Customer Reviews

All Through the Night

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

You expect a hero to be very strong or very smart, or, as in this book, both. You don't expect him to have a name like Wayne Grusza or to have senior citizens as sidekicks. Yet, Davis Bunn's extraordinary writing talent and brilliant knowledge of the world of high-finance make this story engrossing, entertaining, and believable.

When I read and loved Full Circle back in April, I had no idea that it would turn out to be Bunn's second-best book this year. All Through the Night held me captive and kept me guessing from beginning to end with its winning characters and suspenseful mystery. On top of it all, the book grapples with questions of faith, community and heroism. I couldn't put it down but didn't want it to end. Fortunately, the great descriptions of Wayne, Tatyana, Victoria, Julio, and all the others, and of the world they inhabit make it easy for me imagine how their lives will continue. Davis Bunn just keeps getting better!

Davis Bunn has written a story full of redemption and hope. The characters are a rag-tag mix of broken and abused. As so often happens, the characters use their pain as fuel to protect themselves and keep others out of the areas that are still wounded.
And they live with the consequences of those choices -- alone.

On the surface All Through the Night is about a trained soldier with an amazing mind for numbers who settles in a retirement community to help them recover from a scam. Entertaining reading with that element alone because Bunn provides a beautiful woman, guns, explosions, fast boats and bad guys.

But the spiritual aspects drove the story. One fragile elderly lady determines to love Wayne and to pray for him. As his heart softens toward her, a deep transformation begins.

After an initial struggle getting into the story, I discovered a good read.

I was looking forward to reading Davis Bunn's new book but didn't really know what to expect. I'm glad that I kept an open mind while reading because he blew me away with this book! It was such an interesting twist (hello - we're talking about a special ops accountant here people!) and in the first quarter of the book Wayne manages to wrap up the old people's trouble. I thought that was going to be the main jist, but noooo, it was only getting started there!


And can we say supporting cast? We have a retired cop with a thing against juvies, an old man that sits in airports in his spare time and a 13 year old juvie. Oh, and there is an old lady who stays in close contact with God and they all live in a retirement village. Don't forget that Wayne isn't a Christian and his sister is a member of the cloth. Hmmm, and that is only the beginning.
This is a must read people - don't miss out!!!

Wayne Grusza is a Special Forces trained military man, who just so happens to be a CPA. Weird combination, but Wayne has the best of both worlds. He'd seen enough action in the war to last him a lifetime when his sister, woman pastor, Eilene Belote, wants him to help solve a case for Hattie Blount Community - a place she calls home. Wayne really has no place to go or any place to call home, so he checks out their financial books. It's the least he could do for the sister who had always been there for him.

In this investigation, Wayne uncovers a scam and reports to the board that the community is about to lose everything. This was a retirement home and no one could afford to lose a dime. After all, these people were on fixed incomes. Wayne hated this kind of thing, and had little patience for a man that would prey on the innocent and abuse people's trust. He would get their money back the best way he knew how. He wasn't going to lose this community to a con man; not on his watch. This was now personal.

As Wayne plots to save the community, he is asked to check out another similar case. He is brought in as a consultant to check out what has happened. He's seen this before. He thinks it's strange to have two similar scams take place so close together. This was a small town...there had to be a connection. Wayne soon discovers that Mr. Easton, the President of this big corporation, has been visited by an angel. He isn't sure he wants to get involved in this one. He wasn't much on religion. His father was a pastor and so was his sister - he'd heard more than enough about religion. Wayne lived life on his own terms - thank you very much. "I don't want to talk to talk to angels or a man who has talked to angels."

Wayne meets an older woman named Victoria, who lives in Hattie Blount Community, tells him that she is praying for him. He knows his sister and father had been praying for him for years. A lot of good that has done him. But this woman seems to look into his soul and says "Worst kinds of addiction, the very worst, are those of the heart. Anger and bitterness don't wound the body like a drug. They gnaw down deep, where the lie can be hidden from almost everyone. The truth is this: the addiction hollows out your soul. No matter what you carry with you, no matter what dark night brought you to where you are, the Lord can make something good of this, if you let Him." Great! That's the last thing he wanted to hear. But deep down to the core of his being he knew she was right. What was he supposed to do with this information?

Wayne has battles raging on all fronts; on the outside with these scams, murders and bad guys trying to kill him and on the inside of his soul. He is facing things he thought he never would - thought they were gone but their back and in living color. He wasn't a man that would run and hide. Now what to do? He needed a strength beyond what he had to survive.

This story takes place in Florida, where I lived for many years. It was fun to hear about all the places that I had been and all the things I remembered about Florida living. I love how Davis Bunn tells a story that gets to the heart of the matter. In the middle of the fighting, drama and action, Bunn deals with heart issues. Wayne is one lean-mean-fighting-machine. This story is filled with adventure, love and second chances, but not just for Wayne. If you love Davis Bunn, you will totally enjoy this story. If you are new to this author, this is the book to jump into and be totally engaged in his exciting story style.

Nora St. Laurent
www.psalm516.blogspot.com

A very good christian mystery/suspense novel. I think that should be stated clearly in the description, but it's often not done. The faith message is seamlessly woven into the story line and the plot moves along at a good pace. There are enough twists and turns to keep the reader on edge, although with the first disappearance there was no logical followup from the "bad guys" which bothered me a bit. I don't want to include any spoilers, so I won't elaborate, but why take that action in the first place if there is no followup? If the faith theme won't bother you, a secular action/mystery/suspense reader should enjoy the story quite a bit.

On a personal note, I've always disliked the, "have you been saved?" question. It really isn't "have you been saved" but "have you accepted the gift of salvation"? Just my two cents worth as a Christian.

It was ok. I was completely lost for the first few chapters and actually went back to see if I missed some pages because things were happening out of the blue. About half way through I found myself thinking, hurry up already, figure it out and stop brooding while your at it. I wouldn't recommend it and I'm glad I'm finally done.

Davis Bunn really captures your interest early on, he is so talented and really takes you there completely. You feel as though you are with the characters in the book and experiencing what they are, really appreciate his talent. Looking forward to reading more of his writings

The other reviews pretty much tell you what this book is all about. So I'll just say this. Wayne is my kinda hero. Ex-special forces, smart, good looking, and loaded with integrity. He just has emotional and spiritual issues to work out. And God, through the folks He puts in Wayne's life, brings him around. The romance is very subtle which is typical Bunn, and the characters are colorful and multi-dimensional. Great book!

Not a great piece of literature! It is poorly edited which added to the frustration of reading a pretty tedious story.
I think the author thought that the religious part of it was subtle but it WASN'T!!

It turns out it's more or less a book about someone's faith journey. I didn't think it was heavy-handed; I was more surprised by the back-pedalling from the supernatural intervention at the end. You have to be willing to accept characters as they are, and if you can't accept someone who might believe in the evangelicals' God, then just skip the book. I suppose that the author has a core belief, and it comes out. As it usually does whatever they believe.

My beef was that the book started with one direction and then seemed to veer into another about halfway through. It just felt like one book ended and a sequel began. Which actually would have been better. Still, I did enjoy it enough to finish.