Well, I'll be darned! If It's a Wonderful Life, The Screwtape Letters, and McGyver had a love child, this would be it. Mr. Toad's wild ride on steroids, with Aquinas, Sue Grafton, Tom Clancy, and Barbara Cartland in the front seat; strapped in, hands up, screaming for nearly 500 pages. It grabs you by the throat (in that good way), shakes you 6-ways-to-Sunday (in that fun way), and spits you out, sweating and dazed (in that "Let's do it again" way) at the end. You will laugh (OUT LOUD in a few places), you will cringe (in more than a few), you will find yourself squinting in that "that's really intriguing" kinda way, as you stay up waaay longer than you intended, just to read 'one more page,' that melts into a hundred and fifty more before you finally drag yourself away.
Best of all, it will make you think about the big things (and the little ones) that make this life...the "why are we here," and "there but for the grace of God go I" down that softly sloping, somnambulant path to hell. If it gets made into a movie (which it really must), the theme song should be Casting Crowns' "It's a Slow Fade"...(youtube it).
Capps is a master storyteller and a consummate wordsmith (it's in his DNA), with a decidedly dark edge that keeps you watching and reading through slit fingers. This genre generally isn't my 'thing,' but this book is an exception. Like Screwtape, it can make you more aware of the unseen, all-important battle raging all around us...if you allow it to, and ponder what it really says. I await, on pins and needles, its sequel.
(Source: Amazon)
