Today, along with my review, I'd like to refer you to a great suspense website (where I'm on staff), The Suspense Zone, that's featuring not only my review of this novel, but a review by Kevin Lucia. He's on the CFBA tour as well, so you can see the review on his site (The Bookshelf Reviews) or on the Suspense Zone's site. He has a slightly different opinion in his review--perhaps it's because he's a guy (and admits it readily, lol). He connected more with the main male character, and I with the main female character. Go figure.
Enjoy.
The premise of this novel is one of the most interesting I’ve come across in a while. Without giving too much away, it is based on the assumption that there is a group of women who possess keen supernatural sight (including the ability to see the unseen), which is passed on spiritually to their daughters in the faith.
California beach girl Abby Sherman may seem like your typical twenty-year-old. But when Abby begins to see visions, she seeks understanding and empathy via her MyCorner blog. Little does she know that the vision awakened in her is just the beginning of a second sight that binds her with women all over the world. Thousands respond with their own personal experiences. Then Abby is struck with a dangerous malady that threatens her life. As she increases in popularity, evil forces will stop at nothing to shut her up before she does any more damage to their cause.
Ex-military assassin Dylan Hatfield has been paid big bucks to off Abby, but why? Will he have the guts to finish his mission when all hell breaks loose? Who can Abby trust and where will she find the answers to questions about her new God-given gift?
Danger surrounding her on every side, Abby travels the world, slowly unraveling deep mysteries and dark conspiracies that threaten her life and the lives of those she loves.
I think this novel takes the supernatural/spiritual warfare element and raises it to a new level. What makes the idea of a vision-seeing Christian unique is the intricate plot line that carries it. This is the kind of thing I wish I’d written—it resonated with me completely.
I highly recommend this book. It has the same flavor as Frank Peretti’s or John Aubrey Anderson’s books. Olsen did a great job with the female POV, and not just the main character, but other women characters as well. I felt the comradery the women shared and envied it, wishing that I possessed the bond that drew them together.
It took a while for me to get used to the interspersed omniscient point of view short paragraphs—they seemed more like narrator interruptions or sections of telling instead of showing. I don’t know if these areas helped or hindered the advancement of the plot.
Regardless, the action kept me absorbed until the end—I didn’t want to put it down, even after I had finished reading. I enjoyed the portrayal of real heavenly battles and God’s power to work in the world. The book was also a wake up call to the church to unite in our struggle against servants of evil. If we can’t get past our differences and work together, who will?
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