ReviewDee Henderson is an amazing author of Christian suspenseful romance novels and in my opinion this is the best of the O’Malley series. Lisa, a doctor that uses her credentials to be a forensic pathologist, is trying to solve a 25 year old mystery with Quinn, her brothers partner, who has a personal interest in the case. Meanwhile, Lisa’s best friend, her sister Kate, and her older brother, Marcus, have been pushing her towards Christianity after recently coming to Christ themselves. Lisa struggles with the concept of the Resurrection, especially as a doctor who deals with death every day. The Story:The plot of this book was constantly thickening but didn’t change so much over the course of the novel to make it confusing. The twists in this novel made it incredibly suspenseful. As with all her books, Dee Henderson makes you to believe that multiple people are the suspects and then at the last second changes everything again. She also makes all the pieces fall into place while still leaving enough up to the imagination. The Characters:The characters in the novel were very easy connect with because you knew their story. This is the third book in the series; the first two books were about two characters in this novel, so you already knew their stories and their struggles. The other main characters in this novel were also interesting to discover because the following novels in the series are about them. I found that the characters were easy to believe. They were normal, real people that made mistakes but learned from them. They were also easy to fall in love with as you could empathize with their struggles.The Point of the Story:This novel really drove home for me why I believe what I believe. It made me see sides of the Resurrection that I hadn’t seen before, but it reassured my faith in it. It explained the troubles that people may have with it, but it also showed how they can overcome that. The novel encouraged you to examine why you believe what you believe, encouraged you to investigate the facts and make them your own instead of just accepting the information as it is given to you. Analyze book from Worldview perspective: Lisa O’Malley, the main character in Truth Seeker by Dee Henderson, is struggling with the Resurrection because of her job; she is a doctor that uses her talents to be a forensic pathologist. She sees death face-to-face everyday, and so the idea of the dead coming back to life seems surreal to her. She also watched someone die, and knows that there is no life after death. This leads me to believe that Lisa is a modernist. She accepts everything but only as long as it agrees with science. She looks to science for answers, for her meaning in life. As a scientist and doctor, this is her reality, how she understands the world around her. She is driven by facts; as a forensic pathologist, this is her job - to look at the facts and decipher them, to use them to find what really happened at crime scenes. However, these beliefs begin to break down over the course of the novel. She begins to see some of the questions that science cannot answer all of her questions. Rather than resort to post-modernism at this dilemma, however, she turns towards Christianity. As Lisa begins to realize that there is a higher power, she still cannot come to terms with the Resurrection. She cannot go back to modernism as she sees the flaws, but she also finds it impossible to continue forward. Stuck in a limbo, as it were, Lisa doesn’t know where to turn. A near death experience, however, causes Lisa to come face-to-face with her doubts and to come to terms with her life. She realizes that there is indeed life after death - she experienced it herself. Her last vestiges of doubt about the world and Christianity are put to death as she realizes that Christ did in fact die and rise again. For her.
(Note: I wrote this review years ago, and some of my opinions about this book have changed, but since I still like the review, I don't want to remove it.)This book is awesome. The plot was believable, suitably complicated, and cleverly unfolded. It was exceptional. Especially since it's a Christian romance fiction novel. This book succeeded far and beyond my expectations for a book of that genre.The characters were appealing and did not fall into the stereotypes which appear to dominate books of its kind. The writing was quite good. THE AUTHOR EVEN USES SEMI-COLONS! Usually when I read books of this kind I want to rephrase things constantly and spot lots of punctuation errors. While reading this book, my inner-editor was able to step back and take a break.This is a funny book, too, despite the serious subject matter. The family antics are hilarious. All of the characters have unique characteristics which mesh together to make a wonderful, crazy group. I laughed out loud several times while reading this book.The romance was actually good. Coming from me, that's high praise. It's not that I don't like romance. I'm a sucker for romance, really, it just has to be plausible and engaging.While reading book 2 in this series, I groaned and thrashed about during the romantic parts. They weren't really all that bad from a writing stand-point, but they were sappy.This romance, however, was actually good. It was sweet, funny, and believable. I actually liked the characters as a couple, and liked the scenes putting them together.The plot's twists and turns were well handled. I truly could not have guessed the end. The writing kept me on the edge of my seat.When it comes to Christian fiction, I generally have a bone to pick in three areas (Well, more than three, but I've narrowed it down): plausibility, romance, and the way that faith is handled.This book succeeds in all three areas. Faith is not handled in a way that is overly-sentimental or watered down. Characters in this series have real, serious obstacles to overcome in order to come to saving faith in Christ. Their issues are not discarded at the end so that they can just automatically "see the light" and accept Christ. Rather, the author wrestles with difficult theological issues: God's justice and mercy in book 1, unanswered prayer in book 2, and the resurrection in this book.Arguments against faith are not only presented in an accurate and believable way, but there are actually satisfying answers given, not just trite sayings.I intensely enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it to teens and adults. The book is perfectly clean, but there is some violence, as well as graphic (but not gratuitous) descriptions which more sensitive readers ought to be aware of. Nonetheless, this is a fantastic read!
What do You think about The Truth Seeker (2005)?
This one, for me, was a little slower than prior books in the series. It was fun getting to know Quinn, the hero of the book. We meet him in prior books, but didn't get to know him until now. My impression of him changed completely. I had him pictured in my mind as an old grumpy man. Was I ever mistaken. Enjoyed getting to meet the real Quinn. I didn't like his prior relationships with Jennifer and Kate - more Jennifer than Kate. Kate was more a friend, but it still made me a little uncomfortable for Dave and Lisa. Lisa was our heroine, and the featured O'Malley. I liked her love for animals. Felt sorry for her as a child. Although she and Quinn make a good couple, I didn't feel the connection or chemistry. The story felt like it was more of a mystery than romance. The prior books had more of a mystery / romance balance. The exception to that would be the final chapters where the romance was a little more predominant. From a mystery standpoint, I did not figure out the villain until it was reviled in the story. My favorite part of the book - Dave was carrying Kate's engagement ring. Kate and Dave, The Negotiator - book one - are still my favorite of all the hero and heroine's. Danger in the Shadows my favorite book in the series, thus far.
—Teresa Snyder
Not the best book I've ever read. The book before this one and this one were so predictable. I enjoyed the characters, though they seem to be such extremes. Can't anybody in this family just fall in love with somebody with some normalcy-with out live or death experiences? Well I guess it's a thriller whodunit novel. But together all 7 of them to each keep having these experiences is too unrealistic, though their jobs are all dangerous types, I guess that is why the author gets away with it. Maybe it's the combination in each of the novels that is too much for me... life threatening experiences while falling in love with a Christian and ultimately somehow finding Christ at the end of the book. Other than that the book was good.
—Kristi
Totally forgettable. The forensic scientists are super boring to read about because all they do is sit around in a room and analyze data. I mean, I think it would be cool to BE them, but it's super boring to read, "Then they sat around and analyzed some data. It didn't help. Then they analyzed more data. It seemed sort of significant. Hey, a clue! Now they can better analyze more data! Now they can discuss their analysis." All of the action happened in the past, and now they are just talking and talking and TALKING about it. There are some little bursts of actual action (and we get a nice big burst at the climax), but it's mostly super boring. I started having to skim the parts where they were just sitting in rooms talking. Which means I skimmed a lot.
—Bt
