Book Review: The Final Hour

 

The Final Hour

By Andrew Klavan

Thomas Nelson publishers

ISBN: 9781595547156

$14.99

General Juvenile Fiction, Action & Adventure

“You’re not alone. You’re never alone.”

The Final Hour completes the four-pack of Charlie West’s adventures with the Homelanders. Charlie is a high school student, perfectly normal in studies, a black belt in karate, a young man of great faith, with loving parents and a sister. His biggest problem is that he woke up one day with no memory. Accused and convicted of murdering one of his closest friends over a girl, he’s been on the run ever since.

This last novel begins with Charlie imprisoned in a federal petitionary with hardened criminals and guards who are only a little lower on the social scale. Sent to his knees on occasion with flashes of memory detailing the last several months, Charlie realizes that he’s been on an undercover mission for the US government to infiltrate a terrorist group who call themselves the Homelanders. But like an Impossible Mission gone wholly wrong, he’s been disavowed and his one living contact to the truth, Detective Rose, has no way to convince his superiors to clear Charlie now that the terrorist cell has been broken up.

When Rose reveals to Charlie that the leader of the cell has not been caught and Charlie must remain in prison where his treatment is less than fine, Charlie connects with his former karate master and friend, Sensei Mike.

In a desperate plan to thwart the terrorists final act of mass murder, the detective, the karate master, and the imprisoned high school student work together to get past not just the remaining zealous Homelanders, but the US government officials who refuse to believe in the danger.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and fingernail-biting action kept me reading the story until the last page. Klavan manages to make me hang on Charlie’s every decision, to root for him, groan in pain and despair with him, and pray with him when nothing else can possibly make a difference. If Charlie makes it in the Air Force, I bet he’ll be cooler than Jack Ryan. Recommended for junior high and up readers.

A copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher.

When culture and history meet

I was excited to read this book because of the Reformed theological connections, because I'd once met a missionary to the US from India, which I found odd, and because I hoped to discover something about how other cultures see the faith of US believers.

The author set up his view of the world from his experiences as a child, which were helpful for me to understand where he developed his worldview.  I was a but stunned when Mangalwadi began the book with significant reference to dead rocker Kurt Cobain and his beautiful wife, but again, understood that both Mangalwadi and his American audience needed a reference point in which to begin a discussion on culture – where we began and how the cultures merged. What made the western world ripe for the Bible. With chapters than span global history, like "The Seeds of Western Culture" to the intriguing "What Made the West the Best" with segments that discuss if and how the US culture (mostly) rose above practices, like bribery, that seem natural in other cultures, the reader can't help but be drawn to the pages of the book.

I found it intriguing that, although the Word of God originated in what our American country calls the Middle East, the Bible has had the greatest influence for the better on later modern western culture. The nature of secularism vs. humanism seems to keep the debate open in our society; something that other faith-based cultures don't allow.

I love the fact that Mangalwadi tackled the tough questions to end his philosophical study of how the Bible influenced our society. How can God allow bad things to happen to good people (allow sin); can scientific people accept resurrection; what is true life?

For those who enjoy mulit-cultural philosophical topics and in-depth study of how history affect not only today but the future, The Book That Made Your World will be a valuable resource.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.