A Slow Burn, Reviewed
November 4, 2009
This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
A Slow Burn
Zondervan (October 1, 2009)
by
Mary DeMuth
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mary E. DeMuth is an expert in Pioneer Parenting. She enables Christian parents to navigate our changing culture when their families left no good faith examples to follow.
Her parenting books include Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (Harvest House, 2007), Building the Christian Family You Never Had (WaterBrook, 2006), and Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God (Harvest House, 2005).
Mary also inspires people to face their trials through her real-to-life novels, Watching The Tree Limbs
(nominated for a Christy Award) and Wishing On Dandelions (NavPress, 2006).
Mary has spoken at Mount Hermon Christian Writers Conference, the ACFW Conference, the Colorado Christian Writers Conference, and at various churches and church planting ministries. She’s also taught in Germany, Austria, Monaco, Italy, France, and the United States. Mary and her husband, Patrick, reside in Texas with their three children. They recently returned from breaking new spiritual ground in Southern France, and planting a church.
ABOUT THE BOOK
She touched Daisy’s shoulder. So cold. So hard. So unlike Daisy.
Yet so much like herself it made Emory shudder.
Burying her grief, Emory Chance is determined to find her daughter Daisy’s murderer—a man she saw in a flicker of a vision. But when the investigation hits every dead end, her despair escalates. As questions surrounding Daisy’s death continue to mount, Emory’s safety is shattered by the pursuit of a stranger, and she can’t shake the sickening fear that her own choices contributed to Daisy’s disappearance. Will she ever experience the peace her heart longs for?
The second book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, this suspenseful novel is about courageous love, the burden of regret, and bonds that never break. It is about the beauty and the pain of telling the truth. Most of all, it is about the power of forgiveness and what remains when shame no longer holds us captive.
Sally Says: Several months ago I reviewed the first book in this series, Daisy Chain. While I loved the writing and the book overall, my one complaint was that no plot line in that book was tied off. Everything was left hanging, and we’d have to read the second and third books to find out what happened.
So I’ve been looking forward to this one. I really want to find out what happened to Daisy, the young girl who went missing in the first book.
Through the grapevine, I heard the book moved on to new characters, mostly Daisy’s mom Emory, and for some reason that dimmed my interest in A Slow Burn. I really wanted to find out what happened to Daisy, you know? I didn’t want the story to veer in a different direction.
But Mary DeMuth pulled me into the book right away with new information about Daisy’s disappearance. And before long I was involved with Emory’s regrets and struggle to change her self-destructive habits, and I was able to set aside all those questions from book one.
There’s still nothing from book one that’s been resolved, though. Nothing. And that’s frustrating as a reader. But Mary’s a very talented writer, and frankly if she weren’t so good at weaving a story, I think I’d give up reading these books.
I know — this is a convoluted review. Do I like A Slow Burn? Should you read it? Yes and yes. I found A Slow Burn to be a bit of a departure in style from Daisy Chain, but I think it was because DeMuth was being true to who Emory and Hixon were as characters. Emory’s story is a real life gone bad and spread out before us. I love fiction that deals with gritty issues and what happens when we mess up the life God’s given us — because God’s always bigger than we are and He can still use us as long as we give in and follow Him. That message came through in this book.
If you haven’t read Mary’s books yet, you really should. Her first two titles, Watching the Tree Limbs and Wishing on Dandelions, are going out of print so grab them now while you can. I think you’ll find them all encouraging, enjoyable reads.