The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney [Paperback]

Randy D. Singer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2006

A Judge on Trial. His Life on the Line.

When a brilliant billionaire is diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer, he realizes that all his considerable wealth cannot prepare him to meet his Maker. But he has an idea that might: He will stage life’s greatest reality show. With his true agenda hidden, he auditions followers from all the world’s major religions, inviting them to the trial of their lives on a remote island, defending their spiritual beliefs against all challenges.
Oliver Finney, a feisty old judge with his own secrets, is “chosen” to defend Christianity. As the program takes a strange twist, he quickly realizes that he’s trapped in a game of deadly agendas that may cost him his life. With internet access monitored, Finney sends coded messages to his former law clerk, Nikki Moreno.
Aided by a teen crypto-geek, Nikki soon discovers the key to understanding Finney’s clues in an apologetics book, The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ. In a unique twist, readers are invited to join Nikki in a race against time as she struggles to decipher the mysteries contained in the ancient words of Christ before her former boss dies defending them.
Bestselling author Randy Singer offers an innovative new suspense thriller that will have you scrambling with Nikki to track down and decipher the clues–and come away with a stronger faith.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Randy Singer is the critically acclaimed author of five legal thrillers and two non-fiction books, including The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ, the book that Oliver Finney uses in this novel as the key to his coded messages. A veteran trial lawyer, Singer teaches at Regent Law School and serves as Chief Counsel for the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is also a legal advisor for the American Center for Law and Justice, a public interest law firm specializing in religious liberty cases. He and his wife, Rhonda, and their two children live in Atlanta, Georgia.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpt from
The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney
There must a mistake. The room started spinning as soon as the Patient heard the words. Inoperable brain cancer. Frontal lobe. He gripped the arms of the chair and began the denial process. The doctor was wrong, his judgment blurred by a subconscious bias against the Patient. Men the Patient’s age do not get brain cancer. Especially men who run three times a week and drink one glass of red wine every evening.
The Patient would get a second and third opinion. The top oncologists at the best hospitals in the country, all singing from the same song sheet. We’re sorry, there’s nothing we can do. Chemo might slow the spread of the disease, but you probably have less than a year. They ticked off symptoms like a parade of horrors: behavioral changes, memory loss, reduced cognitive function, vision loss, partial paralysis. The Patient worked quickly through the stages of acceptance. Denial and anger came first. But anger eventually gave way to grief and then ultimately resignation—all within a span of four weeks. Yet he wasn’t prepared for the last stage, and he couldn’t shake the irony of it.
Remorse. Nearly a billion dollars in net assets that he couldn’t take with him. Today he would trade all of his wealth for one additional year. All the eighty-hour weeks, jetting around the country, the dog -eat-dog world he faced every day, the enemies he had made—everything he did to build the net wealth to retire early and enjoy life.
He started getting his affairs in order. He signed a living will and durable power of attorney, spurred by the knowledge that he might lose his sanity before he drew his last breath. He changed his last will and testament a dozen times but eventually lost his enthusiasm for disinheriting the estranged children of his first and second wives.
The one thing he couldn’t prepare for preoccupied his thoughts, day and night, night and day. He wasn’t ready to face whatever lurked on the other side of death. He tried praying to some vague notion of God but just felt silly. What kind of God would listen to a man who had spent his whole life denying that God existed? Yet the thought of stepping into the darkness of death without solving life’s greatest mystery scared the Patient most of all. If he were God, he would judge his own life harshly. Sure, he had accumulated vast amounts of wealth, but what good had he done? Whom had he really helped? Who would say that life on earth was better because they had known him? The sad and honest truth kept him awake at night and haunted his daytime thoughts. Maybe there was still time. A lot could be done in twelve months. But even if he wanted to curry favor with God, how could he do that? He still didn’t really believe that God existed. And if God did exist, which of the gods worshiped on earth was the true God?
It hit him while watching Survivor, nearly four weeks after the initial diagnosis. Life’s greatest reality show! It seemed like such a deliciously good idea that it was either a stroke of genius or the brain cancer deluding him ahead of schedule. Powerful advocates for each of the world’s major religions would be chosen as contestants. Their faith would be put to the ultimate test on a remote island. They would be forced into the trial of their lives, defending their faith against all challenges. The winner’s god would gain a whole raft of new adherents, including the Patient. He would donate millions to the right causes. The ratings for the show would be spectacular. The losers’ gods would be exposed as impotent—powerless frauds in the face of death.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press (March 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400071666
• ISBN-13: 978-1400071661
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Randy Singer is a critically acclaimed author and veteran trial attorney. He has penned nine legal thrillers, including his award-winning debut novel "Directed Verdict." In addition to his law practice and writing, Randy serves as a teaching pastor for Trinity Church in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He calls it his "Jekyll and Hyde thing"--part lawyer, part pastor. He also teaches classes in advocacy and ethics at Regent Law School and serves on the school's Board of Visitors. He and his wife, Rhonda, live in Virginia Beach. They have two grown children. Visit his Web site at www.randysinger.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars...You be the Judge, April 26, 2006

By 

Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney (Paperback)

When it comes to legal thrillers with timely themes, Randy Singer never fails. He tackles issues that others fear. He creates a cast of characters that move in and out of his novels independently, yet joyously interconnected. Then, he comes along with a book such as "The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney."

Singer's premise is profoundly simple. A billionaire facing a deadly illness decides to pit representatives of America's top religions against each other in a reality TV show. The winner will be the one who displays a faith that stands the test of mental, spiritual, and physical endurance. In the face of death, whose beliefs are real? Along the way, in typical Singer fashion, he serves up sub-plots and red-herrings before revealing the full truth behind the show.

The layers involved in this book are a work of genius. Not only does the story use succinct but effective synopses of different religions, it makes the individual characters seem believable and sympathetic. Singer works a number of codes and ciphers throughout the plot, and, to top it all off, he parallels these codes with those in his companion work of non-fiction, "The Cross Examination of Jesus Christ."

I raced through the story. I was impressed. Admittedly, I missed the courtroom shenanigans that I've come to expect with Singer's work. As a writer, I loved the creativity and risk in this story; as a reader, I wished for a little more of the personal and legal aspects of his previous books.

That said, this is a must for any Singer fan. It's a mind-boggling amount of work woven cohesively between two separate books. It's entertaining fiction, which also engages the spirit and mind. Singer poses questions and answers--and in the end, he lets the reader be the judge.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gripping Throughout, September 6, 2006

By 

S. Peek (Rocky Mountains, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney (Paperback)

The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney is a great combination: A suspense novel with a very interesting premise and lots of exploration of several major world religions.

It begins with a billionaire who has terminal cancer who is desperate to find answers about the end of life and afterlife. He decides to stage a reality television show to get his answers. He sets it up with representatives of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and atheism. The contestants are placed on a remote island with no communication with the outside world.

During the course of the contest, the participants become aware of a nefarious plot. Judge Oliver Finney, the contestant representing Christianity, devises a way to communicate with his law clerk with various codes. Between the various ciphers and the dynamics of the reality show format, the author has created numerous twists and turns that will keep the reader guessing.

It is really a highly entertaining and educational (Christian apologetics) novel. I definitely recommend it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fast-paced "courtroom" drama!, July 23, 2007

By 

Stacey (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Cross Examination of Oliver Finney (Paperback)

Loaded with ciphers and hidden messages, this book is highly entertaining and suspenseful. The coded messages reminded me of The DaVinci Code, but I enjoyed this book so much more because of the thread of faith that is woven throughout the story. My only regret is that the reader wasn't given all of the puzzle's clues to solve prior to the solution being revealed. Randy Singer also cleverly capitalizes on the popularity of reality TV to entice the reader.

Oliver Finney is a Virginia judge invited to be a contestant on the reality TV show "Faith on Trial". He is representing the Christian faith. There is also a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu and a scientist. Each endures the challenges of "the game" to be declared champion and earn a sizable check for their favorite charity. But this game isn't all it appears to be. Judge Finney works with his assistant, Nikki, to uncover the real purpose of the game in this intelligently written and suspenseful novel.