‘The Boy Who Changed the World’ by Andy Andrews; Illustrations by Philip Hurst – Book Review

My husband, Fred, is a shepherd in the children’s ministry at our church; he shepherds first graders. He often finds that Christian messages are reinforced in his life as well as in the life of the children. I had a similar experience while reading the first children’s book from Andy Andrews, ‘The Boy Who Changed the World.’

Here is the synopsis of this lovely book:

The Boy Who Changed the World teaches children how their actions can set off a spark that, in turn, influences the lives of others. As Andrews explains, “Every choice you make, good or bad, can make a difference.”

Who would dream that a boy playing in Iowa cornfields would save the lives of more than two billion people? This is the incredible story of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, a simple boy with a desire to feed the hungry – but Borlaug couldn’t have accomplished this without the help of Vice President Henry Wallace, who was influenced by inventor George Washington Carver, who in turn was rescued by farmer Moses Carver.

This delightful children’s book tells the stories of how each life is interwoven by decisions – both big and small – of others. The decisions you make today truly can change the world. As George Washington Carver told young Henry Wallace, “Remember…God made you to make a difference. And I believe you will.”

Based on Andrews’ popular book, The Butterfly Effect, his beautifully illustrated children’s story culminates with a flourish of butterflies and a charge to children that they, too, can change the world.

Here is the biography for the author, Andy Andrews:

Hailed by a New York Times reporter as “someone who has quietly become one of the most influential people in America,” Andy Andrews is a best-selling novelist and in-demand corporate speaker for the world’s largest organizations. He has spoken at the request of four United States presidents and at military bases worldwide. Andy is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Noticer and The Traveler’s Gift, as well as The Lost Choice and The Heart Mender. He lives in Orange Beach, Alabama, with his wife, Polly, and their two sons.

And here is the biography of the illustrator, Philip Hurst:

After obtaining a degree in illustration from Kingston University, Philip Hurst has worked for clients such as Faber and Faber, Reed Publishing, Egmont, and Dalmatian Press. He and his wife and three boys live on the Romney Marsh in Kent, England.

Here is the book trailer with Andy Andrews describing his book; this trailer includes some of the beautiful illustrations from Philip Hurst:

I love how Andy shares this story; he is a master storyteller, after all!:

I want to tell you about the boy who changed the world. His name was Henry Wallace. Henry’s father was a professor, and one of his students was a young man named George.

Henry loved to go with George on expeditions in the countryside. George knew more about plants than anyone Henry had ever known.

And here is the story of the man who would one day raise one of the best botanists the world has ever seen, George Washington Carver:

I want to tell you a story about the boy who changed the world. His name was Moses Carver. He lived on a farm with his mom and dad way up North.

Moses pulled nails out of some old barn wood while his pet rooster Buzz watched.

“Moses!” his mother called as she walked toward him in the field. “What are you doing?”

“Well, I figured if I got these nails out of this wood, we could reuse it for something like patching the chicken coop or building a shed.”

“Thank you, Moses. That’s a wonderful idea. I’m sure Buzz will appreciate it come winter,” she said with a smile.

“He hasn’t helped with a single nail!” Moses chuckled.

“You know, dear, every choice you make, good or bad, can make a difference. I’m proud of you for making a good choice today.”

And here is the culmination:

It’s odd, isn’t it? Every time something happens, something else happens. That’s called the Butterfly Effect.

When a butterfly flaps its wings, it moves tiny pieces of air… that move other pieces…that move other pieces of air. In fact, on the other side of the world, they might be feeling a big whoosh of wind – all because a butterfly flapped its wings here just a moment ago.

That means every little thing YOU do matters: what you did yesterday, what you do today, and what you do tomorrow. God made your life so important that every move you make, every action you take, matters… and not only for you or the people around you. Everything you do matter for everyone and for all time!

When you think about it like that…WOW!

That means YOU can be the kid who changes the world!

This is a very inspiring story, with absolutely beautiful illustrations! I plan to pass this book along to the children’s ministry at our church. I highly recommend it to any parent who wants to teach some wonderful life lessons to their children.

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Tommy Nelson, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers, and provided by Book Sneeze, its blogger review program, for review purposes.

‘Missing Mabel’ by Nancy Mehl – Book Review

I always love it when I am exposed to an author with whom I had previously been unaware. Such is the case with the author of the latest book on my list – Nancy Mehl and her newest novel, ‘Missing Mabel.’

Here is the synopsis of this entertaining novel:

         

Watch the tangled mess a Kansas hairdresser gets herself into when she reports to the funeral home that the body she is to work on is not the same as in her reference photo. Is she being punished when the director accuses her of stealing a diamond ring? Will Hilde Higgins’s former boyfriend help her unravel the issue or only bring more trouble to her life?                  

Here is the biography of this author:

Nancy Mehl lives in Wichita, Kansas, with her husband, Norman, and her son, Danny. She’s authored nine books and is currently at work on two new series for Barbour Publishing.

All of Nancy’s novels have an added touch—something for your spirit as well as your soul. “I welcome the opportunity to share my faith through my writing,” Nancy says. “It’s a part of me and of everything I think or do. God is number one in my life. I wouldn’t be writing at all if I didn’t believe that this is what He’s called me to do. I hope everyone who reads my books will walk away with the most important message I can give them: God is good, and He loves you more than you can imagine. He has a good plan especially for your life, and there is nothing you can’t overcome with His help.”

Hilde’s mother, a neurosurgeon, was a little alarmed at the career path that her daughter took:         

I glanced at my watch. I was supposed to meet my mother at one o’clock. Just enough time to do Mabel’s hair and get to the restaurant. Lunch with Mother. Not something I looked forward to. My mother still couldn’t understand why I’d left college to go to beauty school and ended up working on “dead people’s hair, for crying out loud.” Mom is a successful neurosurgeon who is absolutely horrified by my career choice. I’d tried once to explain to her how it happened, but her dazed look told me that she was either taking a quick, open-eyed nap, or she was thinking about the next skull she planned to crack open. At least we were both concentrating on the same end of the body. (pp. 10-11)

Hilde described her first encounter with the dearly departed:     

Assuming I was fired, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief. However, that was followed by a rush of terror when I understood that I was being sent to a local funeral home to fix the hair of a recently departed patron. The family insisted that their dear mother’s hair be styled by the same salon that had been taking care of her for years. Surprisingly, no one else wanted to go. Feeling that my career, such as it was, was hanging by a thread, I drove to The Sweet Slumberland Funeral Home, shaking like a leaf. I was scared stiff (no pun intended) as I was led down the hall to my client. But once we were alone, something happened to me. I felt a real peace in that room, and before long, Gertrude’s hair was beautifully coiffed. (pp. 11-12)

Hilde considered her job to be a ministry calling: 

I grabbed a pair of surgical gloves from my kit and pulled them on. Then I prayed. I always pray before starting my work. I ask for God’s help to honor the person entrusted to my care. I also pray for the family. It helps me feel like I’m a part of their healing process instead of a stranger who is intruding in their time of grief. (p. 21)

This book is surprisingly comical! Never having read any of Nancy’s books before, I was not expecting that. Here’s an example – Hilde explaining what her mother thinks of the church she is now attending:

My mother was still reeling from my decision to leave the church she’d brought me up in. I call it the “church of the frozen chosen.” My new church home is more contemporary and expressive. Mother refers to it as “that happy clappy church.” I don’t really mind. We do clap, and I am really happy there. (p. 39)

Hilde is deeply committed to Jesus. Here is an exchange between her and her best friend, Paula, who had recently embraced New Age teachings:   

She pulled her hand away and sat back in her seat. Her eyes narrowed. “Sorry. I’ve seen your God. He’s too judgmental. I could never be what He wants me to be.”

I smiled and shook my head. “He knows that, Paula. That’s why He doesn’t ask you to change. He simply asks that you let Him inside so He can do the changing.” I could tell from the way her body stiffened that I was going too far. “All right. I’ll stop. But just remember what I told you. God loves you completely—without reservation. He’s the father you’ve always wanted—and more. I should know. My father took off a long time ago with his girlfriend, and he’s never cared enough in all these years to contact me or pay one penny of child support. But my heavenly Father was there all the time, loving me and taking care of me. And He’s waiting for you to give Him a chance. Any time.” I grinned at her. “And it just so happens that I love you, too, you goofy nut.” (p. 97)

Another acquaintance of Hilde’s is the seventy year old gentleman across the street, Gabe Bashevis. They had established a relationship of friendship and trust over tea and dinner. Hilde decided she wanted to share one of her favorite food staples with him:     

I looked at my watch. “I need to get going. How about dinner tonight? I’ll fix something and bring it over about six?” I had no intention of telling him that he would be the recipient of one of my famous SPAM dishes. I found it was always better to let people taste it before telling them what it was. So far I’d never had anyone complain. (p. 129)

The main mystery in this suspenseful book is that Hilde is concerned that one of the dearly departed whose hair she styled was not the woman she had initially seen. Her sense of duty compelled her to tell the family of her concerns:

“Sorry.” My stomach felt tight. On the way to Willowbrook, I’d been relieved, since I planned to hand this whole mess over to Mabel’s family. However, the reality of telling them that their late loved one had turned up “missing in action” seemed to be losing its appeal. How would they take it? First their aunt dies. Then she’s toasted. Now some strange girl with a purple streak in her hair tells them their dear, dead aunt has actually disappeared and no one knows just where she is. Walking away and minding my own business began to look like a pretty good alternative. But I couldn’t do it. Mabel deserved better than that. (p. 133)

One more person of interest in Hilde’s life is Adam Sawyer, a childhood friend who had recently come back into her life. He seemed to have his priorities in order, as he explained when they were headed out to a secret destination:

“I don’t ever want my career to take over my life,” he said. “My dad worked hard to support us, but I would have traded time with him for almost any of the things he provided for us. Our pastor talks a lot about setting priorities. God first, family second, ministry third, and job fourth. I’m trying to get my ducks in a row now so I won’t have a problem when I get married someday.” He looked over at me and smiled. “I guess what you’ll see today is the ministry part of my life.” (p. 187)

And here’s another example of his faith:

         

“You know, my mother always prayed for me before she gave me any medication. She believes it’s important that we never put ourselves at the mercy of men’s solutions to God’s answers.”

I smiled at him even though it hurt. “I love that, Adam. Would you like to pray for me?”

He nodded, closed his eyes, and put his hand on my shoulder. “God, we thank You for being the true Healer. Thank You for touching Hilde with Your power. We know that nothing is stronger than You and that no pain can stand in Your presence. We also pray this medicine will be a blessing to her body. Thank You.” (p. 198)

The secret that Adam wanted to share with Hilde was that he was a member of a clown troupe that visited pediatric wards of hospitals: 

On the way to the restaurant, Adam shared a little more about his group, Clowns for Christ. He’d been with the group for a couple of years. Started at his church as a way to cheer up sick children, it now had ten members who split events between two groups of five clowns each. As he talked about the men he worked with and the vision they shared, I could hear the compassion in his voice for hurting children. It touched my heart and made me feel even closer to him. (p. 216)

The novel ends with the mystery of Mabel being solved. Another important development is the beginning of the healing of the relationship between Hilde and her mother:

My mother’s laughter at something Gabe said washed over me like a healing balm. Ever since we’d had our heart-to-heart talk, things have been better between us. Not perfect. Just better. The most remarkable thing is the look on her face now. There’s a freedom—a quiet joy that hadn’t been there for a long time—a fruit of the spirit that’s been inside her all the time, waiting to come out. We’ve both learned an important lesson: Allowing hurt and anger to quench the fruit God has given us can keep us from being everything He has created us to be. I’m not sure yet just who the real Hilde Higgins is—but I know she’s not the insecure little girl who watched her father drive out of her life in an orange car. Finding my true identity may take some time, but I intend to make that journey hand in hand with my real Father. The One who will never desert me. And now that Mom and I are both on the road to healing, I have every hope that we can have the kind of relationship I’ve always wanted. (p. 247)

This book is yet another example of God leading me to a terrific author who places Him at the center of her story. My understanding is that this is the first in a series of four books featuring Hilde Higgins; I really loved this character, and all of the other multidimensional characters in this novel. I look forward with great anticipation to the continuing adventures of this fun-loving young lady and her wonderfully ‘odd but happy group’ (as Mrs. Mehl describes them on page 249)!

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Barbour Books and provided by The Suspense Zone for review purposes.

‘Mennonite in a Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home’ by Rhoda Janzen – Book Review

I have had an admiration for the Amish community for most of my life. A close kin to the Amish are those in the Mennonite community. Rhoda Janzen grew up in a Mennonite home, and she has written a memoir of her life - then and now – entitled ‘Mennonite in a Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home.’ 

Here is the synopsis of this poignant memoir:

Not long after Rhoda Janzen turned forty, her world turned upside down. It was bad enough that her husband of fifteen years left her for Bob, a guy he met on Gay.com, but that same week a car accident left her seriously injured. Needing a place to rest and pick up the pieces of her life, Rhoda packed her bags, crossed the country, and returned to her quirky Mennonite family’s home, where she was welcomed back with open arms and offbeat advice (Rhoda’s good-natured mother suggested she get over her heartbreak by dating her first cousin – he owned a tractor, see).

Written with wry humor and huge personality – and tackling faith, love, family, and aging – Mennonite in a Little Black Dress is an immensely moving memoir of healing, certain to touch anyone who has ever had to look homeward in order to move forward.

Here is the biography of this author:

Rhoda Janzen holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the University of California Poet Laureate in 1994 and 1997. She is the author of Babel’s Stair, a collection of poems, and her poems have also appeared in Poetry, The Yale Review, The Gettysburg Review, and The Southern Review. She teaches English and creative writing at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

Here is an interview with Rhoda discussing her book:

Rhoda has a humorous writing style. Here she is describing her father:

As adolescents, my sister Hannah and I were naturally anxious to see if we would turn out like our mother or our father. There was a lot at stake. Having endured a painfully uncool childhood, we realized that our genetic heritage positioned us on a precarious cusp. Dad was handsome but grouchy; Mom was plain but cheerful. Would we be able to pass muster in normal society, or would our Mennonite history forever doom us to outsider status?

My father, once the head of the North American Mennonite Conference for Canada and the United States, is the Mennonite equivalent of the pope, but in plaid shorts and black dress socks pulled up snugly along the calf. In the complex moral universe that is Mennonite adulthood, a Mennonite can be good-looking and still have no sartorial taste whatsoever. My father may actually be unaware that he is good-looking. He is a theologian who believes in a loving God, a servant heart, and a senior discount. Would God be pleased if we spent an unnecessary thirty-one cents at McDonald’s? I think not. 

At six feet five and classically handsome, Dad has an imposing stature that codes charismatic elocution and a sobering, insightful air of authority. I’ve considered the possibility that his wisdom and general seriousness make him seem handsomer than he actually is, but whatever the reason, Dad is one of those people to whom everyone listens, No matter who you are, you do not snooze through this man’s sermon. Even if you are an atheist, you find yourself nodding and thinking, Preach it, mister!

Well, not nodding. Maybe you imagine you’re nodding. But in this scenario you are in a Mennonite church, which means you sit very still and worship Jesus with all your heart, mind, and soul, only as if a snake had bitten you, and you are now in the last stages of paralysis. (pp. 2-3)

And here is her explanation for how her husband looked at life in their home:

In general, Nick’s policy was, if you hadn’t used it in a year, throw it out. We lived in homes with spare, ultramodern décor. Once he convinced me to furnish a coach house with nothing but a midcentury dining table and three perfect floor cushions. You know the junk drawer next to the phone? Ours contained a single museum pen and a pad of artisan paper on a Herman Miller tray. (p. 5)

Rhoda’s professional skills are unusual, to say the least. She took on a side project to supplement her income:

Because of the house situation, I had agreed to ghost-edit a scholarly monograph on sacred dramatic literature of the late fifteenth century. I was working on the second chapter, which was about Feo Belcari’s mechanical innovations in the staging of sacre rappresenatzione. If you are one of the folks who have never heard of Feo Belcari, I can fix that right up for you. You know those Christmas Eve church plays in which your white-blonde niece gets to play the angel Gabriel year after year because she has a startling strange paleness that looks, and I mean this in a good way, a little like an albino? And remember the moment when she appears in a white sheet in the baptistery, maybe singing “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” in a threadlike soprano? Feo Belcari was the guy in the late 1400s who figured out a way to have your niece/Gabriel come down on metal wires at the front of the church. That about sums it up, but the chapter I was editing was about fifty pages or so.

What I was doing was unusual – unusual, I mean, beyond the fact that there are maybe 16.2 people in the entire world who would like to know more about the sacred dramatic literature of the fifteenth century (Okay, I admit it: I’m one of them). Sometimes academics manage to wheedle their best friends into reading their manuscripts and making critical comments. It is not unreasonable that English professors are often targeted for this favor. If you also happen to be a grammarian who creepily knows how to diagram every sentence in the English language, there is an even more urgent demand for your services. I’m the sicko who can explain why a gerundive phrase must attach to a possessive adjective pronoun rather than an object pronoun. True, you wouldn’t want me at a party, but if the survival of the human race depended upon the successful parsing of the Constitution, you’d be knocking on my door, baby. (p. 17)

One advantage to growing up in an Amish home is to have the ability to cook up a storm:

I have been happily and busily cooking since age five, when I served up my first kettle of Borscht, made with boiled lettuce instead of cabbage (Say what you will, but it is easy to get confused in the face of such look-alike vegetables). The women in our family are the kinds of cooks whom you can’t kerfuffle. You need a dinner for ten an hour from now? No problem. We’ll rustle up homemade bread, noodles, gravy, sausage, whatever. Mennonite food has its delicious moments – more on that later – but our true gift lies in the ease with which we cook. Some cooks struggle with timing, with menu planning, with missing ingredients. Not us. Our seven side dishes always come up at exactly the same time, and if we have run out of something, which we rarely do, we have improvised a delicious substitution. We’re idiot savants when it comes to food preparation. You’ve heard of those developmentally delayed folks who can shout out what day of the week it was on May 16, 1804? That’s us, only we’re shouting, “Dinner’s ready!” (pp. 25-26)

As Rhoda grew up and experienced the world, she turned her back on her Mennonite upbringing. She found she had little in common with her brothers:

The gap between Aaron and me was marked by so much more than a divide between left and right brains, between science and the humanities. In fact, I don’t have much in common with either of my brothers. In college, they remained content with their opportunities in Mennonite circles. Aaron sang close harmonies in a madrigal group, his rich-timbered baritone blending like butter. Caleb played in state volleyball competitions with a Christian organization. They both went to Bible studies. They dated sincere gals who hairsprayed their bangs and went on missions trips. Big and easy in their exuberance, Aaron and Caleb coached, studied, prayed. But by then we had nothing in common.

I felt my little Mennonite college was holding me back from a serious literary education. And it was holding me back, in a manner of speaking. I found this out to my cost when in grad school I discovered the jaw-dropping level of my underexposure. At twenty all I wanted to do was read philosophy, feminism, and fashion. I was blind to all of the better lessons my solid little Mennonite college could have taught me, lessons about the value of community, of service, of wisdom rather than knowledge. (p. 135)

Rhoda discussed these differences with her mother, who had some wisdom of her own:

After they were gone, I asked my mother, “Don’t you think it’s weird that the boys are so much more conservative than you and Dad?”
“Oh, they’ll mellow over time,” said Mom. “When you’re young, faith is often a matter of rules. What you should do and shouldn’t do, that kind of thing. But as you get older, you realize that faith is really a matter of relationship – with God, with the people around you, with the members of your community.” (p. 137)

Despite her turning away from her church of origin, Rhoda still has faith:

I hadn’t ruled out the existence of God. I still don’t. In fact, I’m gonna come right out and admit that I believe in God. I have always loved the beautiful, mysterious power of the Bible, its lethal history, its toxic charm. I adored the idea of learning Hebrew and Greek. I longed for sustained study with other students who were also humbled by the power of creation, by the ineluctable search for meaning in a broken world. (p. 168)

Rhoda has certain expectations for dating; she speculated about whether or not she would be able to enjoy the company of the grandson of an acquaintance of her mother’s – a Mennonite fellow seventeen years her junior:

In my opinion, sexiness comes down to three things: chemistry, sense of humor, and treatment of waitstaff at restaurants. If the sparks don’t fly from the beginning, they never will. If he doesn’t get your sense of humor from the very first conversation, you’ll always be secretly looking for someone who does. And if a guy can’t see restaurant servers as real people, with needs and dreams and crappy jobs, then I don’t want to be with him, even if he just won the Pulitzer Prize.

With my exceptionally generous criteria for defining sexiness, you’d think that there would be a good chance that Soren Friesen could make the cut. Let’s face it, my standards were pretty low. The unsexy characteristics that usually attend Mennonite men would theoretically not be barriers to me. By my own confessed standard, I would have no problem dating a man with beefy pink skin, or chins that skipped like rocks on a pond – one, two, three, kerplunk. I could even fall for a guy whose wallet contained an expired ten-dollar coupon for a bad chain steakhouse, at which the server would refuse to honor the coupon because it was a good six years out of date. (p. 203)

Despite her misgivings about dating a Mennonite man, she did agree to a coffee date with Soren:

So my expectations were very low as I drove to the coffeehouse to meet the twenty-seven-year-old grandson of the granny who handed out bombshell books like candy. Soren was sitting at a small table, reading the New York Times Book Review. I knew it was he the moment I saw him, even though there were one or two other thirtyish men about. Soren had the straight sandy hair of our people, and a ruddy goatee to match. He looked cheerful and attractive as he stood to greet me. He was tall. And I liked his glasses. (p. 204)

This book has a section in the back entitled, 'Etc...' which contains an interview, as well as Mennonite recipes (the platz and borscht sound especially good), and discussion questions. I loved the answer to this question posed to Rhoda in the interview portion:

          Where are you on your spiritual journey today?    

So often we think of faith as the crutch of crisis; we turn to it only when our world bottoms out, as mine did when my husband left me. Weirdly, faith is becoming more important to me, not less. I’m still exploring issues of spiritually and theology, and I’m even regularly attending a church. Also, nobody’s twisting my arm! I’m often amazed that an English professor prefers nonfiction to new fiction… With a nod to Viktor Frankl, the books on my nightstand are all about man’s search for meaning. (Etc. p. 7)

I am glad to see that Rhoda is attending church again. I pray that she is involved with a congregation and is under the leadership of a pastor who can stimulate her intellect while still nourishing her soul.

When I heard the title of this book, I knew I wanted to read it! Although it is outside of the normal bounds of books I have read of late, I enjoyed it thoroughly nonetheless. Dr. Janzen has an amazing ways with words, and I am encouraged to see that she is – slowly – returning to the faith of her childhood. I pray that Jesus manifests Himself to her in a mighty way.

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Henry Holt and Company and provided by them for review purposes.

‘Medical Error: Prescription for Trouble Series’ by Richard L. Mabry, M.D. – Book Review

I have been reading and reviewing on my blog long enough that I am getting to read second books by selected authors. One author who falls into that category is Richard L. Mabry, M.D. I had the good fortune to read his first non-fiction release, ‘Code Blue;’ the latest in his ‘Prescription for Trouble’ series is ‘Medical Error.’

Here is the synopsis of this book:

She thinks things couldn’t get worse…then she opened the envelope. Dr. Anna McIntyre’s life was going along fine until someone else started living it. Her patient dies because of an identity mix-up, her medical career is in jeopardy because of forged prescriptions, and her credit is in ruins. She thought things couldn’t get worse, but that was before she opened the envelope and saw a positive HIV test with her name on it.

Here is the biography of this author:

Richard L. Mabry, M.D., is a retired physician and medical school professor who achieved worldwide recognition as a writer, speaker, and teacher before turning his talents to non-medical writing after his retirement. He is the author of one non-fiction book, and his inspiration pieces have appeared in numerous periodicals. Dr. Mabry’s first novel is entitled ‘Code Blue;’ he has also written a non-fiction book entitled ‘The Tender Scar: Life After The Death Of A Spouse.’ He and his wife, Kay, live in North Texas. 
 

Here is the book trailer for this suspenseful read:

The main character in this fast-paced book is Dr. Anna McIntyre, whose life is being turned upside down. She has endured identity theft, which is both extremely annoying and personally violating (it has happened to me in the past). This theft has affected both her personal and professional life.

Being that Dr. Mabry is a retired physician and medical school professor, he knows the ins and outs of the medical profession. For instance, when Dr. McIntyre performs surgery, Dr. Mabry takes his readers into the operating room with her.

An interesting aspect of the story is that the hospital in which Dr. McIntyre practices is Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. A student of history will recognize the name of that hospital as the one in which President John F. Kennedy was taken after he was shot; it was where he subsequently died. Here Dr. McIntyre explains the tempo in that busy place:

Anna nodded her thanks and headed for the break room. Just being in the Emergency Room made her pulse quicken, as she relived memories of her own time as “Pit Boss” – the second year surgery resident charged with overseeing the ER at Parkland Hospital, arguably one of the busiest in the nation. The pressure was tremendous, but the opportunity to hone one’s clinical judgment and skills was almost unlimited. (p. 57)

Another main character in this book is Ross Donovan, the attorney that Anna hired to represent her and help her get out of the miry pit. I was amused by her description of him upon their first meeting:

Apparently no one was coming out to welcome her. Anna knocked on the closed door. In less than half a minute, Gregory Peck opened the door. Well, not him, but a handsome man with black, wavy hair, a cleft chin, and sparkling blue eyes that hinted of secrets that could not be shared….

As she settled into one of the two client chairs across the desk from Donovan, she gave him a quick appraisal. Probably forty years old or thereabouts. Crisp, clean white shirt with cuffs turned back a neat two folds, a conservative blue tie, dark blue suspenders. And although a reappraisal showed her that he wasn’t exactly a dead ringer for Gregory Peck, his looks would probably melt the hearts of female jurors from ages sixteen to sixty. (pp. 89-90)

Another character in the story is Dr. Nick Valentine, a pathologist at Parkland Hospital and a colleague of Dr. McIntyre’s who has a strong attraction to her. He accompanied her to a party which included many of her church friends. Nick was surprised at the company:

‘Enjoying yourself?” Anna eased up beside him. “I’m sorry I left you for a bit, but I had to help get the food on the table. Ready to eat?”

“Sure,” Nick answered. He pointed to the group of men he’d just left. “I don’t remember those guys’ names, but are they on the church staff or something? They were slinging Bible stuff around left and right.”

“Chet, the host, is an insurance agent. Charlie, on the left, is a mechanic. Rick, on the right, is a dentist.” She looked around and pointed. “The only minister I see here is the man in Bermuda shorts and flip-flops. That’s Robert, our pastor.” (p. 131)

Dr. McIntyre’s faith also had a positive impact on her attorney, Ross:

          “Oh, there’s an answer,” Anna said. “But only God has it, Then again ---”   

          “What?”

          “Maybe you’re the answer.”

After the conversation ended, Ross cradled the phone and stared at the ceiling. It was hard enough not to drink. It was hard enough to defend Anna against charges that seemed to worsen day by day. It was hard enough to remain professional in the face of feelings he was developing for her. Now, out of the blue, she’d told him God might be using him. Ross began to laugh. Maybe God really does have a sense of humor. (p. 192)

I appreciated the fact that, despite all of her troubles, Dr. McIntyre never lost faith or love for her God. Dr. Valentine also respected that aspect of her personality:

“Nick, that’s sort of the heart of everything I believe. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do to you.’ I don’t know if I have the words exactly right, but you get the meaning.”

“You know, one of the things I admire about you is the way you’ve held on to your faith in the midst of all that’s happened. I’m afraid mine is gone for good.”

“That’s not true,” Anna said. “Your faith is right where you left it.” (p. 217)

The climactic final scene was full of twists and turns; I did not see that ending coming! I will not give away any spoilers, but that scene – and the last page, which gave a hint of what was to come in Anna’s personal life – were satisfying and sweet!

In addition, there are discussion questions at the end of the book. I would recommend this book to books clubs everywhere.

As stated, I had the opportunity to read Dr. Mabry’s first novel in the ‘Prescription for Trouble’ series, ‘Code Blue;’ you can read my review here. I thoroughly enjoyed that book as well. Dr. Mabry is a talented man – previously a physical and medical school professor, and now a talented – and published! – author. Clearly he knows the medical industry, and he also now knows the publishing industry. The third book in his ‘Prescription for Trouble’ series is ‘Diagnosis Death,’ which will release in April, 2011. My Advance Reader Copy includes chapters 1 and 2; it is just as compelling as are the first two books! I thank Dr. Mabry for sharing his knowledge and his faith with his readers, and I wish continued success to him in his new publishing journey!

You can order this book here.

This book was published by Abingdon Press and this Advance Reader Copy was generously provided by the author for review purposes. Page numbers included in the quotes from this review from this ARC and may not match up with the final published copy.