A KIDNAPPING REVIVAL

A kidnapping tests a preacher’s faith in this novel.

McIntosh’s story opens with every husband’s worst nightmare: a kidnapped wife. Northeast Mississippi preacher Alan Livingston gets a message from his brother, Gary, a police detective. During a subsequent phone call, Gary tells the preacher that Alan’s 7-year-old son, Riley, showed up at the house of the detective and his wife, Beth, in a panic. Riley informed the couple that his mother, Anna, told him to run. Gary investigated and concluded that Anna was abducted. Alan consults with his brother and other friends in order to find out all he can about the crime. They soon apprehend a man named Larry Reed, who’s involved with the abduction just enough to give Alan an ominous warning: The kidnappers harbor a deep hatred of preachers. The author regularly shifts the thriller’s focus to show readers Anna’s experience; she’s unharmed but steadily guarded by an armed woman named Mrs. Bosco. At one point, Anna hears one of her kidnappers say: “The fewer Christians in the world, the better the world will be.” In the days that follow, Alan retreats to his church’s religious compound in the backwoods of Tishomingo County except when he’s fulfilling his preaching duties. McIntosh unfolds these two plot strands with a good ear for dialogue, although the casual pace will surprise many readers; they may also wonder why Alan is working and even going fishing while his wife’s fate remains unknown. Likewise, some will find the persecution narrative the author works into the plot strange. Alan confidently reports things like “About 75 percent of all religious intolerance is directed at Christianity,” “One out of nine Christians experiences persecution,” and “Persecution is coming to America and has, in fact, already started here.” But the faith that sustains Alan and Anna through their ordeal will appeal to McIntosh’s fellow Christians. In addition, the author’s orchestration of the larger plot against the preacher is well executed, and the cast is full of intriguing characters.

An ideologically simplistic but engrossing Christian thriller.