Reading, Writing & Pondering

  “Reminiscent of Dan Brown’s work but with a tone and momentum all its own, Kelly’s yarn will delight thriller fans looking for an exciting read.” – Kirkus Reviews “ Rich in culture, themes of belief, and the grand implications of its relic,  The Malachi Covenant  exemplifies its genre, blending brisk plotting, action-packed sequences, and jolting betrayals with thoughtful spiritual inquiry, keeping the suspense potent up to a satisfying conclusion.” – BookLife “Dee Kelly, Jr. is a master wordsmith.  The Malachi Covenant  is a propulsive thriller that takes the reader on an electrifying adventure. The characters are fully drawn and his research is on broad display. This story will draw you in and not let you go until the heart pounding ending. Even then, the story will stay with you.” -Glenn Dyer, Author of  Trust No One The relics of St. Nicholas are among the most divine and prized possessions in the Christian world, said to hold the power to...

  Do you have any regrets in life and wish you could go back in time and change something? I would imagine most of us have a few. Burden of Proof by Davis Bunn is a story of second chances that make a difference. Ethan's brother Adrian was murdered on the courthouse steps when he was twenty. They never caught the killer and they never quite solved the case. Ethan has been struggling and disconnected from life ever since. Then Adrian's widow, Sonya, appears and asks for help in uncovering what really happened that day. Ethan takes the chance to help her--and to give meaning to his life. I enjoyed Burden of Proof more than I can put in to words. I thought this was just another "typical" suspense novel and I would be searching for who-done-it like every other suspense novel. Boy, was I wrong. Instead, I was amazed as I saw Ethan go back using the wisdom he gained from his life to make a real difference not only in solving the case but in making life better for those he ...

The Girl Behind the Red Rope by Ted Dekker and Rachelle Dekker kept me turning pages for less than two days. If I didn't need the sleep, I would have liked to have read  this 330-page book straight through! Grace, her brother Jamie, and her mother all live in a tight-knit religious community hidden in the hills of Tennessee. Ten years ago, Grace and her family saw a terrible scourge unleashed on the world. However, as members of the select few that were set apart, they were kept safe and secure from the rest of the world--as long as they stay behind the red rope. They all did for many years--until Grace's brother begins to have his doubts doubts about things. Around the same time, Grace's dad shows up along with a young boy whom he claims is also Grace's brother--and he asks her to keep him safe. All of this leads Grace to question her whole life and wonder who the real enemy is? The Girl Behind the Red Rope was a fast paced page turner for me. I found the stru...

The Beyond the Circle Series starts out with The 49th Mystic . Rise of the Mystics is the second and final book in the Beyond the Circle series by Ted Dekker. These are my first books that I have read by Dekker but I understand this new series also plays off of his original Circle series although it can be read independently. Rachelle Matthews is also known as the 49th mystic. She lives in two worlds at once. In the ancient world she is currently locked in a dungeon. She has received three out of five seals in the book one and needs to complete the next two to save the people she loves and cares about. How can she do it in this realm when she is stuck in the dungeon? In the modern earth world she faces even greater struggles to overcome as she faces off with the villain Vlad Smith. I don't want to give away any spoilers so will stop there. I especially like to read a series when I can go right from one book to the next so I was glad that both books were published when I ...

The 49th Mystic is my first Ted Dekker book. I have been wanting to read one for some time. I am so glad I did. The 49th Mystic starts out in the small town of Eden, Utah where a blind girl named Rachelle and her father, David, live. Rachelle has nightmares regularly about the "shadow man." They scare her a lot but they aren't half as scary as finding out that they aren't just dreams and the Shadow Man is alive and in Eden looking for her. At the same time,  Rachelle does dream her way in to another world. She sort of time travels back in to the ancient world and fights to recover five ancient seals. This book is the start of a two book series where she battles for her life and the lives of others in both worlds. I found The 49th Mystic to be fast-paced and it held my interest until the end in spite of the fact that I don't usually read this type of book. I am looking forward to the second book and seeing how this all works out in the end. I like how the b...

If you are looking for a clean, adventure-packed series to read, the Harbingers is a great one. Probing written by best-selling authors Bill Myers, Frank Peretti, Angela Hunt, and Alton Gansky is the third in this series. Like the first two books in the series, Probing is four stories in one book, with each story by a different author. It is written to be kind of like an ongoing television series.  Probing features the same team of four that were in the first two novels: Brenda the former tattoo artist with visions of the future; The Professor who is an athiest ex-priest; Andi the geeky Professor's assistant, and  Tank the big-hearted former football player with a gift for healing. Probing starts with Myers' story called Leviathan where the team of four is invited to watch the pilot of a new realty show called, Live or Die: The Ultimate Reality.  The second story, The Mind Pirates, features Peretti's mystery of an earring that Andi discovers has mysterious powers...