Into the Book

7

Eternity Falls - Kirk Outerbridge

Recommended
When private investigator Rick Macey is called by Sheila Dunn, vice president of Gentec, he is hurled into a dark and twisted adventure unlike anything he's ever experienced. Gentec was the creator of the Miracle Treatment, which was supposed to keep people alive and young forever. But when their poster child, starlet Greta Darling, dies of seemingly natural causes, Gentec and the Miracle Treatment are in big trouble.

They need Rick to find out what really happened to Ms. Darling -- or else come up with an explanation for her death. Partnering with Sheila Dunn, he sets out to do just that. But it soon becomes evident that not only is Rick not normal, but he also has his own reasons for taking on this case.

Is living forever really a worthwhile goal? Who is really behind all of this? And who will be left standing when eternity falls?

I enjoyed Eternity Falls greatly. It is fast paced, full of twists that shocked me and kept me turning pages late into the night. Rick is a hero we can root for, admire, and enjoy following through the dark turns of the dog-eat-dog cyberpunk world. The stakes are high -- as high as death and eternity itself.

The story also made me think, though I did have some theological quibbles with the book. It appears to advocate the idea that Christians can lose their salvation, rather than asserting that He who has begun a new work in them will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. There is a lot of Arminian theology, mixed with some truth, which makes some parts difficult to sort out.

In the end, while I may not agree with all of the author’s conclusions, the moral dilemma he set up made me think deeply. Is Virgil right in claiming that eternal earthly life is wrong and dangerous and should be stopped at all costs, or is Rick right when he says that the extended life is a period of grace given by God to allow the patients to come to salvation, and that regardless, they have no right to terminate the choices that others have made? Or are they both right… and wrong? If the reader is mature enough to sort through some questionable theology, then there are many fascinating thoughts to be gleaned from this intense adventure.

As far as content, there is a great deal of adult subject matter and content, though it is consistently handled with delicacy and discreetness. Various sexual topics, including prostitution, promiscuity, and homosexuality are mentioned delicately, and serve only to add to the darkness of the immoral world of the story, rather than desensitizing the reader.

A bad guy takes a woman’s shirt off forcibly at one point, and she is later seen stripped to her undergarments, but nothing further happens. Also, Rick and Sheila kiss a few times, though he refuses to take the relationship further. He also apologizes for kissing her the first time, though he allows her to kiss him a couple other times. There is also a large amount of violence, though it is not usually graphic.

Eternity Falls is a fast paced, thought-provoking story, with big twists, important themes, and a dark imaginative world that shows the darkness that results when man depends only on himself and does not look to God for the answers to time and eternity. I recommend it hesitantly because of the high level of darkness, adult subject matter, and some theological confusion, but if one can handle all that, it is a wonderful read. I am now looking forward to reading the sequel!
Grace Pennington is a homeschool graduate, a prolific writer, and the oldest of nine kids. She's partial to Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, and Daniel Schwabauer, but will consider almost any book. Most of all, she loves Jesus and desires to live her life for Him.

7 comments:

  1. That sounds good, I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

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    1. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you do read it, Mike!

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  2. Fantastic review. I'll have to keep an eye out for this one. Also, nice work spotting the questionable theology. :D

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    1. Seconded! Excellent excellent review. I'm going to look up this book and see if they have it for the nook.

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    2. Thanks, guys! If you do read it, I hope you enjoy it!

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  3. I also vote this is a good review!

    The book is unquestionably very well written, but dead wrong. There are two theological questions that can be confused.

    Whether or not it is wrong, if it is possible, to keep your self alive forever.

    Whether or not it is wrong for it to be possible to keep your self alive forever.

    Biblically the answer to the first question is that it would be wrong not to keep your self alive forever. To allow some one to die when you could have prevented it is murder, punished by death.

    Biblically the answer to the second question is that it would be wrong for it to be possible to keep your self alive forever. There are none who have not chosen to sin, and the consequences of sin are inevitable.

    A few other things that are to be pointed out are that the miracle treatment did not keep people alive forever. Even young people can die from disease, and of course gunfire.

    And people could only manage to survive until Christ's return anyway. The people who will be alive then will never die in that sense.

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    1. Very interesting thoughts, Patrick. Thanks for commenting!

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