Playing Saint by Zachary Bartels

Here is another entry into the Christian suspense genre. It concerns good and evil in the world told as a murder story. The mystery genre is a good vehicle to talk about good and evil as there can be bad people and good people portrayed in standard garb.

The elements are here. A couple of victims, a sleuth, a detective, and a criminal.  This being in the suspense motif we early on know who did it and just are waiting for the revealing to others of the perpetrator. There is a twist in this story handled artfully. It is a satisfying and unexpected.

 What I will say is Bartels uses one of Agatha Christie’s plot twists  and handles it well. I will not give a spoiler.

Sometimes evil uses good to achieve its goal. Under the surface things are different than appearances.

The main character is a pastor. He is a popular preacher but not firm in his theology. He is called in to help locate the killer who is leaving satanic signs on his victims. His adventure leads him to the pit of evil and challenges his application of his training.

Before the end comes he will confront evil in a way that is life threatening.

I understand this is Bartels’ first novel and I can see many more in the future should he choose to continue as an author.

This book was sent to me free from Booklookbloggers.com for the purpose of reviewing and placement on my book blog. The views expressed are those of the reviewer and not the publisher.

I, Saul by Jerry Jenkins

What if when Paul mentioned to bring his parchments he was talking about his memoirs?

Paul is in prison awaiting his death. It is AD 67. Only Luke is with him, ministering to his needs as the physician he is. What if Paul wants Luke to take the parchments and copy them and keep them safe? What if Paul stores them somewhere and over time they get lost?

 What if, in the twenty first century, the parchment is found. Now there are people who want to repress it for political reasons. A call is made to a young professor, Augustine Knox, from a tour guide in Rome to come help him keep the document from falling into the wrong hands.

The story is told using multiple viewpoints and the frame of two time periods. We have the period of AD 67 in the dungeon with Paul awaiting execution and we have the twenty first century with a seminary professor. We follow as Knox goes to Rome to help a tour guide, Roger, who is hiding from the authorities because he has a document that is supposed to be the memoirs of Paul.

 Jenkins handles the periods well and   keeps the suspense heightened.

 Jenkins has always been a good Christian fiction writer and this adds to his bibliography of great tales. I can see a this is volume one of a series.

          Augie groaned. “That’s how many photocopies I have, Georgio. The memoir is incomplete.”
         “You think Klaudios held some back?”
          “I have no idea who did this or when. All I know is that pages are missing.”

  I will be looking forward to the continuation.

  I, Saul