Blur by Steven James

Steven James turns his talents toward Young Adult novels with Blur the first of a trilogy.

This author is the master thriller. While Blur took a while to get going, I couldn't put this thing down.

Daniel Byers is the star quarterback of his school with a special gift.  When a shy freshman drowns, the school turns out for her funeral. Daniel feels awkward at first and, with a growing headache, "sees" the girl, Emily, reach out from the casket and grab his arm. There's more to the drowning, maybe she was murdered.

James takes the reader though a fantastic journey learning about Daniel, his friends and the new girl, Stacy. He's terrific at forming characters while driving the plot forward (after the first slow parts of course).

As Daniel continues to have these visions, we are pulled along the who-dun-it trail and EVERYONE is a suspect. Before James delivers the big reveal, you will have accused everyone and everyone COULD have plausibly been the killer - even Daniel himself.

There are twists common in thrillers like this and I can't wait to continue this series.


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

Batman: The Court of Owls by Scott Snyder

Batman gets a redo in the New 52 series from DC comics and he is in terrific hands.

Scott Snyder tells a great story to get things started. Gotham City has a legend of a group of people who "run the city" behind the scenes. This court of owls has a vendetta against Bruce Wayne and Batman must do everything he can to find and stop them.

After a first shock to the system of seeing Batman and Joker battling alongside one another, Snyder turns the attention to the task at hand.

I couldn't put this graphic novel down. I thought the illustrations by Greg Capullo were excellent.

The only negative I have is once Batman discovers, or is discovered by, the Court of Owls things get very weird. The surreal aspects of that story development took me out of the story Snyder can built to that point.

This negative will not keep me from reading volume 2. I have to see what happens as they left volume 1 on a wide-eyed inducing cliff hanger.

Godzilla: Awakening by Max & Greg Borenstein

This is a graphic novel prequel to the new Godzilla movie.

Awakening tells the story of the secret organization created to monitor MUTOs and Godzilla. It also explores the backstory of Dr. Serizawa. (The guy who declares, "Let them fight" in the film)

I was not at all impressed with the story. I had read an interview with the author/screenwriter that said while the graphic novel was not mandatory reading to enjoy the film, it did flesh out some of the groups and characters.

For me, this was absolutely not the case. Sure it tells about the creation of Monarch and who Dr. Serizawa is and why he's watching Godzilla but after watching the film, I feel that the exposition from the film did a better job explaining the past than this graphic novel.

On a nitpicky bit, I thought the MUTOs in the graphic novel were not exactly realized. Was this the purpose of the illustrator, Eric Battle? Was the point supposed to be that of humans viewing the creatures and as such not getting a good view? It just didn't work for me to see splashing of ink representing some flying creature without much detail. Godzilla was drawn with more detail but didn't have the flair I was hoping.

This is a decent story for Godzilla diehards, I'm sure, but as a prequel and from the standpoint of a casual fan, this graphic novel failed to deliver.

How Successful People Grow by John Maxwell

First things first: This was previously released as The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth.

This is a shorter book as it seems Maxwell is churning out smaller versions of books at this point.

Like every other Maxwell book, this one is full of insight and clever anecdotes. He doesn't beat around the bush with too many "personal stories" but wants to pass on the sinker quickly.

This is very easy to read. You will probably have it done within a day.

Maxwell has staked his claim on the leadership/personal growth market and he gets the job done.

This book would make a very nice entry point to John's work.

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Center Street.

Managing Stress in Ministry by David & Lisa Frisbie

There is no doubt that almost every job has its share of stress.

I'd go out on a limb and say the stress that comes with being in ministry ranks up there with just about any stress imaginable. David and Lisa Frisbie have written these issues down on paper and provide some ideas on how to manage them.

There are three sections inside.

Section one addresses how stress affects ministry workers as people and then as families. This Impact section unveils what stress can do to your body and what it can do to your closest relationships.

Section two addresses five stressors that impact health and well-being of any ministry. The Frisbie's write about Role Ambiguity, Performance Anxiety, Bivocational Complexity, Financial Scarcity, and Situational Adversity. These are all areas every pastor is quite familiar with.

Section three address the strategies you can implement to reduce the stress. This section includes five secrets pastor's have discovered that resist stress and four habits that can lower stress.

This book is full of practical advice surrounded by biblical examples.

This book was an encouraging read even though I found myself thinking, "I know this but I just don't practice it."

This book was provided for review, at no cost, by Beacon Hill.

Blood Moon Rising by Mark Hitchcock

If you've read anything by Mark Hitchcock, you may be surprised at his conclusions of this book about the moon.

It is certainly interesting to look at the history of the moons rising red during the times of the Jewish festivals. But we don't want to give too much away as to what Hitchcock thinks and concludes about prophecy and the end times hysteria.

This is very easy to read. You won't have to worry about getting an End Times dictionary out to understand the jargon as with other Revelation-like books.

Hitchcock provides an open swath of approaches. Almost a who's-who of thinkers/scholars when it comes to this sort of work. Then he pulls the reader along to his own ideas.

Some will scoff, others will nod in agreement. The bottom line is I don't think he'll change many minds with this book. I think the lines have already been drawn and the teams have been set in stone. No one is changing their minds.

Having said that, I will repeat, this was a very easy read.

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

Cloak of the Light by Chuck Black

Want to gain special abilities? What if those special abilities revealed a terrifying world?

Chuck Black kicks off a new series called Wars of the Realm with book 1: Cloak of the Light.

A physics experiment leaves Drew Carter blind. As his sight returns, he discovers he has special talents.

This book was slow to get going for me. It takes a while for Black to get his characters formed. For some readers, this may cause them to abandon the story too early. Stick with it because this promises to be a great ride.

Fans of Frank Peretti's early "Darkness" books may sink their teeth into this story with glee as we find ourselves neck-deep in spiritual warfare.

This book/series is written with young teens in mind so keep that in mind as you read the obvious good vs evil plot points.

All in all a decent, quick read.

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

The Manual to Manhood by Jonathan Catherman

A fun book with illustrations detailing all the ways to be a man.

Catherman gives plenty of ideas and how-tos to get you in the swing of things. By reading this book you'll learn how to manage a credit card, wear the correct amount of cologne,  plan a date, wear a tie, cook a steak, change a tire, and so much more.

Pretty much anything you'd assume a guy needs to know is in this book. It feels like Catherman took the articles out of GQ and Esquire magazines, freshened them up, edited them for integrity's sake, not to mention decency and plopped them into a book.

Young men will get a kick out of reading this. Older men may read it and reminisce of how things used to be. Ladies may read it and wonder to their boyfriends "Now why can't you start doing this?"

In any event, it is not a sexist thing. Please, oh please, may I not read reviews critical of that.

Read this book for fun and the selected insights provided.


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

Persecuted by Robin Parrish

This book is based on the film by Daniel Lusko.

I am a huge fan of Robin Parrish and his books. I knew, going in, that this wasn't an original story from his mind but I couldn't wait to sink into his storytelling ability. When a book is based on a screenplay, you'd hope authors have some leeway when it comes to filling in the holes.

This story is fantastic and I hope the film is as good as the book. A Senator will stop at nothing to get his bill passed and Evangelist John Luthor seems to be in his way.

This political thriller is supposed to be a wake up call for Americans as the movie director sees this country heading in the direction of the book - religious fairness and tolerance pushed through legislation and the horrific actions taken to get it done.

John Luthor is not in favor of the bill because he is obviously professing faith in Jesus alone. His massive following could turn the tide if he only supported the bill. His friend, Senator Harrison, cannot allow the bill to fail. A hit man is hired and Luthor's life quickly spirals out of control.

There was a couple events (I don't want to call them twists) that caught me off guard near the end of the book. I don't know if it is realistic or just added to make the story more gut-punching but Parrish keeps you in your seat all the way through.

The chapters are about two pages in length so you feel compelled to keep reading. It gets darker and the villains become more evil clear to the end.

You will want to pass this book around to your friends and then take a group to see the film upon release.

I can't wait to read more from Robin Parrish.


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