DeadFall: My Review

Robert Liparulo’s DeadFall is on the very edge of Christian Fiction. As a thriller, this book exceeded my expectations. From the beginning, I was drawn in and rapidly turning pages to find out what happened next. Liparulo has truly mastered the art of suspense, and thrilling is an adjective anyone would use freely when describing this book. This would make an awesome movie! It would be R-rated for violence, but awesome in the seat-of-your-pants thrill ride that it provides!

Bob Liparulo believes every sentence he writes should move the plot and build his characters. He offers a fine example of this skill in DeadFall. Unlike his previous two novels, Comes a Horseman and Germ which offered a more global storyline, DeadFall is a more intimate story set among a smaller group of people in a tightly confined time period. This change offers the reader a chance to get to know the characters better and to explore the thoughts and intents of both the good and evil points of view. Liparulo does not want to undermine the nastiness of evil, yet he wants to write in such a way that his readers will not have to endure over-the-top language (there is NONE in this story) or gratuitous sex scenes. (none of that either!) DeadFall is exactly what the cover advertises – THRILLER!

Bob Liparulo graciously agreed to a phone interview with me, and I am excited to share our conversation here on my blog. God’s hand was evident in all of this, because there was a scene in the novel on page 141 that I thought was inappropriate for a book with Thomas Nelson’s name on the spine. This caused me to contact Thomas Nelson, and I was given a chance to speak with Allen Arnold and better understand their publishing philosophy. I learned a great deal.

Because of my initial contact with the publisher, when I asked Bob for an interview, he agreed! (He’s so nice, he would have agreed anyway, I think!) I learned a GREAT lesson in what it means to follow God’s will in your life, and that sometimes others will not understand. I missed the point initially, and I regret that. However, I think if you’ll read my interview, you will understand, as I do, that Robert Liparulo is doing exactly what God asked him to do. For that, I am deeply grateful! Come back tomorrow for my interview!