A soap opera filled with people indulging in bad behavior. Fans of the Black family’s misplaced haloes will love this latest...
The Black family is ecstatic: Son Matthew and his girlfriend, Racquel, are about to deliver the very first grandchild. But squabbling between the two grandmothers threatens to irrevocably divide the family.
The 10th in Roby’s (The Reverend’s Wife, 2012, etc.) series following the adventures of Rev. Curtis Black (a potentially reformed adulterous minister) focuses on his third wife. Unfortunately, Charlotte is an egocentric, paranoid, mean-spirited woman, which makes for an unpleasant reading experience. Jealous of Racquel’s mother, Vanessa, and her access to the baby even before it is born, Charlotte is determined to get her fair share of face time. She wants Curtis to baptize the child, even though Matthew and Racquel have decided upon Pastor Collins; she wants the child called Matthew the Second, even though Matthew and Racquel have chosen Matthew Jr.; she wants to plan his resume, even though Matthew and Racquel plan to give him a loving, accepting extended family. Vanessa tries to block Charlotte, bristling not only at her domineering behavior, but also at her husband’s obvious attraction to Charlotte. The two grandmothers’ animosity erupts into an altercation at the baby shower, which sends Racquel into premature labor and Vanessa into taking even higher-security measures. Charlotte responds by plotting vengeance. The baby does deserve a better mother, right? Meanwhile, Curtis has troubles of his own as mysterious, threatening messages arrive. Who’s trying to blackmail him? Who’s trying to destroy his financially lucrative Deliverance Outreach church? Burdened with stiff exposition—summarizing both Charlotte’s and Curtis’ many transgressions—and flat dialogue, Roby’s tale plods along, punctuated with occasional outbursts of excitement.
A soap opera filled with people indulging in bad behavior. Fans of the Black family’s misplaced haloes will love this latest installment.Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-455-52606-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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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