Dead Heat: A Book Review

After my dad died last year, my sister and I were going through his things when I found three books by this author. I was unfamiliar with him, but since my sister didn't want them, I brought them home and put them on a shelf. Months went by before I picked them up again, but preparing for a trip last year I was looking for a book, or ten, to take along in case I happened to find myself with large blocks of free time in which I could choose from my traveling library and read several books uninterrupted. Still hasn't happened, but I can fantasize, can't I?


Anyway, when I got to looking at those three books, I realized they were from a series. And I actually ended up with three in a row, but not starting from the beginning. Oh well. It surely wouldn't hurt to jump in midstream. 


Having no expectations, I just started reading the second book in the series. It, like the other three I have now read, suck you in from the first paragraph of the very first page. These books are action-packed political thrillers with a twist: they are written from an overtly Christian worldview! That was a shocker! In trying to give Kregg a synopsis of the series, I told him they are a Christian version of the television series: 24. Sounds impossible. But the author actually pulls it off very credibly. 


Now, some people will have a problem with the specific interpretation of "end times" presented by the author, and I am not going to criticize or defend his views on that. But, I will say that these novels were really good reads. And whether you believe in the Rapture or not, or are Pre-Trib, Post-Trib, etc., they do cause the reader to take very seriously the times in which we live and how there has to be a sense of urgency about sharing the Gospel with the lost because, even if we aren't in the "last days," we never know when someone is in their last days.


Dead Heat is the fifth book in the series and continues the story of Jon and Erin Bennett, who have been heavily involved in the very top levels of the U. S. government. The book opens after they were married and have "dropped off the radar" serving in a refugee camp in Africa somewhere. They were hoping to simply serve without any notoriety, so they sold their "stuff," cashed out their bank accounts and donated their money to organizations that were truly doing good.  


Even though they think they are serving incognito, they find out that the intelligence agencies of many governments either know where they are, or can easily find them. And after cargo ships are used to deliver nuclear warheads that simultaneously wipe out Seattle, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington D. C., several of these governments want Jon and Erin's help.


During the nuclear attacks, the President of the United States was killed, along with most of Congress and the Cabinet. The scramble to reorganize the government and figure out who the nation is now at war with require "all hands on deck." Jon and Erin were to be extracted from the refugee camp and come back to help during the crisis. 


As they prepare to leave, they learn that the entire time they have been serving the camp, they have been surrounded by Mossad agents, protecting them and watching for any hint they might be in danger. During the previous books, they have made some serious enemies as well as gained the gratitude of the entire nation of Israel. 


The whole book takes place in only a few days, as events move at lightening pace. If I tell you much more about the plot, it would spoil it for anyone wanting to read it.


Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed it and it did remind me that each day needs to be lived with a sense of urgency to be about my Father's business of sharing the Gospel with a lost and dying world.


This is #26 in my quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. 


I. Don't. Know. If. I. Can. Make. It.


But, it's fun trying.


I read this one on my Kindle. What a wonderful little device!

www.read52booksin52weeks.com