Product Description

Heart-Pounding Murder Mystery

Involved in a tragic accident under suspicious circumstances, award-winning journalist Jake Woods teams with detective Ollie Chandler to uncover the truth. This alluring repackage of the R andy Alcorn bestseller finds Jake drawing upon all his resources in an ever-intensifying, dangerous murder investigation. Unaware of the imminent threat to his own life, Jake struggles for answers to the mystery at hand and is plunged into a deeper search for the meaning of his own existence.

His Body Hung Suspended Between Two Friends--His Soul Between Two Worlds

Doc’s shoulder jammed into Jake as he swerved the Suburban sharply to the right, cut between a telephone pole and a billboard, then careened into a ten-foot high embankment. Sometime between the sound of Doc’s last cry and the sickening crunch of bent metal from the car’s first roll, Jake lost consciousness. The last sensation he felt was that of being crushed between the two men he had known since childhood…

When tragedy strikes those closest to him, award-winning journalist Jake Woods must draw upon all his resources to uncover the truth about their suspicious accident. Soon he finds himself swept up in a murder investigation that is both complex and dangerous. Unaware of the threat to his own life, Jake is drawn in deeper and deeper as he desperately searches for the answers to the immediate mystery at hand and—ultimately—the deeper meaning of his own existence.

Deadline is a dramatic and vivid novel of substance, filled with hope and perspective for every reader who longs to feel purpose in life.

READER’S GUIDE INCLUDED

Story Behind the Book

Deadline is Randy Alcorn ’s first novel, which stayed on the bestseller’s list for thirty-six months. A thorough researcher, Randy spent time with Portland homicide detectives and columnists at the Oregonian, as well as observing editorial meetings at the Indianapolis Star so he could accurately create the novel’s murder-mystery storyline, setting, and characters. Randy also creatively portrays characters who have died and gone to heaven, where they view events happening on earth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10729 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-01
• Released on: 2006-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781590525920
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. His novels include Deadline, Dominion, Edge of Eternity, Lord Foulgrin’s Letters, The Ishbane Conspiracy, and Safely Home. He has written fourteen nonfiction books as well, including Heaven, The Treasure Principle, The Purity Principle, and The Grace and Truth Paradox. Randy and his wife, Nanci, live in Gresham, Oregon. They have two married daughters, Karina and Angela, and three grandchildren.

From AudioFile
Muller reads with skill as he introduces three vacationing friends in their mid-fifties. His rendering separates and enhances the personalities of Jake, the journalist; Finney, the preacher; and Doc. A car crash ensues, with screeching tires and metal against metal, and Muller radiates Jake's shock and incredulity when he learns it wasn't an accident. Muller then switches easily between the parallel stories of Jake setting out to solve the murder of his friends and Finney's experience in heaven. As an angel Muller's voice resonates with love and wisdom as he guides Finney through heaven. G.D.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

A philosophical premise made into a story.
This book attacks the concept of political correctness and the hypocritical quicksand of "moral relativism" by weaving a tale of suspense and intrigue into the everyday life of a liberal newspaper reporter. The book hooks you from the beginning, with a story about three friends on a typical Sunday afternoon watching football, and tossing a coin to see who will drive to get the pizza at halftime. The coin lands, and stays, on its side! All three pile into the car together and after picking up the pizza and heading back, there is a terrible accident and the story picks up with one of the three, the reporter, awaking in the hospital. Thus begins a journey during which his popular beliefs about life, meaning and morality are challenged in a very personal way. Instead of spoiling the story, I will leave it up to the reader to explore.

The message of the book can be best described by the following passage regarding morality (page 419). "Maybe the greatest danger isn't when the rules get broken, maybe it's when the rules get changed. Once they're changed you can follow the new rules and think you are doing the right thing, while all the time your new truth is just the old lies. You can tell yourself it's OK because the standards have changed, but if the standards mean anything at all they don't change. I want to follow the truth no matter where it leads me. The Truth will set you free."

Overall, this is a well-written story, and provides enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested. Often however, the author seems to try and take on too many issues at once. The depictions of the social agenda's of various special interest groups and how they drove the slant of news stories was frighteningly accurate, considering the book was written in 1994 well before the documented events of liberal bias on behalf of Networks and print media had been exposed in the last few years by numerous sources. The author points out in the notes at the end of the book that "This is a work of fiction. While it contains many factual details which are the product of careful research, it intermingles these events with fictitious settings and persons".

A good story, with a well-needed message.

To Change A Life
As a new Christian, I was hungry for any kind of information which would provoke thought and give me something to increase my faith. I began to read the Bible, but enjoyed novels very much. I had heard about "Deadline" from several people, but the size of the novel was a little intimida- ting. A friend had loaned it to me when I was ill, since I had so much time on my hands. I finally picked it up and began to read. In about two or three pages, I was hooked. Randy's description of heaven brought me to tears. It gave me great hope and encouragement. I could hardly put it down, because I wanted to remain at that place: the place to which his novel carried me. One of serenity and peace. I had also been teetering on the fence of my views on abortion. However, when I read Randy's descrip- tion of conception, my heart was changed forever. This truly is a life-changing book, and I intend to give it as a gift, to all those in my family who are not saved. I feel like handing it out to people on street corners! We need men like Randy Alcorn, who has a vision of where everyone should strive to be: heaven, worshipping the God who wants us there.

Tackles all of the hard stuff inside an intriguing mystery
Jake Woods, liberal columnist and agnostic goes out on a short jaunt to pick up pizza with his best friends, Doc and Finney. On the way back, they crash and Jake finds himself suspended between two friends, and between two destinies. Doc, the "I'll Do it My Way" Guy and Finney, the man submitted to God. This storyline takes Jake from the ICU where he says good-bye to Finney, to an investigation into the shadowy worlds where right and wrong are relative and no one knows anything for a certainty, with human rationalization as the ultimate standard for behavior. The reader is pulled along from the earth, to the glorious raptures of Heaven to the despair of Hell, along with Jake as he searches for the truth and tries to find meaning in a shifting morass of values. In the process he has to face some pretty unsavory things about himself, and tragic consequences of choices and philosophies that he adhered to.

Inside the story, the author has several deep messages for his readers and he doesn't pull any punches. This book tackles just about all of the issues in our society where the guideposts have been lost, and relativism is taken for granted. Abortion, AIDs, media-bias, homosexual bias, political correctness, assisted suicide, organ transplant lists, organized crime, Vietnam, you name it and it is weaved into a monologue or dialogue somewhere in the book. All this is interwoven into a mystery involving some stereotyped characters, some surprising twists, and some awkward relevations. As if that's not enough, there are matters of eternal consequences, like Heaven and Hell to delve into.

There is a very good understanding and exploration of the effects of abortion on men which is usually ignored. And you'll never think about organ donations the same way again. You'll also think twice or thrice about the definition of "dead" after you've read this book.

Highly recommended for teenagers as it gets them to think before acting. Also, a hard-to-put-down book for mystery fans. Finally, if you're at all curious about what life is like in the hereafter (or as far as Mr. Alcorn's imagination can bring you), you'll want to read or debate about his portrayals of Heaven. Definitely a good vacation read, and a book to leave on your coffee table for curious friends.