text: I really wanted to like this book and the beginning started out great.  A shocking murder is committed in the town of Newpointe, then another.  Meanwhile, fireman Mark Branning has moved out and is separated from his wife Allie.  There is a serial killer targeting the wives of firemen and Allie and Mark must fight through their struggles for the sake of their marriage.  I wanted to like this book because it is a Christian novel with a good purpose.  Ninety percent of the books I've read have been secular but I'm starting to read more Christian novels.  But to me, this book fails for three reasons:  the marriage conflict between Mark and Allie isn't believable, the serial killer plot collapses under its own weight, and the spiritual message is confusing and disappointing.		
  
  Mark and Allie's marriage is suffering because she thinks he had an affair and he hasn't convinced her otherwise.  Seeing your husband hugging another woman is not proof of adultery, but it is grounds for suspicion.  Yet, Allie assumes Mark is cheating on her because she witnessed him hugging another woman.  It seems to me the truth would be discovered in the resulting fight.  Instead, Mark and Allie separate and Allie sees no hope for her marriage because of that hug and what she assumes was an affair.		
  
  Blackstock does a poor job of framing the conflict between Mark and Allie.  Throughout the book, references are made to Allie believing Mark had an affair with Issie.  Allie refers to Mark's act as "adultery" and recalls him "lying" his way out of it after Allie caught him hugging Issie.  Their marriage is struggling, but Blackstock should have given more reasons why Allie assumed adultery other than a hug because throughout the book, Mark says he didn't have an affair and Allie chalks it up to one of his lies.
  
  Later in the novel, Blackstock gives more reason for their conflict but by then its too late.
  
  The serial killer story is poorly done, and it also seems everybody knows everybody in this book.  When they book a suspect at the end, it seems ridiculous.  The police work feels like it was written by an amateur.  One line in the novel, "As much as the evidence pointed to XXX, Stan didn't want to believe it."  In my opinion, the evidence didn't point to that person and Stan, the detective, seems foolish for believing it.  There isn't any rhythm or flow to the police work or the serial killer in the story.  There is no sense of setting in the book.  There are too many characters that no each other yet little context in how they know each other.
  
  Finally, this book talks about God and prayer and being "saved" throughout the book, and that's great.  With a serial killer on the loose, a lot of bad things are happening and the characters react to this in a bad way.  
  
  At one point, a conversation goes like this:  "How can the murder be part of God's plan?"  "Maybe it isn't"  "That would mean God isn't in control."  "He is in control, but he allows some things to happen."
  
  Then at another point, Mark says to Allie, "I'm going to be fine, it's time to trust the Lord.  He's taken care of us so far."
  
  Then Allie says:  "But I don't know what his plan is.  I don't know how he wants this to end.  I don't know what he wants to teach us."
  
  At other points in the book, characters say that God has a plan and maybe the serial killer is part of God's plan and that through God's plan, all things can be used for good.  This line of logic is infuriating.  Bad things happen to everyone, including God's people.  God doesn't "allow" a serial killer to shoot and burn your wife.  That's a horrible message to send to a non-Christian who may have lost someone in a car wreck.  Telling them it was part of God's plan is the quickest way to turn someone from God.
  
  God is obviously there for people when something bad happens to help them through it and to find the good in it and God can even keep bad things from happening to Christians.  But like above, where Allie was afraid because she thought God might have chosen to have her killed to teach a lesson, God doesn't willfully kill people.  It comes down to the simple fact that all people, including serial killers and Christians, have choices to make and have free will.
  
  I'm surprised I wrote so much on an 8 year old book but I wanted it to be a good book. 
  