Pentecost, by Joanna Penn, Five stars!
I'm not a fiction reader. I obtained a copy of Pentecost. A Thriller. for my wife's Valentines Day gift. Now a point of disclosure here: I have corresponded with Joanna on a few occasions about her blog and writing ideas. She is a wealth of information for the writing community. I felt an obligation to read Pentecost. A Thriller. so I could enter a review here in return for all she does for her fellow authors.
Was I ever surprised! I enjoyed the book; I enjoyed it immensely! It truly is a book that you cannot put down once you start reading it.
At times I almost begged that the suspense and twists would take a breather so I could take a bathroom break. (Disclosure again: I ended up taking it to the bathroom. TMI?)
As I was reading this thriller I was struck again and again and again with the visual images that she paints with words. This book would certainly qualify for a movie production. Since the writer is a female, the stories protagonist, Morgan Sierra, is a female, why not go all the way and have Kathryn Bigelow, director of THE HURT LOCKER, put this one into film? It would be the perfect marriage of talents. I have this vision of Penelope Cruz and Johnny Depp doing this one.
I kept hoping that the protagonist's sidekick would also be a woman, but it turns out to be man called Jake. That's fine, the formula works well, but it's becoming an overplayed format. Why not two strong females, is that not possible? Thelma and Louise worked for me. This suggestion is coming from a male reader.
Joanna is very skillful at marching through the religious minefield and not stepping on anyone's religious sensibilities--truly a sign of genius.
If there is any deficiency in the book, it lies with some editing errors and typos. With e-books, those errors are easily corrected and the print-on-demand version also faces quick turn-around to fix things and I expect those errors will vanish shortly.
Is the Penn mightier than the sword, the sword being traditional publishing vs. Indie publishing? This book certainly brings Indie publishing to new heights. She is certainly head and shoulders above many of her suspense-writing peers. I may not be a fiction reader, but I anxiously await her next work.
Dennis R. Blanchard
Author of Three Hundred Zeroes: Lessons of the Heart on the Appalachian Trail.