Drab and uninspiring.
Jesus Christ heads to New Hampshire to assist an Army sniper home from Iraq in this earnest, sentimental debut.
How earnest and sentimental? Look no further than the name of Landis’ hero: Warren Pease. This conflicted soul (he’s nicknamed War, in case the message isn’t clear) spent his tour of duty as a precision killer of “high-value targets.” The circumstances of War’s return home aren’t made explicit until the end, but between the title and his brand-new buddy, it’s not hard to tell what’s happened. Jesus meets War on the beach and accompanies him as he visits with friends and family. Among them are Bethie, War’s longtime girlfriend; their daughter Dodie; Ryan, who stole Bethie’s heart after War went overseas; and Bethie’s father, a high-school English teacher who was a key inspiration during War’s youth. No one questions the presence of Jesus, introduced as War’s new friend Ray; Landis makes him a mix of easygoing wingman, comic relief and proof of salvation. Ray miraculously cooks multiple omelets from one egg at Bethie’s house; easily banters with bartenders and cops; and offers a sage presence as War wrestles with his lost love and memories of his time in Iraq. The only thing slightly tempering the novel’s footprints-in-the-sand piety is Landis’ deep knowledge about snipers. He has the technical lingo down, and on occasion he artfully renders the moral negotiations that War has had with himself about being a killer. The closing chapters feature a surprising amount of grit and gore, and there’s enough gallows humor and tough talk to give War’s experience an air of authenticity. Ultimately, though, the book is an unapologetic act of proselytizing, complete with wince-inducing lines like, “When it comes to Heaven, we all want to be a High-Value Target.”
Drab and uninspiring.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-58642-165-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Steerforth
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.
Christian-fiction writer Martin (The Dead Don’t Dance, not reviewed) chronicles the personal tragedy of a Georgia heart surgeon.
Five years ago in Atlanta, Reese could not save his beloved wife Emma from heart failure, even though the Harvard-trained surgeon became a physician so that he could find a way to fix his childhood sweetheart’s congenitally faulty ticker. He renounced practicing medicine after her death and now lives in quiet anonymity as a boat mechanic on Lake Burton. Across the lake is Emma’s brother Charlie, who was rendered blind on the same desperate night that Reese fought to revive his wife on their kitchen floor. When Reese helps save the life of a seven-year-old local girl named Annie, who turns out to have irreparable heart damage, he is compassionately drawn into her case. He also grows close to Annie’s attractive Aunt Cindy and gradually comes to recognize that the family needs his expertise as a transplant surgeon. Martin displays some impressive knowledge about medical practice and the workings of the heart, but his Christian message is not exactly subtle. “If anything in this universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart,” Reese notes of his medical studies. Emma’s letters (kept in a bank vault) quote Bible verse; Charlie elucidates stories of Jesus’ miracles for young Annie; even the napkins at the local bar, The Well, carry passages from the Gospel of John for the benefit of the biker clientele. Moreover, Martin relentlessly hammers home his sentimentality with nature-specific metaphors involving mating cardinals and crying crickets. (Annie sells crickets as well as lemonade to raise money for her heart surgery.) Reese’s habitual muttering of worldly slogans from Milton and Shakespeare (“I am ashes where once I was fire”) doesn’t much cut the cloying piety, and an over-the-top surgical save leaves the reader feeling positively bruised.
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.Pub Date: April 4, 2006
ISBN: 1-5955-4054-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: WestBow/Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2006
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