Publisher and Publication Date: Fleming H. Revell Company. July 16, 2019.
Genre: Christian fiction. Suspense. Mystery.
Pages: 397.
Source: Self-purchase.
Rating: Excellent.
Audience: Readers who love light suspense in a Christian story.
I love everything about this book! I love this book from the front cover to the back cover!
Summary:
Light from Distant Stars is the story of Cohen Marah. When the book begins Cohen finds his father on the floor in the family funeral home. He presumes his father is dead. He leaves without calling the police. In chapter two, Cohen reflects on memories from childhood, when his father was a pastor, when his family was all together. The book moves back and forth between the current situation of his father’s grave injuries, and the painful memories of his childhood. Wrapped up in Cohen’s childhood is an event that is suspenseful and a mystery. For a brief time, he had two friends who needed his help. Cohen questions his responsibility in his father’s injury. He has a few visits with a priest to confess sins and seek “counsel” and “absolution.” In these confessional moments with the priest, Cohen speaks aloud with the thoughts, insecurities, and fears he’s held inside. Meanwhile, Cohen has a sister who is pregnant with twins, her older son is Johnny.
My Thoughts:
I’d not heard of this book until an author I follow recommended it. I immediately ordered the book from Amazon.
Light from Distant Stars is a story that swallowed me up whole. To state it’s a page turner is an understatement.
In most stories, the author describes the characters. In Light from Distant Stars, Smucker lets the story reveal the characters through dialogue, mannerisms, and behavior.
I loved the mystery and suspense with the two childhood friends and the Beast. The revealing of who they really are kept me reading till the end.
The ending climax of the story is believable and it caused my heart to beat faster.
The story has several subtopics or other themes: unforgiveness, unreconciled trauma, child abuse, loss of dreams, disappointment, heartache, loneliness, alcoholism, love, and sacrifice.
Light from Distant Stars is a perfect book to read for a clean but suspenseful Halloween season.
I plan to read more books written by Shawn Smucker.
Impressions In Ink 