Book Review: A Distant Shore

I expressed some of my difficulty with Christian fiction (especially my recent read, Forgiving Paris). So, my sister encouraged me to give A Distant Shore a try. She had just finished it and enjoyed it quite a bit. The story line was intriguing and the characters endearing. Yet, I still believe it hammered the message more than necessary. I have resigned myself to accepting that Christian authors write Christian novels with Christian readers in mind, with the sole intention of strengthening faith. If you frame these novels in that way, then the verses that open every chapter are beneficial. I will try to complain less about sermon overshadowing story. I will shift my understanding of the purpose of these novels.

Sixteen-year-old Jack Ryder is playing football on a beach in Belize when he sees a small child drowning. What he doesn't know is that the girl allowed herself to be drawn into the riptide because she wanted to join her mother and brother in heaven. The girl is returned to her supposed family and Jack returns to his, neither knowing what happened to the other. A decade later, Jack is an FBI agent back in Belize to break up a sex trafficking operation. These two collide again, and the stakes feel far higher than the pull of the ocean. Can Jack do his job without falling in love? Can she find a reason to live? Does God allow evil in our lives to lead us into situations that train and bolster us "for such a time as this"? Can God redeem the evil that is present in our fallen world?

This is a heavy topic. Kingsbury handles it with compassion and sensitivity. Although it is difficult to read about the loathsome treatment of girls taken captive, it is important because this evil exists and our awareness is vital. Battles rage all around us, often hidden in darkness. We should be a light that exposes Satan's schemes and opposes them with God's gospel.