Face of Betrayal by Lis Wiehl- An Honest Review

• Summary: 'Face of Betrayal' is an intended thriller about 3 women who are best friends; Cassidy- a news reporter, Nichole- and FBI Agent, and Allison- a prosecutor. Together they solve crimes, the current one a missing girl from Washington, DC who has vanished without a trace.
• Writing Style and Prose: The author does have a talent for writing, and can keep the reader interested enough to wonder what will happen next. She also has the flair for the mystery in her, which is a special talent in itself; she keeps the reader guessing with numerous suspects.
• Contradictions: An event that happens numerous times in the story is that the FBI agent- Nichole, gives her news reporter pal Cassidy confidential details about the case with the promise that Cassidy will not leak it to the press. This is unbelievable, bordering on ridiculous. An FBI agent would never give out any case information without express permission, much less to a reporter. I thought the author should have done her research a little better. Another issue is that, like stated above, the relationship between a prosecutor, news reporter, and an FBI Agent. This "Triple Threat" relationship could not exist in reality, and is again, entirely unbelievable. I must confess that the name made me laugh- it sounds not at all threatening, almost something a high-school kid would make up.
  
• Theological and Moral Disputes:
  

>Alcohol Consumption: Parents should know that this novel sheds positive light on alcohol consumption and social drinking. The author incorporates it numerous times, and I felt that the story would have been much better without it.
> Pre-marital Sexual Relations: This was a huge disappointment for me. I expected more out of a Christian company and a "conservative" author. Sexual scenes are described in detail, as well as the promoting of sexual relations, and the acceptance of sexual relations as a minor. This was completely needless and added nothing whatsoever to the story. I was shocked at how inappropriate this book was, and I think the publishers should look over their stories more carefully since they claim to be christian. I will not recommend this to anyone, and am not keeping my copy of this book. There are a few sentences that mention God in here but anyone who writes a cheap Harlequin Romance novel can do the same thing. This book was a disappointment; not moral, not conservative, and most definitely not christian.

Where Is God- by Dr. John Townsend, A Review

Summary: In 'Where Is God', Dr. Townsend tries to address the issue stated in the title, the question people ask when times get tough, when a loved one dies, etc. Where is God in all of this?

Theological Elements and Disputes: The reader should know that Dr. Townsend is a certified psychiatrist, and as such inserts his beliefs as well as his faith in this book. I found this rather confusing, as there is much psychiatric help that is contradictory to faith in Jesus Christ. A lot of his chapters were "mushy gushy", feel-good type of things, making the reader feel that he had no responsibility, no obligations, and that God did not allow the consequences of sin. Dr. Townsend states that God "is not an angry God", a directly contradicting statement to what the Bible says. God does get angry over certain things; to say that He never does is a dangerously misleading statement. 'Where is God' also gives the illusion that when bad things happen, God did not cause them to happen. This can be taken the wrong way when in certain cases, the trouble in a person's life are simply the consequences of their own sin, i.e: A man has an affair, which leads to marriage troubles, maybe even AIDS. To say that God is suffering with him and that God is with him, though this man is unrepentant, is a false teaching.

Theological Agreements and Encouragement: Throughout the book, Dr. Townsend describes the love of God very well, and teaches that in unexplained, tragic events, God is still there guiding us. He also says that God still does perform miracles and does provide and protect, though we don't always know why He does what He does.

Writing Style and Product: I enjoyed this book immensely in that it felt very personal, as if I was talking to Dr. Townsend myself. He came off as friendly, warm, and loving, not self righteous. He speaks in terms everyone can understand. The book itself is well made.

All in all, much of this book was encouraging, reassuring readers of the closeness of God, and His care. However, because of the issues I stated above, I would be careful to check everything from it with the Bible first, just to make sure everything lines up.