The Hidden Saboteur by Charles Besondy

This is a story of redemption. One man coming to Christ and one man returning to God. There are some powerful Christian messages in this book. Overall, it’s a good read.

The book focuses on two main characters. However, that’s not apparent until two-thirds through. For the first third, the main character is Clay Austin, a successful advertising executive. He suffers a series of strange and frightening dreams and even some waking visions that force him into seeing a psychiatrist. His assistant, Sheryl Landing, is the lead supporting character. She becomes an important part of Clay’s life outside of work. And it’s through her we meet the second main character, Thomas Benton, the pastor of Seattle Beacon Bible Church. We don’t meet him until page 287 of the 472 page book. Because of his wife’s recent death, he’s cast adrift unable to determine God’s will for his life.

As I opened with, this book is a good read. But there are four major issues. First, the subtitle of the book is “A Christian Psychological Thriller.” This is why I wanted to read it. However, the subtitle should be “A Christian Psychological Drama.” In no way does this book fit into the subgenre of thriller. There are some thrilling and some suspenseful moments, but they are way too few and too far between. Second, this book is way too long. It’s 472 pages. It could have easily been cut by at least a hundred pages. There is too much filler, too much day-to-day routine stuff that doesn’t add to the story.

The third issue with this book is the plethora of typos. It suffers from a severe lack of copy editing. I’m fine with a few typos here or there, but there were pages where there were three or four. Enough typos to pull me from the story several times.

The last issue is the structure. This is probably more personal opinion than technical fault. However, if I had been writing this story, I would have introduced Thomas Benton much earlier. And I would have interwoven parts two and three. I’m not a fan of restarting the timeline with another character. I hated it when George R.R. Martin did it with Game of Thrones (his was two entire novels), and I didn’t like it in this book. This was especially jarring because Besondy ended part one on a cliff hanger. I don’t mind  leaving the main character hanging for a couple chapters, but Clay was left hanging for twenty-four chapters and over eighty pages. It didn’t help that part two was way too long and dragged on for me. Sailing enthusiasts may like that part, but me being a thriller / suspense fan was none too pleased.

The book is a Christian book. There is no profanity and no on page sex. I was a dismayed at the amount of alcohol many of the Christian characters consumed. No violence.

Again, the book is a good read. But too long and doesn’t live up to its subtitle billing. I’ll rank this one seventeenth for this year.

1. The Record Keeper by Charles Martin
2. The Samaritan’s Patient by Chevron Ross
3. Days Coming by Pat Simmons
4. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
5. The Maid by Nita Prose
6. The Blue Cloak by Shannon McNear
7. Where is My Sister by Jane Daly
8. Braving Strange Waters by Sarah Hanks
9. Another Ending by Sara Whitely
10. Blood Red Deceit by Steve Rush
11. Without Fail by Lee Child
12. The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
13. The Sacred Bridge by Anne Hillerman
14. Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke
15. A Vanishing Act by Edwina Kiernan
16. Harlot’s Moon by Ed Gorman
17. The Hidden Saboteur by Charles Besondy
18. Cali’s Hope by John Matthew Walker
19. Field Training by Patrick O’Donnell
20. Deadly Pursuit by Elle Gray
21. American Prophet by Jeff Fullmer
    

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