BOOK REVIEW - "HIDDEN IN THE CANYON" BY JODIE BAILEY

 The protestors aren't happy about Angie Garcia's living on what's considered public Grand Canyon property, but is that anger carrying over to vandalism, physical threats and murder? Or is the perpetrator responsible for several missing ladies a suspected serial killer? And why did her brother send his friend, Special Agent "Linc" Tucker, to help, aware of the tension between them?

"Hidden in the Canyon" by Jodie Bailey is a sequel to "Witness in Peril," which focuses on Angie Garcia's brother Jacob. The author's note gives the impression that was supposed to be a stand alone, but Bailey was intrigued by the history between Angie and Linc, so this is the result. 

Spending a large part of the first quarter century of my life in Arizona - not far from Coconino County, which is also the  home of the Grand Canyon - the setting grabs me. But I enjoyed Linc's appearance in "Witness in Peril," and was very pleased by this story. Bailey did a great job with the relationships between the characters, as well as having a story with plenty of twists and turns, not to mention a lot of action and suspense.

At the point of writing this in early July, I'd say at the moment this is my favorite novel I've read thus far in '25. 

BOOK REVIEW - "WHEN CULTURE HATES YOU: PERSEVERING FOR THE COMMON GOOD AS CHRISTIANS IN A HOSTILE PUBLIC SQUARE" BY NATASHA CRAIN

Nobody really wants to be at odds with society. But that's not always possible, especially when those with a differing world view are trying to influence society in a guiding it to lemming cliff, and you opening your mouth about a better alternative is considered a threat. Apologist and podcaster Natasha Crain has written the timely book "When Culture Hates You: Persevering for the common good," which informs us why we're in this situation and guidelines on response.

Part One, consisting of the first five chapters, is titled "Understanding the Hate." In this, Crain reminds us that Jesus and Scripture warn we will be hated by the world. We are introduced to the concept of "the common good," and how that "common good" can be politicized for the purpose of trying to silence those from a traditional Christian worldview. Crain answers five objections to a Christian influence in the public square, as well as giving us the acronym ACT to describe how we should persevere: 

1. Know your (Biblical) Authority, 
2. Strengthen Conviction, and 
3. Maintain Tenacity.

The second part of this book, "Responding to and Persevering Through Today's Most Prominent Charges," gives suggestions on how to deal with antagonists like the mainstream media, secular social justice advocates, and feminist and LGBTQ+ activists. In each of five chapters, dealing with charges of being Dangerous Christian Nationalists, Power-Hungry Oppressors, Controlling Misogynists, Cruel Rights-Deniers, and Hateful Bigots, Crain defines the issues and focuses on the reality as opposed to the subjective, inflammatory name-calling. Each of these chapters include Quick Responses to 5 Popular Challenges and 7 Actions for the Common Good. She closes the book with an admonition to let our light shine in spite of hate, and provides resources.

As I stated at the beginning, this is a timely book, and I recommend it for personal reading and to discuss in small groups.

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BOOK REVIEW - "SEARCH AND DETECT" (MOUNTAIN COUNTRY K-9 UNIT BOOK 8) BY TERRI REED

 

Who is so wicked that they blew up Zoe Jenkins' house... while Zoe and her baby girl were still in it? Is there a connection between this crime and the Rocky Mountain Killer's reign of terror? If not, can K-9 Unit Director/FBI Special Agent Chase Rawlston and his team catch all the murderers? 

"Search and Detect" is the explosive (pun unintended) concluding 8th book of the Mountain Country K-9 Unit series. Author Terri Reed not only has the job of concluding the running stories (catching the above mentioned serial killer who also stole a therapy-dog-in-training from the K-9 Unit and finding out who is terrorizing their tech guru Isla Jimenez), but she also is telling a moving and exciting story with Chase Rawlston and Zoe Jenkins.

As mentioned, this book is the 8th in the series, and since it is the finale, of course you'll want to read the preceding seven novels so you know what's going on. (Technically, there is a ninth book involving characters featured in the previous books, such as Isla, but the main story ends with this one.) 

As typical, this multi-author series is exciting, and this one is one of the strongest in the group (as well as having one of the best covers, though I think the one for competing with book 5 - Montana Abduction Rescue - tops it. In other words, I highly recommend this series, and "Search and Detect" in particular.

'25 SUMMER READING LIST, #25 - "TURN NEITHER TO THE RIGHT NOR TO THE LEFT" BY ERIC SCHANSBERG

Happy Independence Day. I originally was going to delay the finale of this series tomorrow (July 5th) so I could have a blog focused on the holiday. However, when I started on what was originally intended to be the July 2nd entry - "Turn Neither to the Righ Nor to the Left: A Thinking Christian's Guide to Politics and Public Policy" by D. Eric Schansberg - I realized this would be appropriate today.

Schansberg starts by introducing Government's role in the Bible and pursuing Godly goals with Godly methods. He follows up with why Christians shouldn't legislate righteousness, but rather legislate justice. One issue with legislating justice is when it is redistributing to the non-poor.

But what about abortion? Schansberg closes with that issue, pointing out it's a legislating justice issue that sounds like a legislating righteousness issue. My favorite story was when he mentioned a woman who set up a tent near an abortion clinic giving information on adoption, including lists of those who are wanting to adopt.
 

'25 SUMMER READING LIST, #24 - "YOU'RE NOT ENOUGH (AND THAT'S OKAY) BY ALLIE BETH STUCKEY

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a T-shirt that read, "Repeat until you believe this is true: 'You are enough.'" Sorry, but believing something is true isn't always the same as something being true, and repeating a lie doesn't stop it from being a lie.

In "You're Not Enough (and That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love," Allie Beth Stuckey deals with five lies common in today's society:

1. "You are enough."
2. "You determine your truth."
3. "You're perfect the way you are."
4. "You're entitled to your dreams."
5. "You can't love others until you love yourself."

As Christians, we need to realize that for salvation, we are absolutely NOT enough; we're sinners, and without Christ we can do nothing (John 15:4-6).

 

'25 SUMMER READING LIST, #23 - "WHEN FAITH IS FORBIDDEN" BY TODD NETTLETON

First, a little housekeeping. I have been recommending these books in alphabetic order by title. However, I realized that what would have been today's book was fitting for the Independence Day, so I'm moving up the ones scheduled for July 2nd and 3rd one day.

"When Faith is Forbidden: 40 Days on the Frontlines with Persecuted Christians" by Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs is an inspiring devotional book, telling stories of our brothers and sisters who are enduring persecution. Some of these have two or more parts (one story has five parts), and these are an encouragement I have gone through this twice, and yes, this is one that is on my list to use again.

 

'25 SUMMER READING LIST, #22 - "TOTAL TRUTH" BY NANCY PEARCEY

Those who regularly read this blog know that I use different fonts. The font I chose for today is one Blogspot calls "Philosopher," and that's a fitting font for writing about "Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity" by Nancy Pearcey, who was influenced by Francis Schaeffer's L'Bri Institute. 

This book starts off looking at the major philosophical views, which she terms as lower story and upper story. Lower story, or Aristotlean, focuses on the physical, what we can sense, what we can explain rationally and logically. Upper story, or Platonic, is more focused on values, aesthetics, beauty, etc. The second section deals with evolution, pointing out that its popularity is because it's a plausible naturalistic creation theory. Part three of the book focuses on the role of truth with evangelicalism.

I do have some disagreements For example, she has the view that the various forms of creationism (i.e. both old earth and young earth theorists) ought to stop debating each other and turn our fight to the common enemy of evolution. While I see the rationale for her opinion, I also see why young earth creationists hold that view strongly. And while I'm sometimes hesitant to call myself evangelical, I am more in that camp than she is. Neverthe less, this is a book designed to make you think.

And if you want more, there's her follow-up "Saving Leonardo," where her focus is a history on the arts, looking at what she terms "two paths to secularism," which are the lower story (here called determinism) and lower story (or the continental tradition) theory from "Total Truth." She does a great job at looking at the two views. One thing is she showed several paintings which were large colored geometric shapes. There were artists from both angles that painted that way, but the determinist had solid dividing lines, while the edges of the continental was more fuzzy. By the way, there was also a picture in that book painted by my friend Grace Carol Bomer (Becky and I got to visit Grace's studio in Ashville about 25 years ago).