FLIGHT 316

A therapist has an impromptu in-flight session with a man who purports to be the world’s first human being in Burgett’s Christian novel.

Psychologist Grace Jackson is delighted when her seat on a Dallas-to-Honolulu flight is upgraded to first class. Still, it’s an eight-hour trip; perhaps analyzing her initially mute seatmate will stave off boredom. It turns out this man’s apparent fear of flying isn’t the most curious thing about him, as he claims he’s Adam —the one from Eden. After he and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the man explains, he then ate from the Tree of Life; consequently, he never died. The man is tormented by his belief that he “messed up” this world and the fact that God has recently “gone quiet.” Of course, Grace doesn’t immediately accept that she’s sitting next to the original Adam, but she lets him vent as Adam tells of his and Eve’s exit from Eden, their sons Cain and Abel, and his best friend Jesus’ life and death on Earth. Burgett’s novel opens with some of its best scenes as Grace eyes fellow passengers in first class, from affectionate newlyweds to 80-year-old identical twin sisters who dress alike. But when Adam takes the narrative reins, he leisurely recounts biblical stories that Christian readers will already know. While his renderings (and the author’s concise prose) aptly simplify these tales, Adam often sounds as if he’s preaching rather than confiding in the doctor. (“Giving up our idols, and their trappings, is tough for anybody. It takes a lot of faith and desire to stay the course.”) The theme of faith is the throughline; even if Adam fears God isn’t there if the two aren’t regularly conversing. This novel is positioned as the start of a series, though it reads like a standalone work.

Some sharp, detailed writing elevates this deliberately paced, theologically driven story.