Karen Brough. Be Held by Him. WrttenbyGodsGirl.com, 2021.
Karen Brough. Be Held by Him Guidebook. WrttenbyGodsGirl.com, 2021.

I doubt if readers have ever come across a book quite like Be Held by Him. Of course, it has elements of other writings, but this is distinctive, if not unique. But even more than that, it can be uplifting and refreshing. There is a lot of bad news out there. How do we handle it?

Mrs. Brough got some really bad news. In her thirties, a married mother (“mum,” she’s an Aussie), she suddenly come down with a still-undiagnosed medical condition that caused her great fatigue and loss of strength. Once, she tells us, she went to a son’s recital. All she had to do was ride in a car for a few miles, sit in the audience, and return home. It took her three days to recover from the exertion. At one point she observes:

Sitting in yet another doctor’s waiting room, I sighed heavily. These kind of places had become my second home. (1703)

I was naturally reminded of the Book of Job. That book shows us two possible responses to hard trials. One was typified by Job’s wife who told him to “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). It is understandable to blame God for misfortunes. If he is supposed to be almighty, why does He let evil things happen? The response can be to get mad at God, and even reject or curse Him.

The second response is that of Job. He sought God for an answer, for help. Eventually, God did reply, but His reply was indirect. He did not give a cause-effect answer. Instead, He pointed Job to Himself and His nature. That was sufficient. After his trial, Job ended up being more blessed than before.

Mrs. Brough takes the second path. As can be told even from the title, being held by God during a trial is in the long run superior to denying or forgetting Him. Indeed, because Mrs. Brough was incapable of doing much of anything, one could say she had more free time to spend with God. As a result, He revealed many things about Himself from His Word. This is what she shares in her books.

Be Held by Him does not unfold chronologically. At the beginning, we are given her condition. That is all. Besides her extreme fatigue, there apparently is some fluid buildup in the feet and some blood loss somehow. She says very little about her symptoms. She explains a little bit more in the Guidebook which is meant to accompany the main book. Instead, she contrasts her condition with the nature of God and His love for her and His creation in general.

The fairest observation I can make is that there is a lot of power and a lot of truth in these books. At some point she reaches an understanding that her situation in the large scheme of things is no different from that of most people:

Understand that no one is wholly secure all the time. That is because all people are on their own journey through life and growth. (1147)

The Lord tells her:

If you are good at all things, how will you experience My goodness? If I allowed you to walk through life without hardships, how would your humility and awe of me grow? (2062)

I was reminded of Jeremiah 9:23-24 and I Corinthians 1:26-29.

She gradually begins to realize:

I KNEW THE TIME HAD COME. I NEEDED TO STAND ON MY OWN CONNECTION TO GOD RATHER THAN THAT OF OTHERS. (1825, author’s capitals)

This is not so much a story of her journey, but observations she makes along the way. Both books are arranged in sixteen topical chapters. They really focus not just on her reality but the way God sees things. Even some of the chapter subtitles illustrate this.

1. Rest: What to Do When You Can’t Do Anything
2. Be Still: One Solution to a Racing Mind
3. Giving and Receiving: But Needy Is Hard, Lord…
5. Never Alone: Isolation Is a Lie (80, author’s italics)

And so on.

The Be Held by Him Guidebook is a study guide or workbook that parallels the book, having the same sixteen chapters. It includes responses and some additional details. For example, we actually learn about when she first came down with her condition at the beginning of the Guidebook. There are questions for the reader to answer, some prayers, more words of encouragement, some exercises to try, and lists of mostly contemporary songs to listen to. In other words, these books together are meant for the reader to take some time absorbing and responding to.

For example, on the chapter about prayer, one of the suggested Guidebook activities is this:

Read through the Psalms and take note of how David and God spoke to one another. Note whether David held back from God in his speech. How was he able to be honest and raw, but still honoring? How can David’s style of communication help you in this current tough space? Consider how God and you communicate with one another. (Guidebook 1664)

Not only does Mrs. Brough have something to share, she wants us to share with her.

Like the Book of Job, Be Held by Him and the Be Held by Him Guidebook can have a truly inspiring effect on readers. I am reminded of Corrie ten Boom’s The Hiding Place. For those unfamiliar with that biography, Corrie and her sister Betsie were Dutch women arrested by the occupying Germans during World War II and sent to a concentration camp. While there Betsie told Corrie that when they get out they can testify that there is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still. “And they will listen because we have been there.” Betsie died in the camp, but Corrie was released and many listened to her because of what she suffered.

That is also true of Mrs. Brough. What she shares is not some hypothetical theology. It is raw and real because she, too, has “been there.” Read each book, a chapter at a time, and be blessed.

N.B. References are Kindle locations, not page numbers.

Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger. George Washington’s Secret Six. Sentinel, 2014.

Brian Kilmeade turns history into great story-telling. George Washington’s Secret Six tells a gripping, even page-turning story about a group of New York based Patriot spies during the American Revolution. The idea became simple; the execution of the idea, not so simple.

Washington, Commander of the Continental Army, needed intelligence, especially about British activities around New York City, which was occupied by the Redcoats during most of the war. He learned the hard way with the hanging of Nathan Hale just a few weeks after Hale had volunteered. He needed insiders who knew their way around and were above suspicion. They also needed an effective way to communicate and to keep their identities secret, even from each other.

The secret six were known as the Culpers or the Culper Ring. Two of the men involved adopted the pseudonyms Culper, Sr., and Culper, Jr. The authors say there were actually seven in the ring, but only six have been identified today. The woman known as Agent 355 has never been identified. That is how well they kept their identities. The only reason we originally knew anything at all about the ring was that one of the men, Benjamin Tallmadge, wrote his memoirs for his children. The memoirs were not published until 1858, eighty years after the ring was established and thirteen years after Tallmadge had died.

Then in 1939, historian Morton Pennypacker published the surviving letters of Washington to and from members of the Culper ring. Some of the identities were still unknown then, but further evidence has identified all six of the men referred to in the letters. All had some kind of skill but also were generally above suspicion because they were locals. Hale was from Connecticut and suddenly appeared in Long Island. The Culper spies lived in New York City or Long Island and for the most part kept the livelihoods they had before the war.

Tallmadge was an officer in the Continental Army and had proven himself as a scout. A native of Brookhaven, Long Island, New York, he knew his way around the area and knew many of the people there. He recruited some of the others including a Long Island neighbor, Abraham Woodhull. Woodhull had inherited a family farm and minded his own business. One of his married sisters lived on Manhattan, and he would visit her fairly regularly. From such travels and talk with people who worked on the water, he could provide reliable information about British positions and naval vessels.

Robert Townsend worked in New York City but had family in Oyster Bay, Long Island. His family home there had been taken over by a British officer. Townsend was something of a loner, but he observed and listened and was able to report on British activities both in the city and on the island.

Caleb Brewster and Austin Roe were Long Islanders who also had connections. Roe ran an inn on Long Island and was able to observe and report on many things he heard and saw there. (As an aside, I happen to know there are still Roes living on Long Island.)

Brewster was a longshoreman and sailor whose job was not only to observe what was going on along the coast but to ferry people and letters to Washington across Long Island Sound to Connecticut. From there, he or someone else would travel west, north of the area of British occupation, to Washington’s headquarters.

James Rivington, like Townsend, worked in New York City. He had family in England and ran a newspaper and publishing house in the city. The newspaper supported the Tories, and British officers and officials frequented his establishment. He was able to pass much information on to Washington. He gave Washington a British code book, so that Washington was able to anticipate British movements. We do not know whether Rivington actually printed the book for the English, a good possibility, or obtained in some other way, maybe from Agent 355.

The authors tell us that the ability to crack British codes was especially significant at the Battle of Yorktown. Rivington’s cover was so effective that after the war, Washington had to personally intercede on his behalf to assure others that Rivington was truly a patriot.

And then there is Agent 355. We know she was a woman who circulated among the British elite in New York. She was able to pass on both political and military information. At some point something happened to her. Robert Townsend was one person who knew her true identity and from his correspondence was very upset when she was exposed in some manner. An afterword (to the paperback edition) names seven women who might have been Agent 355, but no certain ID has been established.

Once the spy ring was fully operational by 1779, things began to turn around for the Continental Army. Washington could operate on reliable intelligence—the Culper Ring was by no means his only source, but many times information from the ring would confirm what other sources had been telling him. Not only was their information critical as the fighting moved south, culminating in Yorktown, but information the ring provided was instrumental in exposing Benedict Arnold and John André.

One interesting detail provided apparently by the Culper letters was that Washington really did not want to execute Major André. He would have preferred to swap him for Arnold, but the British refused, so André was tried and executed as a spy.

Indeed the ring would not have succeeded nor would there be any Culper papers if it had not been for the invention of a proprietary invisible ink formulated by John Jay, himself, of course, a New Yorker, patriot, and future Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Indeed, we are reminded throughout the book that while spying was essential, it was considered a breach of the rules of war. As with Nathan Hale, captured spies were usually executed summarily. Some think that that may have been what happened to Agent 355. There were a few women captured by the British and taken to prison ships. Possibly that is what happened to her. On the other hand, one name that pops up also is Peggy Arnold, Benedict’s wife.

According to an article in The Smithsonian, however, the whole idea of 355 being an agent is likely a myth. 355 was simply the code term for “lady.” It suggests she was rather merely a lady of Woodhull’s acquaintance who knew a few things. The truth may be somewhere in among these speculations, but to this day, no one knows.

This is overall a fascinating tale, with or without Agent 355. Enjoy!

P.S. One general observation made by Kilmeade and Yaeger was not specifically about the spy ring but about the nature of the American Revolution. We can learn something from that today—something that might apply to some of America’s overseas military ventures and even something that makes us wonder about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In those [nation vs. nation] battles, it was all about might; the armies fought until someone was finally overpowered. Or, as happened so often in new territories, one army fought…until the other population was simply eradicated. Washington realized that this revolution was different. King George respected no one and recognized no authority…His increasingly oppressive laws and his silence in the face of organized protests had made that clear. Yet the king would not seek to completely decimate the population of the colonies; dead subjects cannot pay taxes.

No, this war would be different…It would not be a fight to the death, nor could it be simply a clash of armies. If the Americans wanted to emerge victorious from this conflict, they would not try to overpower their enemy; they would simply refuse to back down or go away. They did not need to be conquering heroes—they just needed to survive. (19)

Leah Vernon. The Union. 47 North, 2022.

Before going into the story of The Union, let us say that it is derivative. That is not necessarily a negative comment, but as I was reading it, I thought of other works.

First, there is the grandfather of all future dystopias, The Time Machine. The Time Machine has the superior Morlocks suppressing the inferior Eloi in the distant future. So in The Union we have the Elite and the enslaved Lowers.

There is a biological or breeding aspect to this as well. The Elites try to keep themselves genetically untainted like the alphabetic grades in Brave New World. In this case, the future “Union” is ruled by black elites with inferior whites like the alphas over the epsilons in the Huxley novel.

Then there are those “half-breeds” who do not fit into any class, not unlike the divergents in Divergent. In this case one of the main characters is an Impure, neither black nor white, with a white mother and a black father. Like main characters in the Divergent series, no one trusts or identifies with Saige. The only question is why she was allowed to live or not aborted to begin with.

The Elites live in the Citadel, a well-protected city with thousands of trained, brainwashed watchmen protecting them and doing their bidding. Beyond the Citadel is the oppressed but slightly anarchic places where the workers live and work. In other words, society is not unlike the Capitol and outlying Districts of The Hunger Games or Chicago and the factionless on its fringes in Divergent.

We should also note that like the Divergent and Hunger Games books, the protagonists are teens or barely young adults. If nothing else, the readers understand that this is a Young Adult (YA) novel.

Having leaders with African ancestry ruling resembles Acorn in Parable of the Talents. In that story, Olamina is a natural and empathetic leader, and people follow her willingly. It also helps that her husband was an M.D. who saved people’s lives.

Indeed, there is a minor character in The Union named Octavia. Her name may be a shout-out to Octavia Butler the author of Parable of the Talents and other popular sci-fi works.

In The Union, blacks rebelled against the white-dominated United States and took over, reversing the social order and doing away with virtually any middle class. Their nation is called the Union of Civilization or, simply, the Union.

The Union has been in existence for nearly a thousand years. That has given it plenty of time to develop a thesis of racial hierarchy and economic domination. But there are also a few characters that remind us that no civilization will last forever. Will the young adults in the Union be able to set things right like some of the youngsters in the Hunger Games?

The Union is a hereditary monarchy of sorts. The rulers have military ranks, so Avi is the eldest daughter of the General and is due to inherit his position at some point. People often call her the Princess because she is the daughter of royalty.

We understand that the Union teaches a biological racial superiority of the Uppers, the blacks. One professor explains the inferiority of the “Europes” this way:

Surely we are nothing like them. We are not equal. Our genetic makeup has been tested, and the region’s top scientists and physicians have proven the differences. We are mentally stable and intuitive. Everything the Europes ever had, they stole from us. (28)

Darwin and Sanger with their theories racially reversed…

Avi has a younger sister, Jade, who covets her sister’s status. Avi is more of an inquirer. Jade is a true believer. Avi thinks because Jade has paler skin, she has to prove her blackness or negritude in radicalism. From what we see of Jade’s behavior, though, it appears to be more straight-out envy.

Avi and Saige, the Impure, narrate alternating chapters. The plot gets complicated immediately. A lower class rebel tries to kill Avi but Saige rescues her. Now Avi is indebted to her and begins to understand what the life of an outcast (outcaste?) is like. Even though she has saved the life of an Upper, because she is Lower and Impure, Saige is accused of being one of the rebels who tried to kill Avi and is sentenced to death anyhow. Avi intercedes to save her, but all that just complicates things for both of them. How loyal can each be to her side?

Avi grows in awareness. She encounters some Lowers and realizes they are all human. “He [a Lower] made me realize we are no better than they were, and that with too much power, we all fail” (124). She, then, comes to believe she “can change the system” (298). Part of that system suggests something like Near Eastern “honor killings” by family members for Elites who deviate. We also note some darker-skinned Lowers are able to “pass” as black.

Avi realizes that she has been spoiled. She has been entitled and is used to entitlements and respect. Saige, the outcast(e), recalls her mother’s ideals but really does not trust anyone. One cannot say that Avi and Saige are friends. They barely tolerate each other. Avi tries to reach out and understand Saige and the Lowers, but there is little trust.

The name Saige does resemble the word savage, and it means “wise.” It may be a stretch, but I wonder if she was partly inspired by John the Savage in Brave New World. She is surely no weak and passive Time Machine Weena.

Echoing both Divergent and The Time Machine, Avi and Saige both in their own way try to overcome the system before it overcomes them. There is a lot of action. The spate of physical injuries they both endure reminded this reader of the television show 24. Like Jack Bauer, they endure much pain and live.

While the novel does have an ending of sorts, we know that this is not a standalone tale like The Time Machine. Like Divergent or The Hunger Games, there will be sequels. This is not the end of The Union, either the book or the nation-state. Readers who enjoyed those two recent dystopias may enjoy The Union. There is a lot of action and, maybe, even potential for romance. It is not giving too much away by saying that a third character, a young and attractive male, contributes an epilogue.

Some readers may be thrown by some of the language. There are a few instances of profanity and a certain amount of slang and hip-hop spellings—for example, the term ratch which apparently is a slang variation of wretch, or locs, a variant spelling of locks when referring to locks of hair. However, such terms should not be a problem for the young audience which is the author’s target. After all, readers who could not get enough of any of those works mentioned at the beginning, The Union will suit them just fine.

Alexander McCall Smith. A Song of Comfortable Chairs. Pantheon, 2022. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

It has been a while since we had read a No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Novel. A Song of Comfortable Chairs is the latest. It is a lot of fun. Like some of the other stories in this series, there is no serious crime or even a mystery in the typical sense, but there are problems that need to be solved. And, as always, the characters we know and love are at it again.

In the course of the series, agency founder Mma Precious Romotswe sometimes wonders about her partner, Mma Grace Makutsi. Grace is always trying to promote herself. Perhaps there is some insecurity on her part, but this time she may have gone too far. She has hired a carpenter to expand her desk. She says she needs more desk space to do her work, but everyone knows that the person with the bigger desk is the one in charge. She has also ordered a nameplate for her desk and updated her business cards. How necessary are these things, really?

Now, they do have a client for the reason that many people hire private investigators. He suspects his wife may be having an affair. He names the man, so Grace and Precious begin surveillance. But this creates another dilemma. It turns out the suspected man is having an affair, but not with the client’s wife. How much do they share with their client? And what if the two-timing man is married to someone they know?

In many ways, though, the biggest problem for the people in the agency is the one that gives the tale its title. Phuti Ramaphuti, Grace’s husband, is having financial problems. A new furniture store has opened up in town. The new store seems to be taking most of the Double Comfort Furniture Store’s customers away. Whenever Rra Ramaphuti’s store announces a sale, before their ads and flyers are out, the new store has announced prices that undercut his prices. He is getting depressed and is thinking he may have to go out of business. What then would happen to Grace and his son and their home?

Family problems can be burdensome. Grace has been reunited with a childhood friend from her hometown up north. Her old friend Patience has moved to Gaborone, their city and Botswana’s capital. Patience has had a rough life. She has a fourteen-year-old son who was conceived when she was raped by a stranger. She lived with a number of years with a man who abused both her and her son. She has moved to Gaborone with a man who has a good job and treats her kindly. The problem is that her son wants nothing to do with the man, and the man is thinking of breaking off their relationship because of the boy’s sullen and obnoxious behavior.

In many ways, the boy is just being a teenager going through the typical adolescent identity crisis. He may also be generally mistrustful of men with his mother. But if his behavior represents the character he is growing into, it will be very hard for Patience and any man who might be interested in marrying her.

We should also mention this: Guess who is appearing as a model in all the advertisements of the competing furniture store? None other than Grace’s forever nemesis Violet Sephoto.

A Song for Comfortable Chairs, then, tells us how Precious, Grace, Phuti, along with apprentice Charlie and the Orphan Farm’s Mma Potokwane solve most of these problems. One scene in which they begin to work out the plan to reform Patience’s son is hilarious. Let us just say it involves virtually everything a diplomatic person would never say to a teenage boy.

There is a little detective work involved to help solve the furniture store’s problems. There is also some creative advertising. As readers of the series know, Violet Sephoto is quite attractive, much to Grace’s dismay. Their solution involves a different kind of advertising model—a more “traditionally-built” woman. As with some of the other best stories of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, A Song of Comfortable Chairs contains an abundant quota of joy.

Michelle D. Gladieux. Communicate with Courage. Berrett-Koehler, 2022.

During my teaching career, I came across a study which asked people about their fears. Although I no longer recall the specific source, I often have shared the results with my students. People’s number one fear has consistently been speaking in public. More people fear that than fear death or spiders. Communicate with Courage should help its readers overcome that fear. It takes a different approach to public speaking.

The author is a consultant who not only often is asked to be a speaker, but she has learned from her experience how to help others become more effective communicators. This book focuses on four areas that from her experience hinder people the most from speaking up and sharing their ideas in ways that others can understand and appreciate.

First we must understand that we are vulnerable. The reason people often do not share is that they are revealing something about themselves. If people do no react in a way we like, it could make us feel worse. The author points out, simply, that courage confronts our vulnerabilities. If there were no vulnerability or sense of exposure, we would not need courage. So, face it.

She gives some techniques to help including one that in the short run may make us even more vulnerable; namely, ask trusted people what we can do to improve ourselves or do a better job. Not only may the advice we receive be an encouragement, but the act of asking can make us more courageous.

Lest this sound unrealistically sanguine, we are told specifically that “Optimism requires us to hope for the best, to be vulnerable, to expose ourselves to potential losses” (11). She lists a number of ways to “improve our outlook” including developing a personal mission statement and sending others notes of encouragement.

Second, we must understand that risk means change. In the author’s business as a consultant, she has understood that when she is hired, people are not only looking for something to change but also may be reluctant to change certain things. That means that to take a risk, we must face our fears. It also means that we must be able to relate to others and find out what everyone may have in common. Sometimes defining what is right can get us into trouble. Effective communicating can defuse this.

Third, we must find the hidden challenges. To make ourselves vulnerable, we must discover things we did not know before. What challenges will there be to making our communication effective? Courage comes partly from experience. Identify what we want to change, and understand that that involves risk. You do not have to be right all the time. Learn from mistakes as well as successes.

Fourth, we must beware of settling for “good enough.” That usually involves rationalizing.

The chapter on biases can be particularly helpful. From our varied experiences, we all have developed biases. Let us confront those and overcome biases that hinder our ability to work with others. The author shares her own experience of working with a professional athlete. She assumed he would want her to do all the work since his area of expertise was something different. She was mistaken. She should have realized that the work ethic needed to become a professional athlete would be manifest in other areas as well:

I’m sharing this with you because (1) admitting my bias is an exercise in vulnerability, and (2) so I am less likely to prejudge someone again based on their achievements or lack thereof. (94)

The chapter on conflict is enlightening. Many times conflict can be used to create positive results. Conflict can show us what problems really exist and then can lead us to solving the problem. As I read this I was reminded of a statement by historian Shelby Foote in Ken Burns’ classic video series on the Civil War. He said that America’s genius was the ability to compromise. So Ms. Gladieux tells us:

America’s founders…had the genius to establish the first form of government in which conflict and tension were understood not as the enemies of a good social order but the engines of a better social order. (82)

She shares something that any good teacher has to accept sooner or later. I recall being told one time that even Jesus could only please eleven out of twelve. She describes her reaction to what a mentor told her once:

“They don’t have to like you; they have to learn from you. Make d———n well sure they learn something from you.” Sweet, sweet perspective! Most of us want to be liked, but it’s a Pro Move to consider the cost of the popularity contests we find ourselves joining. (104, author’s italics)

At the end of every chapter, the author gives some brief actions to take. She calls the first a Pro Move, that is, an idea or reflection that we should embrace to help us gain courage. That explains the italicized term in the above quotation. The second is simply some kind of simple exercise to put that Pro Move into action.

Communicate with Courage does balance things. There is a chapter devoted to risks we should not take such as working with manipulative or unethical people, avoiding feedback, staying in a negative employment situation too long, telling a joke that could be considered an insult, nagging, and sharing confidential information.

That last is something I found helped establish my credibility as a teacher. In some creative writing classes, I had students keep a journal in which they were required to write ten minutes a day. They could write about anything. I told them that I had been a sailor, so I have heard much stronger language than any of them could imagine. I will not be offended at any word choices. I also promised not to share anything they wrote in the journal without their permission.

The one exception, I told them, was that there was a state law that required teachers to report a student if they thought the student was suicidal. To the best of my knowledge to this day I have kept silent on things I read in those journals. Even in the cases of adhering to the state law, I told the student what I would have to do. They understood.

We are also reminded that sometimes we have to confront people we like with problems. However, “If you take the slightest pleasure in it, that is the time to hold your tongue” (114). So, yes, sometimes being a courageous communicator means not saying anything.

Being courageous means taking risks. But as someone said, ”A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there” (124, author’s italics).

Communicate with Courage has inspired this writer. I have been sitting on an essay to post, but I was concerned that it might not be well received. I have been persuaded now that I should post it. I have one more fact to check, but when that is done, I will post. Thank you Professor Gladieux. (N.B.: It took a while to confirm the fact-checking, but here it is—“Why 2020 Was a Lot Like 1969.”

Robert McCaw. Retribution. Oceanview, 2023. A Koa Kāne Mystery.

Retribution is the latest installment in the tales of Hawaii police detective Koa Kāne. Excluding a volcano disaster in one of his stories, I believe Retribution has the largest body count of these mysteries. But what a tale it is!

The young detective Makanui Ka’uhane, whom we met in the last novel, is shot while leaving her home for work. It becomes clear right away that this was not some random attack, but done by a trained sniper. She normally wears a bulletproof vest at work, so that plus a lucky fall kept her from being killed.

Meanwhile, career criminal Johnny Nihoa was found murdered behind a seedy bar in Hilo. Koa knew him and his story: “Drugs, bad friends, and the indignities of life without family on the lowest rung of Hawaiian society had already shaped Nihoa’s fate” (9). However, Nihoa was last seen with a man who resembled Koa’s brother Ikaika, and Ikaika’s fingerprints appear on a knife at the scene.

We read Ikaika’s story in Fire and Vengeance, and it seemed that Ikaika had reformed. He swears he was at home with his girlfriend Maria, but he is arrested. Because his brother is a suspect, Koa is not on the case. Unfortunately, a new hire, Amado Moreau is. Moreau has a decent resume, but he does not act like a professional with much experience. He is tight with the newly elected mayor of Hilo, so even the chief of police has to be careful about saying anything negative about this new detective on the force.

At the same time, Moreau seems to have it in for Koa. Whether it is professional jealousy, resentment, or something else, it is not really clear. The new mayor was not Koa’s choice—he ran on a “defund the police” platform—so maybe there is more going on.

Alas, the hits keep coming—some attempted murders, for example, the district attorney who is Koa’s friend, and some successful slayings. To give away the victims’ names might spoil things, but they are all people Koa knows well. Indeed, he begins to think that he is the ultimate target. It is not just his brother who is in trouble.

As usual, McCaw weaves a complex plot which includes hikers and campsites, beaches and pilot boats, diplomats and terrorists, disguises and false identities, helicopters and underground hideaways, biologists and bartenders, among devices. Readers will find it hard to put down.

The title Retribution may be a bit of a spoiler. Because of that, it appears that McCaw is giving a Sherlockian twist to his stories. Sherlock Holmes’ declared nemesis and “Napoleon of Crime” was Professor James Moriarty, an evil éminence grise behind much London crime. It appears there may be someone similar for Detective Kāne.

There is a difference, though. Moriarty only appears in two of the fifty-plus Holmes stories and is merely mentioned in five others. Koa’s antagonist has already appeared in some of these tales, hence the title of this novel. Maybe he is more like master criminal Wo Fat—the gangland capo from both iterations of Hawaii Five-O.

P.S. I mentioned a volcano-related disaster in one of the novels. Just last night as I write this, Mauna Loa erupted for the first time in almost forty years. Fortunately, so far no human habitations have been threatened. The Big Island is a lively place.

P.P.S. On page 84, McCaw shares an interesting tidbit of information. Charlie Chan, the Honolulu detective hero of six novels and many films from the 1920s through the 1940s, was based on an actual Honolulu police detective from the late 1800s named Apana Chang.

Arthur Conan Doyle. The Lost World. 1912; Project Gutenberg, 2008.

We are fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories and have read some nonfiction by Arthur Conan Doyle as well, but we had never read Doyle’s other somewhat famous work of fiction The Lost World. Like many other people who have never read it, we knew it had something to do with explorers finding a remote region of the world where dinosaurs still existed.

Even though that last clause is a brief summary of the story, The Lost World is as much character driven as plot driven. Our narrator is a young London journalist named Malone. He wants to report on the curmudgeonly Professor Challenger who claims to have discovered a place in the remote Amazon jungle (the term rainforest had not been widely used in 1912) where supposedly extinct creatures lived on.

Circumstances lead Malone to join Challenger and two other Englishmen, a Professor Summerlee who is very skeptical of Challenger and a Lord Roxton who is known for his overseas adventures. Together they return to the Brazilian crater that has preserved some ancient species of plants and animals in isolation.

This is primarily a survival story. Yes the large reptiles create some conflict, but a lot of the survival is simply surviving the jungle trek to get to the location. The main conflict, though, is somewhat unexpected.

It is clear that Doyle and his characters are influenced by Darwin. What we have in this crater besides pterodactyls and plesiosaurs (in the crater’s lake) are ape-men. They resemble orangutans, but a little more intelligent and clearly living and warring in large social groups. The explorers use the overworked term missing link to describe these creatures.

I could not help thinking of The Return of Tarzan with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ version of ape-men in a remote African plain. Did Doyle “borrow” from Burroughs or vice versa? Considering that the two books came out within a year of each other, that seems unlikely. The missing link and “ape-men” were part of the zeitgeist back then, so it appears that each writer created his own take on the subject.

Doyle is a good storyteller. He understands all three types of conflict well: man vs. nature, man vs. man, and man vs. self. From someone who remembers the variety of monster movies from the fifties, superhero comics, and the various Michael Crichton stories, The Lost World seems less imaginative, though it was one of the first. Even with the science-fiction suspension of disbelief, parts seem a bit hard to believe.

This is the first of five Professor Challenger stories Doyle wrote (2 more novels and 2 short stories). He may have tried to create another series, but the Sherlock Holmes stories are simply superior. Doyle himself was an M.D. He gets Holmes. And so do most readers.

I suspect that fans of Tarzan might enjoy The Lost World, but probably find the Tarzan stories more fun. Unlike the timeless Holmes stories, The Lost World is, frankly, more dated. It is a light distraction and certainly gets us thinking once again about various actual historical mysteries concealed in the Amazon rainforest. It is perhaps an ancestor of many various lost world, dinosaur, and ape-men tales that have followed, though one must credit Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth with the popular genesis of the genre.

Andrew Murray. Abide in Christ. 1882; Whitaker House, 1979.

In previous reviews I have mentioned a friend who used to use yellow highlighter when he read. Occasionally he would share an article which he would say should be dipped in yellow ink. Abide in Christ is like that. It has been a long time since I have read a book outside of the Bible which such an anointing.

Christian nonfiction writing is often described as self-help or how-to. The title of Abide in Christ suggests something similar—how a believer can abide or live a life with Christ. That is not the effect. Certainly, the Bible tells us to seek God and do justice, but that is not what this book is about. This book is told, more or less, from God’s perspective—what He has already done. For we mortals, it is a matter of accepting or embracing His plan.

The key Scripture is John 15:1-12 where Jesus told His disciples that He was the vine and they were the branches. He then tells them “Abide in me.” The ultimate reason is simply “that your joy may be full.” So Abide in Christ is more simply a description: not how-to, but this is the way things are.

If a person has received Jesus as savior, then he or she is part of God’s Kingdom. God’s Kingdom is set up in a certain way. Murray shows us the way God has set up His Kingdom and how He deals with us.

Murray reminds us that God has declared the repentant sinner righteous. He has prepared a place for him or her. To truly benefit, we must abide. It is, as Murray writes, that simple. He avoids distractions or deep theological discussions, but simply shows what the Bible says about those who belong to God.

Personally, I have been a Christian for a long time. Hardly any of the verses Murray quotes were unfamiliar to me. But I had to ask myself, have I really been seeing myself that way? Have I really embraced what the Bible says about Jesus and His people? We all need to see ourselves the way God sees us. The unbelievers need to see themselves as needing redemption. The believers need to see themselves as who they are in Christ. This reminds us that we are to live, to dwell, in Him. And because of what He has already set up in His Kingdom, it is not impossible to do so.

A key chapter to understand Murray’s approach is based on II Corinthians 1:21 which tells us that God is the one who establishes us in Christ. It is His anointing. It is not that we are totally passive, but we take Him at His word by faith. If we truly see and accept what God’s Word says about us, we will abide, we will be established. The Greek word for establish is stronger than what we usually think of the word establish today—it means “make strong, make firm, make stable.” (The root of establish is stable, though we do not often think of it that way in modern English.)

Abide in Christ is written in thirty-one short chapters averaging eight pages each. This was intentionally done so the reader could read a chapter a day. It is enough to absorb without being overwhelmed. In a month, the reader would have easily completed the book and, hopefully, drawn closer to God.

I thank my friend who gave me this anointed book. Read it and be blessed. I suspect I will read it again. There is a reason it is still in print after 140 years.

Steve Weinberg. Above Quota Performance. Armin Lear, 2022.

I confess that I bit at the opportunity to read this book. Its subtitle reads Tips and Techniques to Becoming a Master Sales Pro. So Above Quota Performance is about sales. I was the manager of a bookstore for about six years, and before that I sold dictionaries door to door. I knew some of the sales literature back in the sixties and seventies. I was curious to see how this compared with Earl Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, or Dale Carnegie.

There is little to compare. Those three authors as I recall them were more like pep talks. They emphasized speaking and presentation and were largely motivational pieces. I did appreciate them, especially when doing door to door sales. Anyone selling door to door gets used to rejection and sometimes needs some motivation to not give up. To have someone say to you, “Keep going!” or “Eyes on the prize!” can help. But most of what I learned in selling I learned from experience and from listening to people with more experience than I had.

If readers want to learn from a truly experienced salesperson, read Above Quota Performance. The contents are the equivalent of a college course. Indeed, some college business departments may choose to use this book as a text in a class on sales. This does not have the motivational factors (some would say clichés) that other sales books have. This is one hundred percent practical advice given from the voice of experience.

The author worked in sales for various corporations, so this is geared more for corporate sales rather than retail sales like the kind I did. Still, there is a recurring message: The purpose of sales is to help the customer solve a problem. Nearly all the advice the book gives—and there is a list of 60 Takeaways plus 11 Bonus Tips—focuses on the customer.

…I realized that what was important to me (perhaps features that were emphasized to me by our product managers) was often not as important to the buyer. I needed to adapt. I became more of a consultative sales pro and tried to work with the buyer to help them determine the best solution for their needs. I also tried to educate them about alternative solutions that were available to them. That is when I went from being a very good product demonstrator to a sales pro. (257-258)

Since Above Quota Performance focuses on corporate sales, we learn different ways to find the person or people who really make the decisions on buying or spending in a company. Sometimes one connection may lead us to the people who really have the power. At the same time, people who do the purchasing are often generalists and may not see the importance of specific features in a product or service. Weinberg tells us how to overcome these problems and make the right connections.

The author frankly admits that even with the right connections, we do not always get the sale. But if we have been honest throughout and have done more listening than talking, they may remember us the next time something comes up.

One chapter that stood out because Weinberg really emphasized its importance, was about using LinkedIn. Keep in mind that LinkedIn is primarily a business and occupation site, not a social network like Facebook, Instagram, or Tik Tok. He shows what to do—and what not to do—on this site. I found this chapter helpful to understand the various emails I get from LinkedIn. Be professional.

This book is very thorough. I suspect that someone may want to use it not just as a source for some ideas but as a reference. Chapters entitled “The Best Questions to Ask” and “Acing the Presentation” share many ideas to help the customer. It would probably be a challenge to memorize all the questions or all the details, but it would be great to refer to in order to refresh one’s mind before a presentation. Maybe they would help afterwards, too, to see what one might have done better.

There is also an interesting chapter on the personality of a salesman. Unlike some of the other works on sales, Weinberg does not believe that only certain personality types can be successful salespeople. While he gives a list of thirty desirable traits, he admits that not everyone has them all, and some traits that might seem liabilities can be used to an advantage. Even sometimes an introvert can sell successfully if he or she understands the needs of the customer. After all, Weinberg tells us, pushy people make most of us uncomfortable.

He also recommends to not be afraid to ask a contact why they did not buy your product. If done wisely, we can learn a lot about our own sales practices, about the contact’s corporate culture, and their company’s needs. There is always a next time.

Other chapters include thorough discussions on competition, pricing, and value. While the material here would be effective enough for a college course, the proof, as they say, is in the pudding. As the title suggests, readers will discover a great supply of material and examples to help sell above the quota. Who can argue with that?