now have a flat tire' kind of surprise.

REVIEW ARCHIVE

I haven't done any music reviews in a long time ... and I'm not doing one today, either! But since I still listen to music, I thought I'd throw out a list of the some of my favorite songs right now. So, here's what's getting the most plays on the iPod:

	Never Going Back to OK The Afters
	Count Me In Leeland
	A Thousand Winters Melting The Myriad
	Out of Control Andy Hunter
	Friend Like That Hawk Nelson
	Unbreakable Fireflight
	Believe Mainstay
	100 Sho Baraka
	Go Buck Flame
	We Need Each Other Sanctus Real

Working with teenagers is great.

For one, it gives you plenty of "old moments" when you realize that all of your witty pop culture references are completely lost on people who weren't even born when you started high school. Or college.

For example, last night at church I referenced the Far Side comic strip. You know what that is, right? Sure. Everybody does, right? No. Not one of them had any idea what it was. They had never seen one or even knew of it's existence. (I was too scared to ask about Calvin and Hobbes.)

[Side Note: I had planned on running a couple of Far Side strips in this post for edutainment purposes, but apparently Gary Larson has quite a legal team that is very serious about copyright infringement, so you'll have to do your own legwork on this one.]

As Tricia tried to explain the concept of the Far Side, she said that it was more of a dry humor, "kind of like Mark's." To which one of the teenagers replied: "then I guess it's not that funny."

So apparently I'm old and dull. (If we could have worked "balding" in there I would have had the trifecta!) Of course, the same student that made the comment was involved in this creation a few nights earlier:

Hold Tight
Harlan Coben
BOOK/FICTION
Release date: 04.15.2008
418 pages

As Mike and Tia Baye feel their son Adam drifting further away, they make a difficult choice to spy on their son. They use computer software to track his messages and online conversations, hoping to discover the source of his increasing angst. But they aren't prepared for what they find, and the search for the truth sends the entire family into a dangerous spiral of lies, threats, and murder.

With that, Harlan Coben returns for his 15th novel. (I'm going by the list in the front of this book, but I seem to remember him having a couple of earlier releases before he started the Myron Bolitar series.) I have often talked about my admiration of Coben's ability to weave an intricate plot while still capturing the nuance of dialogue and appropriate pacing. While I don't consider Hold Tight to be his finest work, he continues to hone his craft and provide a satisfying story.

Coben also makes good use of the secondary cast, and unlike too many other authors, nearly every character he introduces has a part to play in the story, and -- as it turns out -- some of them are more connected to what's going on than even they realize at first.

REVIEW ARCHIVE

Today is my brother Luke's 30th birthday! Happy birthday, bro!

According to USGS.gov, there was a earthquake of a 5.4 magnitude on the Richter Scale up between Indiana and Illinois and we felt one of the aftershocks. (If you visit the site, be sure to click on "USA" under the Recent Earthquakes section in the left-hand column to see the map...and be thankful you don't live in California.)

UPDATE: Turns out it was a 5.2 magnitude. We also had two aftershocks, but I could only feel the one around 11:00am. Also, I had some serious website server issues this weekend, so the site wasn't online. (Actually, the whole thing had to be erased from the server and re-uploaded. Not a lot of fun and very time consuming.) But we're back now!

His due date is May 16, but people are starting to predict that he might get here a bit early. Tricia and I are considering starting a betting pool to raise some extra money for the little guy. (Just don't tell my bookie.)

Quick reminder: Today is the deadline to file your 2007 income tax returns. If you need some last-minute help, I heard on the news last night that Staples is offering customers the chance to make free copies of their 2007 returns, but that is only available today.

And now, a review:

Blue Heaven
C. J. Box
BOOK/FICTION
Release date: 01.08.2008
344 pages

I had never heard of C. J. Box before stumbling across his book in a local bookstore. I quickly scanned the back cover and saw that this novel was endorsed by Harlan Coben and Tess Gerritsen, both of whom I tend to think can write a pretty good yarn.

I was intrigued enough to give this book a shot, and I'm glad I did. It's nothing too earth-shattering in terms of storylines: two children witness a shocking murder in the outskirts of a small Idaho community. This sets off a chain of events that uncovers old secrets, draws strangers together, and changes its characters forever. (Vague enough for you?)

Box clearly has a knack for writing, and the book read very easily. There is a bit more cursing than I thought was necessary, but it seemed to stay shy of being too over-the-top vulgar. Aside from one dialogue exchange near the beginning of the book, there aren't very many overtly sexual references either.

REVIEW ARCHIVE

The Godly Man's Picture
Thomas Watson
BOOK
Release date: 1666
252 pages

What does godliness look like? For Watson, a godly person is not merely one who professes God, but one who possess the same character traits and acts in a similar manner to God. In short, a godly person does not simply say they are godly, but displays that godliness in Godlikeness.

Watson wrote this book back in 1666, and yet it remains remarkably readable and relevant in the present (as all of the Puritan writings are proving to be). I have actually had the privilege of reading Watson before, as his work on The Lord's Supper has long been a favorite of mine. Honestly, I preferred Supper over this book, although that is not to say Picture was a disappointment.

I will admit to reading this book rather choppily (is that a word?) during March...and into April as you can tell by the date on this post. I have no doubt that this haphazard method fed into some of the misgivings I found as I was reading. Although I was always intrigued by what Watson was saying, it seemed a bit long in some places, and too short in others. While the frequent heading and sub-heading breaks made for good places to pause while reading, they also disrupted the flow of the book.

Compared to other Puritan writers, Watson is more of the "one-liner" style than, say, Flavel. Where Flavel would write a paragraph that only began to sink in after reading it, Watson brings his arguments to a head and then delivers the knockout punch. There are certainly merits to either style, but it does tend to make Watson's quips a bit more memorable. (You can see a sampling of this in the pulled quotes below.)

Ultimately, while this book was a very solid work, it failed to have the same impact that Sibbes' Reed and Flavel's Providence did. Perhaps it's not entirely fair to make such comparisons. In either case, Watson paints a solid Picture that, while not his best, it certainly worth the read. B

REVIEW ARCHIVE

If you are interested in Timmy Brister's Puritan Reading Challenge for 2008, visit his site by clicking here. April's book is The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs.

Here are some quotes from The Godly Man's Picture:

A man has no more power to change himself than to create himself. [13]

A godly man bears God's name and image; godliness is Godlikeness. It is one thing to profess God, another thing to resemble him. [32]

Pride is the greatest sacrilege; it robs God of his glory. [83]

Praying without faith is shooting without bullets. [90]

It is better to have God approve than the world applaud. [97]

The people of God are beholden to their troubles; they would never have had so much grace, if they had not met with such severe trials. [125]

We give thanks when we live thanks. [134]

It is not the quantity but the quality; it is not how much we do but how well. A musician is commended, not for playing long but for playing well. We must not only do what God appoints but as God appoints. [165]

The godly understand the mystery of living by faith: they can trust God where they cannot trace him. [199]

Self-ease, self-ends, whatever comes in competition with (or stands in opposition to) Christ's glory and interest must be denied...Self-love is self-hatred. The man who cannot get beyond himself will never get to heaven. [214]

Tricia and I have been married one year today! It has truly been the best year of my life. Which meant a lot to Tricia, because (as she said in response) "you have a lot of years on you."

In some ways it's hard to believe that it has already been one whole year since our wedding. In other ways, it really does feel like we've been married for a long time. There's just something about being married to her that feels so natural and easy. I guess some people might just say that we're in the "honeymoon phase" but I think it's deeper than that.

To celebrate our anniversary, we had lunch at Masterson's, the same place our wedding reception was held. Since the first anniversary is the "paper anniversary" Tricia (most awesome wife that she is) surprised me with tickets to see my two favorite baseball teams, the Mets and the Reds, play this summer!

The truly amazing part of this gift is that she doesn't like baseball at all, but is willing to go and sit through a game with me because she knows that I like baseball. I know there are other guys out there who might take issue with what I'm about to say, but I will stand by it: I have the best wife ever!!

In other anniversary news, our wedding photographers (Monarch Photography) are sending us the disc of our wedding photos, something they do for all of their clients on their first anniversary.

Some of you long-time readers might remember that one of the photos they took (pictured here) was used for the cover of Kentucky Bridal Magazine last year. Turns out, that same photo has won two other awards (including a Fuji Masterpiece award, which sounds quite nice) and is on its way to a national competition! 

Most of you probably know this already, but I just found out about an addition to Christian radio in the greater Louisville area. You can now hear Way-FM on 104.3 or you can listen online at wayfm.com.

Way-FM has been around for nearly 20 years, but this is the first time you can hear it in Louisville. They target teens and young adults, so their music is a bit more modern than other Christian stations. That means that Louisville now has the following options for Christian music:

88.5     WJIE (mostly adult contemporary format; lots of "classics")

88.9     Air-1 (more youth-oriented; modern music)

94.7     The Spirit (mostly talk and preaching; southern gospel on weeknights/weekends)

104.3   Way-FM (youth and young adult stylings; modern music)

104.7   Air-1 (simulcast of 88.9 frequency)

105.9   The River (billed as "positive" music; some non-Christians songs are played)

Honestly, I prefer the music of Air-1 a bit more than the others, but it's still hard to get a clear signal from them in certain parts of the city. Having Way-FM is a nice alternative.