book review: elysium tide.

After belittling a colleague in the OR, British neurosurgeon Peter Chesterfield is ordered to take a leave of absence in Maui. While strolling along the beach one night, Peter pulls a woman’s body from the surf. She survives just long enough to whisper a mysterious message to him. Determined to find the woman’s murderer and bring order back into his life, Peter ends up butting heads with police detective Lisa Kealoha. But when a sinister plot is uncovered, the two of them must set aside their differences and work together.

This was such a good novel—a tense thriller that truly kept me turning pages. It was refreshing, in a way, to read a mainstream Christian novel written by a male author. Even more refreshing was how Peter and Lisa’s relationship stayed professional. I’ve read more than one Christian thriller/mystery where the romance between the leads is treated as more important than the main plot. (Or at least equally important.) That wasn’t the case with Elysium Tide, and I appreciated that.

The main mystery was a little hard to follow at times—so many moving parts! And one surprise villain reveal just…didn’t work for me. What really kept me reading was Peter’s faith journey. He begins the book as an atheist but slowly, ever so slowly he starts to entertain the possibility of an all-powerful Creator Who cares about him. I was rooting so hard for Peter to become a believer! There was one moment where he finally decides that maybe, just maybe there might be a God. That was such a huge step for his character, and it made me tear up.

I will say that the ending of Elysium Tide was somewhat disappointing. I DM’ed James Hannibal, asking (rather frantically) if there was going to be a sequel. And he said no. 😦 However, I feel as thought the disappointing ending is a total ‘your mileage may vary’ kind of thing. (There’s no real cliffhanger, for one thing.)

I confess that the main reason I picked up Elysium Tide was because the main character was a doctor. And the medical aspect of his character/the story didn’t disappoint. Lots of nice medical details for me to enjoy. 😉 And, contrary to how it might sound, I did enjoy the rest of the story. And I would happily check out more thrillers from James Hannibal.

Overall, if you’re a fan of clean mystery thrillers, smart characters, and actually Christian fiction, chances are good that you’ll love Elysium Tide.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Eva-Joy

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