Deception (Ollie Chandler, Book 3)

Randy Alcorn may be the most underrated author in the country. That is mainly because he focuses on the Christian fiction market so does not get the media attention that many others do.He has written several terrific novels. The best of these are 'Deadline' and 'Dominion'. Although 'Deception has some of the same characters as those two, it is not quite as good in some ways as those. It is still terrific from the standpoint of examining doubts about Christianity, the difficult questions such as why God would allow suffering, evil, etc.Perhaps the reason that I don't like it quite as well is that the detective type story is not my favorite genre. Some of the dialogue of the lead character, Ollie Chandler, is just a bit too corny for me.Nevertheless, this story will keep one's attention, it has lots of twists and turns, and it is a fun story. It is also very thought provoking. Some of the parts that I find to be particularly good are as follows: The author ties the work of being a homicide detective (Ollie Chandler) into a challenge to ponder the question of who killed Jesus Christ and why. He also asks extremely good questions for the skeptic to consider such as why would the apostles be willing to die for a belief system based upon a lie. I would strongly urge readers to seriously review pages 156-157.Another great question for Christians to ponder is why so many 'store their treasures there (Earth)' so that 'every day they move toward their deaths, they're moving away from their treasures. But if they store their treasures here (Heaven), every day they're moving toward their treasures'.Another excellent point that Mr. Alcorn makes in this book as well as others (such as the two previously mentioned and 'Heaven') is that oftentimes the way that Heaven is portrayed by many Christians 'made me not want to go there'. It is portrayed in a vastly different way by Alcorn.I recommend this book, but would suggest that readers enjoy 'Deadline' and 'Dominion' first. They are even better than this one. I also think that 'Heaven' is a must read.

I had previously read all three of the books in this trilogy and thought it was time to revisit them, about 10 years later, I was still very impressed and enjoyed the books thoroughly, although this one a little less than the first two.I read all three books in a row, and was craving some more Randy Alcorn when I picked this one - but the style was vastly different to that in the first two novels of the series. I still enjoyed it very much, and the reason for the odd style is explained by the character of Ollie, who is narrating. it still took me a bit of effort to get through it though. In the end I just thought, "I need to just go with it" and forced myself to stop comparing it to the other books.My advice for anyone who hasn't read the trilogy before - make sure you read them in order. It makes a big difference to your understanding of the characters as an assumed knowledge of their backgrounds is used in Deception.I found Deception to be interesting, was gripped by the storyline, if not so much by the way it was written, and really appreciated Alcorn's interpretation of what Heaven may be like. It helped me to expand my understanding of Heaven from "fluffy clouds, gowns, and singing with harps" and everything boring, to something much deeper and more meaningful. I know I still can't even begin to imagine it though!

First off, if you haven't read Randy Alcorn's other two books Deadline and Dominion, you just need to go and buy them right now. Go ahead, I'll wait.....I'm serious. His books are so good that they will make every other book you read seem bad, honestly.Deception's main character is Detective Ollie Chandler. He was a minor major character in the above mentioned books, but we get to know him so much better in the pages of this book.Ollie is a son of a gun, no frills, let's fry the bad guys, Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris worshipping kinda guy. Alcorn makes Chandler instantly likeable, and molds his character like someone out of a 30's detective novel.Clarence Abernathy (main character of Dominion) and Jake Woods (main character of Deadline) both make appearances in Deception. They added some very deep, soul-searching dialog to match our loveable homicide detective's cynical and dark thoughts on life.Alcorn does not handle the problem of evil and living in a broken world with kid's gloves in this novel. Ollie is on the forefront of a lot of bad stuff, thus his very cynical look on life and God. He just can't believe there's a God while so much evil goes unchecked.What ensues through the novel is Ollie's journey through a very complicated murder, always delving for new clues and always not sure who he can trust.Alcorn is a master wordsmith, and his mastering of the 1930's detective novels is suberb. This book is a must have for mystery lovers and people who just love a good book.

I got hooked into this series by starting with the second book -- Dominion. Fortunately, you don't have to read them in order to appreciate them. Characters are shared between the books, but each one is a good stand-alone read.Having said that, I'm really glad to see this story written from the perspective of Detective Ollie Chandler. He had me in stitches in Dominion and he's just as funny in Deception. But more importantly, Ollie asks the kinds of questions and wrestles with the kinds of tragic life experiences that prevent many people from seeing the goodness of God and taking the step of saving faith in Jesus Christ. Ollie's Christian friends Jake and Clarence are ready with answers to his questions, so we can learn from them, but I think we can learn more from observing the honest pain and doubt that Ollie struggles with. These are hard issues that keep many people out of the Kingdom.Randy Alcorn writes compelling, thoroughly researched fiction that entertains as it instructs. I highly recommend this book. Read it for yourself, then pass it along to others (on either side of the Christian fence) who could be helped by its message.