Smoke Screen

Reading Terri Blackstock’s latest release was a return to one of my favorite authors after a couple of years of meandering on the hills and vales of several other sub-genres of Christian fiction. But it was Terri who first introduced me years ago to the crime and suspense sub-genre of the Christian literature, and her latest novel, Smoke Screen, reminds me of the debt of gratitude I owe to this superb award-winning writer.Other reviewers have aptly spelled out the storyline, so I won’t use this review to duplicate their work but will focus on the characters and the themes of faith that are intertwined in those events.Firstly, I want to take notice of Terri’s interesting and unusual way of delivering the narrative in alternating first-person passages. Brenna and Nate are the central characters, and every part of the story is delivered through the eyes of either Brenna or Nate. By this method we see into their minds, hearts, and values as they encounter challenges and hardships.Secondly, it is a story of fractured relationships crisscrossing multiple families and spanning many years. Those breaches of love and trust are born of the failure to assume the best rather than the worst, even among those most loved, and obdurately clinging to the bitterness of wrongs suffered or imagined.Nate is a highly principled, noble, and selfless heroic figure. He works in the dangerous occupation of a “smokejumper” – a firefighter who parachutes into the vicinity of forest fires. His faith is exemplary and well placed. He approaches life in the firm assurance that no evil that befalls God’s people escapes his notice, no wound is beyond his power to heal, and no adversary too powerful for him to defeat.Brenna’s highest desire is to be a good mother and care for her children. But cruel fate – not of Brenna’s doing – threatens to rob her of that privilege, and that impending but seemingly certain calamity has wrecked her life. To ameliorate the pain of her loss, Brenna turns to alcohol and in so doing, turns dreaded misfortune into catastrophe.Sue – Nate’s mother – is a character worth mentioning. She is the perfect model of a godly wife and mother, hiding her own hurts and invariably tending others’ pain as she seeks to promote reconciliation between others who become alienated by reacting badly to cruel trials.Life has dealt harshly and unfairly with Roy, Nate’s father. After fourteen years in prison for a crime he was falsely accused of, he has made significant progress in setting his life on a better path than before, largely through the faithful ministrations of his faithful wife Sue. But still Roy is a complex and rancorous character, seeking resolution of the horrific wrong done to him and most of all, needing the sweet balm that comes of forgiving others for real or suspected wrongs.Jack is at the same time a monster and a weakling under his more monstrous father’s iron-fisted control. Like a simpering adolescent he allows himself to be manipulated, becoming an accomplice in wreaking havoc in the lives of his father’s targeted victims.I think differently from some other reviewers about Brenna’s drinking. In my mind it is not a simple yardstick on which one may measure her fitness as a mother, but a massive self-created failure which – like Israel’s king David - she detested in herself and over which she cried out to God to lead her to victory. We see God’s response to her cries in Nate’s firm lovingkindness and the flickering wick of Brenna’s own resolve.Brenna’s drinking is an essential part of this story for it presents a central truth of our faith. God reconstitutes wrecked lives. Even Simon Peter was swiftly rehabilitated. God lifts up the fallen…straightens what is bent…mends what is broken…heals the brokenhearted...takes us out of the pit and from the miry clay and sets our feet on the rock…it’s what he does for the human race. But he does not reveal the finish at the beginning of his work. Rather, he desires faith like Nate’s to carry his people through.Terri Blackstock ably illustrates this central column in the Christian’s system of belief.

I guess Ms Blackstock was trying to write something a little different than her 'If I Run' series which was excellent. However, this book fell flat. It was boring, repetitious and it took all I had to get through it. The character, Breanna, was very unlikeable. She was a drunkard who thought she should have custody of her children. I had no sympathy for the character the way she was written. She finally comes to the light but 'excuse me' that's not the way it happens. It's long hard work that never ends. Although her husband did not have the right to the children she certainly didn't have that right either. Nate was written as a simplistic individual who can’t see the truth about his girlfriend from fourteen years ago. He was forgiving of Breannas drunkenness but couldn’t forgive his father who no longer drinks. The story was billed as a Christian mystery whodunit which it is not. It is a story which has very little Christian themes shining through, about a simpering alcoholic woman and her naïve boyfriend. In my opinion this was a poorly written family drama which had been billed as a whodunit.

These characters grabbed me right from the start and would not let me go! Nate got burned while fighting a fire. He ended up heading back to his hometown - the one he left under intense circumstances. Brenna is struggling with a divorce and custody battle. But, mostly they are both struggling with unresolved past issues. Meanwhile, somebody has gotten away with a crime and it is all coming to the surface, now. I could not stop thinking about this story and the battles we all face. This is such a well-written story, with real-life problems. These people have been judged by others, all based on hearsay. They either did not stand up for themselves, or were not believed when they did. It is hard to fight against that under the best of circumstances, but of course, these are not the best of circumstances. This is a great story about perseverance and hope during the hardest of struggles.

I was very disappointed in this latest book from Terri Blackstock. I have been a fan of hers for years. Yes, it has 333 pages of print, but they are hardly full pages. It did not leave me on the edge of my seat at all and I haven’t finished it yet. Perhaps it is a book to check out at your library, but spending the money to purchase it might be a disappointment.

It's true people take sides and dig for dirt. Nate's mums personality character amazes me with her faith in God to get justice. I have to say I cheated and read the ending before reading as I got involved in the story where I could relate

A compelling read from start to finish,that addresses that addresses complex issues with a personal narrative. Not only enjoyable but truly informative if anyone needs an excuse to kick back say you’re researching firefighting and settle down for a good read.

I was very much looking forward to this book, but it fell short of the expectations I have of this author. It was way too predictable.

You know it is a good book when you can not put it down and end up reading it in one day. Awesome.

Read it in one sitting. Couldn’t put it down. Took life’s real issues and showed how God is the answer for a time of need