Frank E. Peretti

This is number two in The Cooper Kids Adventures series by Frank E. Peretti. I have read it several times finding them in thrift stores. I was going to give it a quick read just to remind me of the story - but lingered because I had forgotten how well Peretti wrote and ended up reading everything word by word.

Very fast pasted adventure story -- but is dark in places with pagan rituals and human sacrifice and better for a more mature reader.

It is filled with Christian beliefs that blend in with the story -- page 26
"But surely a man of God like yourself would know that there are only two sources of such things: supernatural occurrences are either from God or from Satan. There's really nothing very mysterious about it."

p.54
"Listen to me, MacKenzie, and listen well. I don't know what this Moro-Kunda of yours is, but I assure you, you are now tampering with a God who is more than a match for any curses or powers you can dream up."… (mer)

I liked this one. I appreciated that the main character had flaws (one major flaw in particular that most Christian authors stay away from) and that they weren't justified in the end, or brushed aside.

As I read the book, I kept thinking of possible endings that would have been cop-outs, suspecting Peretti would fall back on one, and was very pleased that he didn't.

My complaint would be that the book was drawn out and would have benefited from just a tad more editing. As much as I wanted to find out how it ended, I mostly just wanted the thing to end already! The chapters themselves were also long - averaging around 30 pages. This made it difficult to read for me, since I have so many interruptions in my day and need to take frequent breaks to deal with them. I hate having to stop a book in the middle of a chapter!

All in all, it was a good read, and an example of what happens when we forsake God's law and try to create our own, to be our own master. I was reminded of verses in the book of Judges (21:25 and 17:6) which state, "Everyone did whatever he considered right."… (mer)

The Springfields are a family of investigators—Dad, Mom, and twin siblings Elijah and Elisha—for the Veritas Project, which seeks to find the truth behind strange mysteries and crimes when others are unable or unwilling to see past the surface. They're sent to a high school in Washington where kids are falling mysteriously ill with symptoms of fear and paranoia. As the family begins to assimilate into the school, they're shocked to discover how certain students are treated, both by other students and by the faculty. Can they discover who—or what—has the school's most popular kids seeing a ghost?

This book and its sequel, both of which I read several times back when they were new, are a large part of why Peretti has been my favorite author since high school. This is the first time in at least 10 years that I've read it, and it did not disappoint. The core issue in this book hit me a lot harder this time, maybe partly because I'm older now, but also because I read Peretti's semi-autobiographical book The Wounded Spirit last year for the first time, which describes heavy bullying in his adolescence, and that really put this book into a new perspective for me. While it certainly does not excuse the kids who have been bullied and then retaliated, it sheds a light on the incredible injustice that can be prevalent in schools.

One thing that I think could trip some people up about this book is that the very premise of the series isn't realistic. The fact that it's the president of the United States who establishes this investigative group specifically with a Judeo-Christian perspective, as well as the teenagers of the family being investigators themselves, it's not believable in this day and age. However, like with others of Peretti's books, I think it's perfectly okay to not think of it as meant to be completely realistic, and think of it more as a "what if" scenario. And in that way, it's very insightful. I also question the likelihood of a high school teacher at that time actually teaching kids that there is no right or wrong...seems pretty foolish, since at a school, they'd most likely want kids to believe that the rules are right and that breaking the rules is wrong. Otherwise, they're inviting anarchy. In today's society (only 20 years later), though, I would buy this a lot more.

One last thing I should mention is that if you have an issue with spiders, you may need to be careful reading this book. My own phobia is pretty bad, but I was able to push through. I don't know if that's an indication of how much I like the book or how un-intrusive the issue was, but it's there. I do love this book, though I don't know how well I'll be able to watch the movie. I own it and have definitely watched it more than once in the past. I'm not sure if that means my phobia has grown over time or if the movie just isn't too bad. There is one sequel to this book (man, do I wish Peretti had written more of these), and I remember liking it even more than this one, so I'm pretty excited about it. I highly recommend this book to all fans of Christian thrillers, whether you're a teenager or adult.… (mer)