Drawing Fire by Janice Cantore

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"Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands."  Elisabeth Elliot

The book grabbed me from the start with this quote, a quote I would do well to remember at this point in my life when peace, trust, and quiet feel elusive.

I have read a couple other Janice Cantore books and thoroughly enjoyed them even though mystery, cop books are not my normal reading genre.  Janice used to be a police officer in Long Beach, California where the story takes place.  This is the story of a homicide detective whose parents were murdered 27 years prior to the story line.  She is determined and obsessed with finding the killer. It intertwines other crimes into the story and in the end, the few people who had info have committed suicide so there are no real answers to the questions, but she (Abby) is learning to be okay with that. She is trying to learn not to obsess about this case.

Is there romance?  A tad.  Abby is engaged to Ethan who is sure that she would make a much better missionary than detective and she is equally sure that she wouldn't and that her calling is to helping victims find closure by finding who committed the crimes. The PI, Luke Murphy, had an uncle who also died at the time of her parents' murder and he too has been desperate to find the killers. They connect on the case and sparks fly, but nothing happens at the end of the book.  I can appreciate that. There is a sequel coming and I am sure they will get together there because it was pretty obvious Abby and Ethan's relationship wasn't going to advance.

Things I learned or thought about?  I believe in nonresistance, so where does that put me for liking this book?  As someone who doesn't believe violence and taking up of arms is okay for a Christian should I be reading this book? And then on the other hand, do I believe you can be a Christian and a police officer at the same time?  I know this gets really sticky and I have heard people make strong statements on this, but my answer is I'm glad I don't have to make the judgment call.  D has a cousin who is a police officer and I am not about to say he isn't a Christian because I believe he is.  I believe we need Christians in places like this to help overcome some of the corruption that can abound.  Do I feel I can be a police officer?  Absolutely not, for more reasons than one. I think we have a duty to pray for our police force and our politicians, but I don't think we can make the call and say whether they are Christians any more than we can our neighbor next door.  Determining someone's relationship with Jesus is not our judgment call to make; that is between them and God. Yes, we can see fruit that would indicate, but ultimately my concern needs to be about where I am with God, not where my neighbor is. I need to be a witness and be a light in the world, but judging isn't my calling.

That being said, I am going to be on the lookout for the sequel to this book.

This book was given me by the Tyndale Blog Review Program for the purpose of reading and writing a review on it. All opinions expressed are my own.

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