The Canary List
3.3
5
30
30
Crockett Grey is a school teacher with the unfortu
Crockett Grey is a school teacher with the unfortunate tendency of mourning his deceased daughter at the bottom of a bottle of liquor. When one of his female students arrives at his house in the dead of night, terrified and begging for help, those memories of his daughter compel him to help her. This simple of act of help drags him into a world of false accusations, physical assault, and political and religious intrigue.
I read this book quite a while ago and meant to write a review, but then so much happened and the next thing I know, itâÂÂs months later and I find this book on my desk covered in papers and pencils and pens and sticky notes. So I figured that itâÂÂs about time that I posted a review.
I make a point to request books that are of Christian writing. And thatâÂÂs why I requested The Canary List. However, after reading it I found it very difficult to categorize as Christian Fiction. It does has some Christian influence in it, but mainly it just felt like âÂÂCatholic bashingâÂÂ. Not exactly sure how I feel about that, but I do know that it wasnâÂÂt one of my favorite books IâÂÂve ever read.
IâÂÂm trying really hard not to tell you guys much about this books, because I think that you should all go out and read it and come up with your own opinions! But, if you were to really beg me to tell you what I thought about it, I would say that I give it a 3.5 out of 5. Even though I didnâÂÂt like that it wasnâÂÂt very Christian even though it was advertised as such, it was still a great fiction story. There, howâÂÂs that?
So are you going to go read it? I think you should!
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
February 9, 2012
In the book The Canary List a twelve year old little girl must face her fears of detecting evil and come to grips with her special gift. With the help of her psychiatrist and teacher she will encounter things better left kept secret. One night after an evil man comes looking for her it pulls them deeper and deeper into things better left untouched.
This book will keep you interested with its many twists and turns. I enjoyed the book but at some points it was confusing.This book is a mystery and even at the end it will still keep you wondering. I recommend this book for book clubs and group discussions.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
December 28, 2011
Intriguing
This was a very interesting story about how evil could infiltrate the Vatican and the Catholic Church in general. I appreciated the true facts that were incorporated into the story along with the various quotes and further reading given in the back. I liked that the story was told from the viewpoint of a complete skeptic about God but he was drawn into this whole spiritual battle which he did not believe in. I enjoyed to various characters that were apart of the story. Even the minor roll character of Nanna was completely lovable. I personally think the ending was brilliant. It brought full circle the whole point of presenting the two quotes in the beginning. The first being Eph. 6:12 acknowledging we have a bigger, spiritual battle going on. The second being C.S. Lewis saying people are either completely fascinated by the existence of demons or don't believe in them at all and both are very dangerous. The whole book seemed to deal with each ends of the spectrum and the end presented both viewpoints. For me, it made this book go from a 4 star story to a definite 5 star.
I received this book free from blogging for books in exchange for my review.
December 6, 2011
Interesting premise, dissatisfying ending
The Canary List is a fiction book about the connection between the spiritual forces, the physical world, and the humans that straddle the two. Do demons exist? Do our beliefs about them - whether belief or skepticism - affect us, or them? At the opening of the book, C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying:
"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight."
Crockett Grey is not looking for an adventure, he's not looking for a cause; he's not even looking to leave his house on the night Jaimie Piper comes to him for help. He's looking to get drunk and to grieve the anniversary of his daughter's death. Jaimie is looking to escape the Evil she believes is hunting her, and she cannot reach the person who has promised to help her, her psychiatrist Madelyne Mackenzie. Crockett, instead, gets swept up into a whirlwind of scheming, and plotting, and politics of the Catholic Church, not to mention the question of supernatural forces of evil.
I don't normally read suspenseful books, mostly because I can't afford the lack of sleep due to the intense need to read "one more chapter" to find out what happens. This book definitely kept me up later than I should have been. I was intrigued by the characters, and the action kept moving at a pace that made it hard to put down. I do not like heavy foreshadowing, or predictable plots, and this had neither. There were several reveals that, while logical based on the story, had not been the obvious outcome.
Until the conclusion of the book, I probably would have come away fairly satisfied with a good read. There were sections of the book where I felt a bit too in-the-dark about what was going on, but it seemed true to the character's point-of-view from which I was experiencing the story. However, some loose ends and an unnecessarily complicated ending left me displeased. I wanted to know what became of the other characters, I wanted to know how the remaining question was answered, and I wanted something deeper - something to spark the reader to question their own beliefs in the spiritual realm.
I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.
November 30, 2011
Welcome to Christianbook.com! Sign in or create an account
Cart
0 items
Checkout
We now accept PayPalfor ALL orders
