The Queen - A Review

The fifth Patrick Bowers thriller, “The Queen”, by Steven James, careens through a Wisconsin winter like a snowmobile at full throttle.  James starts our protagonist on a case related to his old nemesis, Richard Basque, then changes gears as Pat Bowers is assigned to a seemingly unrelated side-case that acquaints him with a new conflicted  nemesis, Alexei Chekov.

For those who love high tech adventures and suspense, this book stands toe-to-toe with the best Clancy novels.  From Agent Bowers’ geospatial three dimensional profiling program, ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) transmission technology for submarine contact, to the behind-the-scenes experimental government technologies used by spy agencies and Eco Terrorism, this book has it all.

James does an excellent job at balancing the thrills with deep character development where we dig into Agent Bowers’ past with an introduction of his brother and sister-in-law, Sean and Amber.  Bower’s complicated relationship with his daughter Tessa creates a nice tension with an underlying question of what forgiveness and reconciliation mean.  Did Pat Bowers and his on-again, off-again love interest Lien-hua Jiang finally get around to tying the knot?  You’ll have to read the book to find out. 

Having read the past four Patrick Bowers novels, I am always expecting the unexpected twists at the end and “The Queen” didn’t disappoint.  This is required reading for adrenaline junkies!

“Available September 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

I’m headed off on a retreat, a break, a sabbatical. Booked a literal cabin in the woods and I’m unplugging from daily life for a few days to sit, listen, watch for a signpost, and course-correct.

I was unsure whether to label it a retreat or sabbatical. After reading Merriam-Webster’s definition, a retreat can be:

1. An act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable.
2. The forced withdrawal of troops from an enemy or advanced position.
3. A place of privacy or safety
4. A period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, or study

As it turns out, all of these definitions apply (aside from the “group” in #4).

The definition of a sabbatical is: a break or change from a normal routine.

I was thinking the term “sabbatical” would be more religious in meaning, having the root of “Sabbath” or rest. It also applies.

Regardless of what you call it, I’m on a mission to reset and redefine my life. The issue for me comes with having to sit and listen and understand this small piece of the puzzle that I’m allowed to see in God’s plan for me. I’m impatient when someone starts a sentence or I see where a conversation is going, but it’s not coming together fast enough. I jump in, assume the end, finish it for them. My spiritual walk has been the same. God hands me a few pieces of puzzle. I snap them together, assume I see the picture and start throwing more pieces into it and then find out the picture isn’t turning out as I had hoped or that God has moved onto another picture altogether I’m supposed to be helping with.

My good friend and one of my mentors recently threw out a couple metaphors for me to consider:

“It's interesting to me how we humans think.
When we think of plans we think of complete plans.
For instance, we design a complete house with all the details before we start to build it.
God doesn't seem to work that way.
I think He likes to reveal the foundation design (sometimes after the fact) without letting us in on the rest of the plans.
He calls that "faith".
"Hey, I'm going to give you a little taste but not the whole meal...do you still trust me?"
I believe all this stuff you're going through will start to sort itself out, but one of the most important questions you can ask is "What's next?"”

And another:

“A relationship with God is often like playing chess against Him.
The early moves of the match are pretty predictable - I ask for forgiveness through Jesus and He gives it.
However, as the match goes on and He takes pieces (of your past life) from you it gets both more interesting and less predictable.
I know I always like to know the end game when I make plans, but God doesn't like to reveal His end game on earth.
Of course He revealed His ultimate end game through Jesus, but there's a lot of interesting stuff in between acceptance and human death.

The intent of this reset is to deal with the direction of my family, ministry, and work (not necessarily in that order). I need to take a more proactive approach to leading my family with one teenager and two more to follow into the teens shortly thereafter. Do I want to continue to pursue writing for my music project, poetry, a book? Should I reconsider where I fit in with my current church family? Where do I want or need to be in 5 to 10 years with my business? Heavy stuff.

Not all of my questions will get answered, but I’m hoping to get some guideposts and clues for the next steps and a fresh perspective when I return. Sitting in God’s first cathedral (the great outdoors), will be the best place to listen.

The great thing is having a wife that understands you enough to know it’s time to take action, step away, and refocus. Without her coaxing and insistence, I would be stewing in un-fulfillment for the next season of life.

Maybe this will be the first of a yearly process of getting my life re-aligned…

Revolving Doors

People often complain about change, are inflexible, get anxious. Life being analogous to a book, how else do you separate one chapter from another? Without these breaks, stops, and starts, this narrative would be a boring run-on sentence.

This weekend I come to the end of a chapter that wasn't planned. It never entered my mind as a possibility.

A week before the big change nearly 5 months ago, my future prospects in my work (I run my own business) waned and 36 hour weeks turned to 15. Margin was created in my life and an unsettling question of security crept in. An unfortunate situation occurred that created the need for me to step into the position of interim worship leader at our church. Sure, I love to sing. I've fronted a band, led worship every so-often, but never thought it would turn into even a short-term full time gig.

The time frame for finding a new worship leader was up in the air. The position is a difficult one for a church to fill. The estimate was a couple months to a year or more. My wife and I thought and prayed about it. It meant change for our family. The extra time required to do the job perfectly fit inside that margin that got created just a week earlier. I accepted the challenge and jumped into the world of ministry. Balancing work and family time with the demands of the worship leader position [selecting the themed music for worship, walk-in, and specials, charting, transposing, scheduling, practice, rehearsal, meetings, phone calls, texts] took a month to hammer out before we got into a good groove. I set aside one day (Tuesday) for all things worship: meetings, music stuff, most correspondence.

I found the new position easier than expected but something was missing. Like water into a cup that was unable to reach the rim, there was a crack that was keeping me from being completely fulfilled. The search took off and within two months, a prospect was found. Interviews and dinners and vetting. How could this be? It seemed that God had wrapped this gift, set it down in front of me, and in the midst of peeling away the layers of satisfaction, I forgot to read the tag on the outside of the present.

It wasn't for me.

My gift was finding myself and defining my path in the midst of something close to what I love, but the provision was meant for another person or group of people. An offer was extended and an end date was in sight. In God's perfect timing, I gained a new client and my other work has picked back up to the 30+ hours per week range just before I let go of the reins. Simply amazing!

The exciting part about knowing the final paragraph is coming is that a new chapter is about to begin. I have a rough idea for the outline of this new section. I'm keeping Tuesday as a "free day" to work on music, not work. I've had a music project camping out on my bucket list for too long and I want to mark it off by the end of the year. It has been an honor and a privilege to be asked to serve and to receive the support that kept our worship going.

This roundabout in my life reminds me of a poem by Billy Collins called "I Go Back to the House for a Book". Who am I without this experience? Who would I become if this chapter continued for another year? The answer to these questions is "exactly who I'm supposed to be."

Messing with Perfection

i went out to revise the blank white canvas
that was my driveway

without consulting the Artist i picked up the brush
that was my shovel

and i walked line after line across the page removing the paint
that was the snow

the effort to restore the masterpiece brought the sweat
that caused me to go to Lowe's to buy a snowblower
that was on sale.

The Bishop

How long has it been since you’ve picked up a book you literally could not put down until you finished every last sentence of the epilogue? The Bishop by author Steven James is that book for this year.

Book four in the Bowers Files starts off with a disturbing scene like the jerk of a roller coaster as you head to the first big hill. In Steven James fashion, our hero, FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers, is pulled into another thrilling mystery pitting his unusual investigative techniques against psychopathic monsters.

James does a wonderful job of mastering the use of the first and third person to give the reader just enough information to let them play detective, yet withholding enough of the converging plots that you feel compelled to keep reading. His books are graphic, violent, informative, and introspective. The Bishop is no exception.

Midway through the book I was sure the mystery was about to be solved, but wouldn’t you know it…the first half was just the tip of the iceberg as far as the story was concerned. The story pulls you behind the scenes of the halls of the FBI, body farms, primate research facilities, the offices of lawyers, politicians, and hotels.

The Bishop is not a run-of-the-mill thriller. It tackles the scientific and ethical definitions of what it means to be human covering subjects such as transhumanism, metacognition, and intentionality.

Patrick Bowers’ personal life is the glue that holds the novel together and is woven into the story ingeniously giving the feel of a seamless transition between action, drama, romance, and horror. By the end of the book, I had no less than four people tagged as the person or persons “whodunit”. Now THAT makes for an exciting ending.

I anxiously await his next novel, The Queen, due out in 2011.

The Bishop is available August 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Come join the Launch Party!

"The Bishop" Launch Party

I'm excited to be reading the 4th book in the Steven James series called "The Bishop". Even if you've never read one of his books, plan on attending the Facebook launch party!

The Testing Begins

This is where the rubber meets the road and stops to consider the fork. My day job is spent as a self-employed software developer. I started the business on the downward trough of a recession and the effects are finally throwing me up onto the beach. A recurrent question throughout my adulthood has been "what do I want to be when I grow up", and the answer is typically "I don't want to grow up, so that's a stupid question!" The rat raced IT realm requires that you continue learning, pushing the envelope, and lowering your rates to compete with foreigners doing the same thing for one fifth what you charge. Declining budgets and software life cycle spirals (at least for Lotus Notes) have handed me plenty of free time.

With that free time I have invested in recording equipment to work on a "project". It is 7 years in the making. Season after season brings sparks of creativity followed by the small (yet overwhelming) voice saying "no one will care - this is mediocrity at best". I'm putting the noise-cancelling headphones on and plugging ahead for the sake of the idea, not the audience. A friend of mine recently told me that there shouldn't be a confidence killer because if I really believed that God provided a gift, He's not going to let me fail, especially if I am singing to Him. He is the audience.

I've got a couple gigs lined up and will be looking at doing more. Time is no friend though. Without a decent line-up of original tunes, I need to fall back on covers. Learning covers takes time and takes time away from the original songs.

Right now I'm down, but not broken. Open to anything but not discouraged.

Ready for what this test brings - especially the outcome.

touch and go

some nights i stroke her neck
and she sings melodies
i have been waiting to hear

but tonight we fight and i grasp hard
trying to strangle a simple chorus
from her gaping mouth

like most females, i bribe her with gifts
like new strings, a fashionable strap
coaxing her into giving me what i want

we need time away from each other
so i am less calloused
she needs me to feel pain to create

my muse waits, begging to be touched
by someone who knows how to massage love
out of wood

The Knight by Steven James

The Knight is the third installment of the Patrick Bowers files by Steven James. The typical progression for a decent writer is having a hit, followed by a sophomore slump, and then a not-as-good-as-the-first-one third novel. That is why Steven James is not typical. He starts the series out with a slam dunk and consistently tops each story.

To say I couldn't put this book down is an understatement. My wife complained when I took it into the bathroom with me. I was torn between reading it slowly and soaking in every word and racing through it to find out what happens.

Patrick Bowers is on the hunt for a killer who uses an ancient book as a script to commit sick and twisted murders. Using his unorthodox methods, which would cause Sherlock Holmes to take notice, Patrick Bowers finds himself in the thick of the plot. The twist at the end was well worth the wait.

Steven James weaves a chilling tale rich in action, suspense, drama, and even some romance. The flow of his books makes the story play out like a movie in your head. I'm anxiously awaiting his next novel, The Bishop, due out in 2010.

The Knight is available August 2009 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

A Well Written Tale, Indeed

Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Very entertaining book in the same vein (and time period) as Sherlock Holmes. Centered around an 11 year old girl whose parents are Head Curators and Archaeologists in London. The book was a mix between Harry Potter (Theodosia has some unique abilities that others do not) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (where most of the adults are unaware of grand plots, schemes, and children). I liked it well enough that I'll have my 11 year old daughter read it so I can move on to the second book in this series!


View all my reviews.