"Deadly Disclosures" by Julie Cave — Book Review
For someone who is not all that experienced in doing book reviews — here I go again!
Deadly Disclosures is not the kind of book that I expected to read. Most of my reading these days is nonfiction. (I agree with some other people that so much of Christian fiction is poorly written and unbelievable, "preachy", with the main character becoming a Christian and then everything comes up roses. The committed Christian life is not easy.) The e-book was on sale at Answers In Genesis, and I thought I would give a Christian mystery with a creationist viewpoint a try.
I'm glad I did, and have to restrain myself from diving into the next two books of the trilogy because of time commitments.
Julie Cave shows her talent in several ways. We received plot twists, suspense, emotion and other things expected in a murder mystery. There are little extras that add color and realism to the story, including humor and quirks in the characters (I like the occasional sarcasm). Certain historical incidents are involved in the "back story" (sorry, I don't like that term), and there is some crime scene forensic science that demonstrates that Julie Cave is not opposed to doing research for her story.
As for character development, FBI agent Dinah Harris was very believable. She had a personal tragedy that gradually unfolded throughout the book, and she was suffering from despair to the point of contemplating suicide. This provoked sympathy from me. And sometimes I did not even like her. Other times, I wanted to shout at her to stop what she's doing, she'll only make things worse. When she was focused and on the job, people were wise to stay out of her way.
The main story begins with the disappearance of Thomas Whitfield, the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, who was known for being a popular atheist promoting evolution and debating with a creationist. He was supported by an atheist group that promotes evolution as science. They support other scientists and politicians in their agenda to eradicate the vague, shadowy menace of "fundamentalist Christianity", and especially creationism:
“We stand for the complete separation of church and state, to begin with,” explained Damon. “And, not unexpectedly, the majority of our members are atheists. We are mostly scientists of one form or another, although we have a handful of members from other intellectual professions. We believe that we live in an age of reason and rationality and we want to break the shackles of religious fundamentalism that are holding this nation back.”Further, he said:
“We have all kinds of scientific evidence for the questions that have plagued humanity for so long,” continued Damon. “And mankind is intelligent enough to rule itself without relying on some God somewhere to ratify our decisions. Religious fundamentalism seeks to plunge us all back into the Dark Ages, when superstition ruled society. We want religion taken out of schools and workplaces, and to some degree, we've succeeded. But there is always work to be done, to combat religious fanatics who insist on cloaking scientific reason with their own brand of flawed logic.”Smithsonian secretary Whitfield pretty much echoed those sentiments until circumstances and discussions caused him to reconsider. His change of outlook cost him his life. Will militant atheists turn violent? It happens. Is it reasonable to believe that fundamentalist evolutionists will become increasingly violent? At least the creationists did not have to deal with fundamentalist evolutionists calling them "liars" because they dared to disagree with Darwinism.
If you think that the quotes from Damon (above) are a straw man argument, think again. I have personally encountered many similar straw men and question-begging epithets in my work. The creationist viewpoint is presented through dialogue, and some of the objections that Whitfield expressed are commonly heard, and can be often found on the Web. The gospel message is also clearly presented, and I didn't feel that it was "preachy". In fact, it was better than others I have encountered.
I highly recommend Deadly Disclosures by Julie Cave — I may even give some copies as Christmas gifts. It is available in several formats from various sources. You will get an adventure, the creationist message well articulated, and the gospel. I'm looking forward to reading the next two in the series.