Reviews 2

Andy Back, curriculum writer and youth worker, Brighton, UK

I wasn’t ready
"Of course, the shock is that once you’re dead, your life probably doesn’t add up to much.
    Three characters - Daniel, Becky and Emma - have treated the message of Christ in a different way until they find themselves unexpectedly dead in a road accident. And that’s the plot.
    But the rest of the book exposes the reality that is judgement, hell and heaven. Evangelist Adrian Holloway examines with many scriptures (sometimes slightly too many) what I had previously reckoned to be fairly sketchy information about the afterlife.
    The themes are sobering, yet a light style sometimes surfaces. ‘God has a serious PR problem on earth.’ ‘"I’ve made it by the skin of my teeth haven’t I?" asks Becky. "No," replies the angel, "you’ve made it by the blood of Jesus, just like everyone else."’
    The tangential characters are strangely more well-rounded: Andy, who loved football and dirty pictures, but loved Jesus more; and those drawn from real life, Perpetua (‘remember that name. You’ll love meeting her for yourself’) and Cassie Bernall, who died at the hands of schoolboy gunmen in Columbine in 1999 step forcefully out of the pages.
    It's written in a style which most young people would find very readable. Holloway has packed theology in there, but it's been skillfully included using conversation, stories and emotional language. Some of the content should carry a PG certificate (wise parents will regularly check out what their young teens are reading anyway) – I have to say that you can smell the sulphur in some places. However, this is not just shock for shock's sake, but included to provoke spiritual questions and reactions, I would be happy to recommend this for readers over 12. Younger readers will make their own decisions, based on how they get on with the free first chapter anyway.
    I am left with a clearer vision of my extremely-long-term future. But the here and now is peppered with questions. What treasures am I storing up in heaven? Which of my many works will be burned up, and what will remain? And why do I keep silent?"

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