Book Review: Second Touch by Bodie and Brock Thoene (A. D. Chronicles #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Characters that come alive

Cons: Story that drags

The Bottom Line:

Leper colony

Hoping to see Yeshua

Slower but still good

A More Character Driven Entry from the Thoenes

For the majority of their career, husband and wife writing team Brock and Bodie Theone have focused on history from the last couple of years for their historical fiction. This series is the first to be completely focused on the more distant past. The AD Chronicles focuses on the people touched by Jesus (called Yeshua here) while He was here on earth. Second Touch is the second in the series and picks up here the last book left off.

Opposition is quickly growing to the ministry of Yeshua. Caiaphas has joined forces with Herod to find a way to arrest or assassinate him. In addition, Caiaphas has declared that all who claim Yeshua is Messiah will be put out of the synagogue. Naturally, this has repercussions for chief shepherd Zadok.

It also affects Peniel, the once blind beggar Yeshua recently healed. With a man hunt on for him in Jerusalem, he flees to Galilee in search of Yeshua. He brings some friends who would like to be healed as well. But they could find that Galilee is just as dangerous for them as Jerusalem was.

Meanwhile, the lepers in the Valley of Mak'ob are hearing rumors about a man who can heal. Could they be true? Should they look for him? And what will this mean for Lily, a young woman afflicted for six years.

The Thoene's are best when they are blending political intrigue and personal drama. Here, the political intrigue gets lost in the drama.

The story focuses most of the time on Lily and the other lepers. While they are vivid characters, I wanted to spend more time with the ones we knew from the previous book. Furthermore, I knew from the moment we met them how their story would end, which made the story drag.

That's not to say that the book is bad. The political storylines that are here are exciting. Nothing gets resolved, but there is some nice set up here for further books down the line. And I like watching how things I know happen from the Bible effect real people. And these characters are strong.

A real standout of the book is Yeshua. Their portrait of Him is loving. It shows His divinity and humanity without once showing anything that contradicts the Bible. That's quite a balancing act. Even though this is fiction, I felt closer to Him after I finished the novel.

As is always the case, the book is well written. I easily get lost in the world of 2000 years ago. And the little touches make it seem all the more real to me.

Fans of this fine writing team will have to read Second Touch to follow their latest series. Just be forewarned that it's not the best they have to offer.