Joanna P. (Bellbird) reviewed on 4/4/2006 + 106 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 6

This book, as most of the Christian fiction by this author, starts out fairly plebian, even mediocre. I thought it would be like a James Herriot novel...a gentle, 600-page long story about the families centered around a country church. Boy, was I wrong. As with most Xtian fic by Rivers, the gentle beginning with the hack wordage is just a ruse! It is a story about how little by little people can slip into sin...the Devil slides in the needle without the characters noticing. The country church booms and becomes a megachurch...is the blessing from God? Or from someone else? It is well plotted, and even frightening although it is no _Oath_. The motivations of the pastor make sense and there is no deus ex machina to make everything back to happy-normal at the end. Pride has to be chopped down and cast into the fire, forever. Now, since Rivers is a romance writer, there is of course a restored romance at the end...but it does not come without cost.

The most frightening thing about this novel is not how it shows the steady decline away from God and into the hell of self, but that it reflects actual situations. It's not a roman a clef but might as well be one. God save us all.

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