Swipe by Evan Angler

Imagine global war and famine. Imagine this creating isolated city centers around the United States. Now, the leader of the European Union and the victorious American general are joining forces to unite the globe.

They have already instilled the process of getting "marked" on everyone's thirteenth birthday. Once marked, you may be employed, purchase items and basically exist. If you dare to refuse the mark, you will be relegated to the slums of the society without any source of income, care, household, basically anything you think of when you imagine living.

The force behind the enforcement of this mark is called DOME (Department of Marked Emergencies).

In this first book of a new Young Adult series, we meet Logan Langly. A 13 year old who believes someone is watching his every move. He has his doubts about getting marked because his older sister never returned from the procedure. Soon Erin enters his life by way of moving to his neighborhood. Erin's dad works for DOME.

To make matters worse, there's a terrorist group by the name, Dust, who's been known to kidnap and murder pre-marked teenagers. Logan believes he may be next on Dust's crosshairs and one of his middle school friends might just be a Dust spy...

Swipe is an interesting take on the whole Mark of the Beast message from the fundamentalist Christian genre. There are a number of twists involved and as this is only the first in a series, they leave it open at the end. Angler does a great job at connecting the reader with the emotional turmoil you find in the mind of middle schoolers.

The action is part James Bond with the futuristic gadgets and part Percy Jackson with the school yard relationships.

I'm looking forward to Swipe's sequel and if Angler will move more closer to the Left Behind-style writing.


This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Thomas Nelson Publishing.

Paranormal Activity 3

This third venture into the lives of sisters Kristi and Katie being haunted by a demon is more back-story than scary.

You'll discover the origin of the Paranormal Activity. While the DVD boasts, "The last 15 minutes will mess you up for life" have no fear - it really won't. It just provides the explanation.

Back in the 80s when Kristi and Katie were young girls, their mother, Julie, and her boyfriend, Dennis, move into a new home. Dennis videotapes weddings and so we have our collection of video recordings of how this new house is haunted.

Kristi has an invisible friend named Toby and this thing wants something; least of all being called fat. ("Don't call him fat")  Katie doesn't believe Kristi at first. Then she plays Bloody Mary with Dennis' assistant and the house begins to come apart.

While there are a few jump-in-your-seat scares, this film simply cannot recapture the building dread of the original. (But I will admit that a scare involving a closet did cause my heart to literally stop for a split second.) You'll get the multiple camera angels: two bedroom shots and the kitchen. You'll get the sudden kitchen scares and the camera-on-the-oscillating fan gimmick does provide a couple nice effects.

They left enough story open in order to continue the saga if they wish (and they will).

I remember being frightened by the original and then intrigued by the simple genius of the filmmakers. With the two sequels, I seem to have lost whatever "fun" I had. It's almost like the Matrix movies where the original was superb but the sequels were just too heavy for their own good.

Sometimes I wish Hollywood would leave well enough alone and not rush sequels.

Godforsaken by Dinesh D'Souza

This is an absolutely terrific read.

While debating atheists on the existence of God, Dinesh D'Souza has had many run-ins with the, "there is no God because there's so much suffering" argument. In this book he uses just about every ounce of brain power and knowledge to explain how God can exist even though there is suffering.

You will finish this book sixty times smarter than you began it. You will have so much information ponging around in your brain that you will feel a little top heavy.

D'Souza breaks this book into six parts:
1. Introduction which explains his background and the indictment of God.
2. The problems atheists have with contradictions and why our usual answers in defense don't work.
3. Moral Evil. This covers God's omnipotence and our free will along with why God made a lawful universe.
4. Crimes of Nature dives into "acts of God", animal pain and how our universe is a finely tuned creation.
5. The Character of God debates the value of creating, the so-called violent acts of God in the Old Testament, and even the discussion on heaven, hell and divine justice.

Part six is the conclusion which wraps things up beautifully.

This was such a satisfying read. If you like substance to your arguments on God, if you enjoy thinking of the vastness of creation and the brilliance of God, you must read this book.

Can viruses and earthquakes actually be a good thing? This book will open your eyes to the great fact that a person doesn't have to be stupid to be a believer.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Tyndale Publishing.

Illusion by Frank Peretti

It's been how many years since we've read a new book by Frank Peretti? He jumped back into the fray with Illusion.

Two magicians, Mandy and Dane Collins, have had a good run. With a fatal car accident, Dane will never see his wife again.

That is until he runs into a girl, trying her hand at magic on the streets, who looks eerily like Mandy when she was younger.

This book is rough going. Everything about it is slow - until the final climactic conflict. Your imagination will have to work overtime as you try to comprehend Peretti's time-travel explanation and the endless descriptions of each magic trick young Mandy performs in a coffee shop then in Las Vegas.

How many times do we have to read about repeated tricks? It got old.

The explanation of what's going on comes as a breath of fresh air. It occurs just before most readers would give up on the story.

You won't find an overt "Christian" message in this story until the afterward explaining what the story meant to Peretti. This is fine with me. I don't need to read, "Jesus loves me this I know" from every Christian author.

(Ted Dekker taught me that)

Peretti will have his fans for this book. It's good to see him back at the writer's desk. I just hope the editor(s) will have more sway over the layout and excess of the story next time.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Howard Books.

Breath of Angel by Karyn Henley

A very nice introduction to a new world.

Henley uses the otherworldly creatures to connect with the post-Twilight crowd and it works for non Twilight fans as well.

Melaia witnesses a murder. She discovers his "ability" when she attempts to help him. The plot thickens very quickly and this medieval-like temple chantress is away to fulfill her quest.

You'll have the essential, "does he love her or hate her" in the relationship created between Melaia and Trevin.

Sadly, it seems the initial reveal was the only big idea the author had. As the story progressed, it lost some of the steam and intensity. I'm afraid alot of people may give up and never stick with it.

But because this is the first book of a series, I encourage you to have patience. Let the mythology build and allow the story to string you along.

Fantasy plus romance is almost a given anymore unless you're reading Game of Thrones and then you have the guts and nudity. But there's not of that in this book. It's for the youngin's.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by WaterBrook Multnomah publishing.

Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg

I enjoyed the previous work by Tverberg, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus. It simply made sense that I would enjoy this next book.

What pulls this book out from the other "Jesus in his original context" books is the fact that Tverberg zooms into a select few topics instead of trying to cover as many general ideas that the other books try to do.

Instead of overwhelming the reader with surface explanation, you'll dig deep into the words of Jesus and how they reverberate within his Jewish context.

This "new" understanding of the words in Scripture add so much depth that you'll begin to see most of Scripture in this new light...which really isn't new at all. This book just helps us take off our western-tinted glasses and view Jesus as a Jew and not a blue-eyed American.

Even though everyone and their aunt is writing a "Jesus in his context" book. This one stands above the crowd. Pick it up and enjoy!

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Zondervan Publishing.

Our Favorite Sins by Todd D. Hunter

When you have a book backed up by The Barna Group and has a forward by Dallas Willard, you know you're going to get a lot of information.

Hunter has written a book that is easy to read and understand and should be easy to implement if you are serious about applying it to your life.

Do you have sins that you can't seem to shake and if you're honest, you really don't want to get rid of? This fourteen chapter book will provide some much-needed research into why we fall for temptation time and time again.

Some of the practices Hunter suggests appear to originate in the ancient world. Maybe these fellas had an idea on how to deal with temptation better than our Hollywood-centric society.

When we've been saturated with the "victim mentality", it's good and refreshing to read some black and white truth about sin and why we love it so much.

The big idea is to reorganize our desires and allow the church to do the job it was meant to do.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Thomas Nelson Publishing.