Month: November 2015

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Review of ‘A Darkness More Than Night’ by Michael Connelly

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Michael Connelly, A Darkness More Than Night (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001). Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.” So wrote Friedrich Nietzsch in Beyond Good and Evil, a statement which poses the central question in Michael Connelly’s A Darkness More Than Night. In the course of conducting an unofficial investigation into a murder, former FBI profiler Terry McCaleb comes to believe that LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch is the … Continue reading Review of ‘A Darkness More Than Night’ by Michael Connelly

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Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

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The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, … Continue reading Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation

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Review of ‘Angels Flight’ by Michael Connelly

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Michael Connelly, Angels Flight: A Harry Bosch Novel (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1999). Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle When a prominent African-American criminal defense attorney is murdered in downtown Los Angeles, Harry Bosch get assigned the case. Unfortunately, the primary suspects are elite detectives in the city’s Robbery Homicide Division. The case is a political loser. If he arrests a cop, he loses the respect of his fellow officers. If he doesn’t arrest a cop, the city will erupt in a riot. Oh, and Bosch’s year-old marriage is falling apart. Angels Flight is Michael Connelly’s sixth Harry Bosch novels, … Continue reading Review of ‘Angels Flight’ by Michael Connelly

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Review of ‘Free to Serve’ by Stephen V. Monsma and Stanley W. Carlson-Thies

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Stephen V. Monsma and Stanley W. Carlson-Thies, Free to Serve: Protection the Religious Freedom of Faith-Based Organizations (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2015). Paperback | Kindle [Author’s Note: This review originally appeared at InfluenceMagazine.com.] James 1:27 offers this memorable definition: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” For James, then, religion consists of a humanitarian and an integrity mandate. “Do good,” we might say, “ and be good!” For Christians across the ages, the humanitarian mandate … Continue reading Review of ‘Free to Serve’ by Stephen V. Monsma and Stanley W. Carlson-Thies

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Review of ‘The Unseen Realm’ by Michael S. Heiser

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Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015). Hardcover | Kindle The Bible both assumes and articulates a supernatural worldview. From the “In the beginning” of Genesis to the “Amen” of Revelation, mention of God and divine action is heard on each page. All Bible-believing Christians are thus supernaturalists. Modernity assumes and articulates a worldview of naturalism. In this view worldview, reality is a closed nexus of material cause and effect. No God transcends this nexus nor intervenes within it. Contemporary Bible-believing Christians thus feel the tension between their supernaturalist … Continue reading Review of ‘The Unseen Realm’ by Michael S. Heiser

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Review of ‘The Life of Faith’ by Cornelia Nuzum

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Cornelia Nuzum, The Life of Faith (Springfield, MO: My Healthy Church, 2014). Paperback | Kindle [Author’s note: I wrote the Foreword to a forthcoming new printing of The Life of Faith, which I’m posting here as a review.] The Life of Faith by Cornelia Nuzum is worth reading for historical and spiritual reasons. As a matter of history, it reflects the emphasis on faith that characterized the first generation of Pentecostals. That faith confidently proclaimed that the believer was heir to the promises God had fulfilled through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Those promises touched on … Continue reading Review of ‘The Life of Faith’ by Cornelia Nuzum

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Review of ‘Blood Work’ by Michael Connelly

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Michael Connelly, Blood Work (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1998). Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle  When I purchased Blood Work online, I thought I was buying the sequel to Trunk Music. “The Also By Michael Connelly” page in the front matter of Trunk Music listed Connelly’s books by publication date, however, not by which character series they were part of. So, when Blood Work arrived, I was surprised to be reading about former FBI agent Terrell “Terry” McCaleb instead of LAPD detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch. Surprised, but not disappointed. Blood Work is a good story in its own right … Continue reading Review of ‘Blood Work’ by Michael Connelly

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Review of ‘The Case Against Trump’ by Kevin D. Williamson

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Kevin D. Williamson, The Case Against Trump, Encounter Broadside No. 46 (New York: Encounter Books, 2015). Paperback | Kindle “It is impossible to say how and when the Trump phenomenon will end,” Kevin D. Williamson writes in the latest Encounter Broadside. “It should end; rather, it never should have begun.” To which I can only add my hearty agreement. I am a white male, an evangelical Christian, and a conservative Republican. According to mainstream media, I should therefore be a supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy. I am not, I never was, and to be frank, I never will be. … Continue reading Review of ‘The Case Against Trump’ by Kevin D. Williamson

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Review of ‘The Crossing: A Bosch Novel’ by Michael Connelly

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Michael Connelly, The Crossing: A Bosch Novel (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2015). Hardcover | Kindle To be honest, I’m not sure how Michael Connelly churns out page-turners year after year, but I am glad he does. I received my copy of The Crossing yesterday, started reading it in the late afternoon, and kept turning pages until midnight. My number one rule for fiction is simple: Do I want to keep reading? If I do, the book is well written. By that metric, Connelly’s latest is a well-written book. This is the twentieth—twentieth!—novel featuring veteran homicide detective Harry Bosch … Continue reading Review of ‘The Crossing: A Bosch Novel’ by Michael Connelly