Book Review: Nick of Time

Book: Nick Of Time
Author: Tim Downs
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pages: 336

I have come to a conclusion, Tim Downs is my favorite author.

Nick of Time is the most recent novel by Downs, and it is a doozy. Continuing in the travels, exploits, and adventures, is no other than Nick Polchak. Our beloved forensic entomologist is once again in the middle of trouble, and in this story, love. A former co-star appears again in this novel, and she is one to be reckoned with.

Tim Downs is top dog author in my book because of the way he weaves suspense, forensics, and comedy into one grand tale, and boy is this one grand! The turns in this one bowled me over and the huge plot twist at the end...never saw it coming!

If you are new to Tim Downs' offerings, I would recommend all of his books (starting with Shoofly Pie). If you want to jump in with the current story arc, check out "Less than Dead", "Ends of the Earth", and then "Nick of Time."

Although this is from a Christian publisher house, this is not a "Christian" book per se, where Christ is preached blatantly throughout, it remains "clean," with no foul language, or sexual overtones. There are several positive characters that speak great truth into the lives of the characters.

Disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of this book as part of the booksneeze.com / Thomas Nelson Blogger network.

5 / 5 Stars

Book Review: The Final Summit

Title: The Final Summit
Author: Andy Andrews
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Pages: 256

From the dust jacked:  "This is humanity's last chance.  Centuries of greed, pride, and hate have sent mankind hurtling toward disaster, and far from its original purpose.  There is only one solution that can reset the compass and right the ship-and that answer is only two words.

I have enjoyed several of Andy Andrew's novels in the last several years.  He is an excellent writer and does a great job creating a suspenseful and exciting storyline with purpose.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same about The Final Summit.  As described above, this story centers around finding the answer to life.  The cast of characters in "heaven" trying to figure it out, are many.  The Lord only knows who will be in heaven, but Andrews does take some liberty with some of the famous people.  This is of course a fiction read, so I will not belabor this later point too much.

This novel falls apart for me in two different ways. (Minor Spoilers ahead)...





First of all, it becomes pretty obvious from the start of this process to find the answer to life, that they are not going to figure it out on the first guess, or the second, or the third...so the constant brainstorming between the main characters goes on and on.  Secondly, the final answer miserably fails in my opinion.  As a Christian, reading a book from a Christian publisher, in a heavenly setting, I thought that there just might be a mention of Jesus...nope.

This book has some good advice, but certainly no "solution" to life.

1.5 / 5 Stars

I received this book free of charge, as part of the Thomas Nelson Booksneeze.com Book Review blogger network.