- 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:
> 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.
Actually, I was in the media for 20 years and I was often given inside info from law enforcement from the federal level on down. It's not impossible that an FBI guy would give a tip to a reporter in return for some information.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree with you about it not being a Christian novel. Just because it didn't have the main characters preaching a sermon in each chapter doesn't mean it's not Christian. I saw real people and a real Christian lead character. It may not be your preference as a novel and that's fine...but to say it's not Christian isn't really being fair.
For a book to be truly christian it should line up at least fairly close to biblical standards. This book doesn't. A fiction novel doesn't have to preach a sermon in every chapter, but it also doesn't have to advocate immoral standards in every chapter. Those incidents portrayed were completely unnecessary to the book.
ReplyDeleteAs for giving the media info, sure, the media gets info, but in this novel the info given out was vital to the case, and was clearly stated as confidential.
My problem with this book was it's lack of real tension and lack of suspense. The 'immoral' parts were not condoned by the author. Alcohol is not biblically forbidden, drunkedness is. And the sexual relationships were shown to be harmful, not fulfilling. They didn't add to the character, but I didn't think it made it 'unchristian.'
ReplyDeleteToo many people disagree on whether alcohol is forbidden in the Bible or not, so I'm not going to get into that. I believe it is, or at the very least strongly warned against. I think the book would have been just fine without all the controversial issues. It walked the line, and I think that ruins a book.
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