"The Turning" (Davis Bunn)

TITLE: The Turning
AUTHOR: Davis Bunn
PUBLISHER: Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014, (304 pages).

It was an epic modern day battle between Goliath and David. On one side was the huge entertainment titan owned by Barry Mundrose. Splashing millions of dollars on glitzy advertising, top professionals in media, marketing, and publicity, the Mundrose group regularly called the shots in the entertainment industry. The buildings and offices were posh. The presenters were slick. The salespeople were persuasive. It was an unforgiving environment to people who failed to meet expectations. Enters Trent Cooper, a young up and coming executive, who seemed to be able to wow the top brass with bold propositions of the next big thing. Soon, the Goliath of the entertainment industry was attempting to conquer the world with their message: "Hope is Dead."

On the other side was a rag-tag group of individuals who heard a call.  Five different individuals who met in very strange circumstances soon found themselves against a common enemy. Led by John Jacobs, with the help of Ruth Barrett of Barrett Ministries, they took on the seemingly impossible task, facing the Goliath that appeared set to run them down and even kill them. Meekly but courageously, they offer a counter message: "Hope is Alive!"

The Turning is a thriller with several twists and turns. Written with spliced in scenes from different places, Bunn manages to keep the reader curious for the next turn of events with each ultimatum issued by the powers. Each page turn leads to higher stakes from both sides until the day where both clash face to face.

This is an exciting book that is full of suspense and mystery. Bunn does a great job in describing the lifestyles of the powerful and famous, and also contrast them with the ordinary folks just trying to make ends meet. Underneath all the stories, I sense the author's desire to remind us that spiritual warfare is real. There is an entertainment world out there that is trying to silence religion and Christianity. It reminds me of the apostle Paul's warning in Ephesians 6 to put on the armour of God, to point our guns not at flesh and blood, but powers and principalities of the world. I appreciate the author's conscious effort to refrain from adding spiced up sex, something so typical of suspense novels and thriller movies. There are many scenes in which it could have made for lustful reading but I am glad that Bunn did not take that route so often taken by Hollywood folks. If I have a critique, it will be too many characters that are left under-developed in the plot. Perhaps, lesser number of characters with a deeper focus on the key people will make the reading easier to link together.

That said, I am happy to recommend this book for good wholesome entertainment and reading.

Other Resources

• Book website
• Youtube trailer of the upcoming movie here
• Bible study resources here

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book is provided to me courtesy of Moody Publishers and Edify Media in exchange for an honest review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.