Customer Reviews

Double Minds: A Novel

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In Nashville, Christian songwriter Parker James is highly regarded for her inspiring lyrics, but wants the chance to sing her songs. She knows pride is one of the seven deadly sins, but still hopes to have a chance. Still she does her best writing and working as a receptionist at Colgate Studios.

Parker is stunned when her brother Homicide Detective Gibson James text messages her to come to the studio. She learns that Belmont University student and an intern Brenna Evans was shot to death. Assisting her brother with his investigation, Parker wonders if she was the intended target as her work area as the studio receptionist is where the victim was killed; though she cannot fathom why someone would want her dead.

The superb whodunit adds deep excitement to a strong thought provoking Christian thriller with an apt title. Terri Blackstock provides an intriguing look at modern American Christian thought with dedicated believers struggling to adhere to scripture while also trying to make it in the wider world. Parker's BFF Serene has a chance to break out beyond the relatively small pond of Christian music to that of the oceanic sized pop scene, but would need Parker to modify lyrics that would still remain inspiring yet take them outside scripture. This is Christian suspense at its best as Ms. Blackstock takes her readers outside their pious comfort zone.

Harriet Klausner

Blackstock introduces readers to the darker side of Christian music in Double Minds. Not all is dark, of course, but the scenario she weaves includes murder, investigation, stalking and a cast of unusual characters. The underlying theme of grown-up children who've experienced horrible or painful lives ends up being an interesting thread.

Parker James, the main character, is a songwriter/performer who is at the very brink of making a name for herself. Her best friend, the girl who has made some of Parker's songs hit the charts, struggles with an eating disorder and a past that haunts her. Parker's own past is still a lingering presence in the loving divorce status of her praying mother and her alcoholic father.

A murder of a girl who was sitting at Parker's desk rattles the tight-knit community of musicians. Fortunately, Parker's brother Gibson is one of the detectives assigned to the case. But as things unravel and are revealed, the tension increases. Parker begins to fear for her life. It seems the murderer isn't finished yet.

A solid story full of humanity in its beauty and ugliness that will take readers on a roller coaster ride to the very end. A strong faith thread that may challenge readers to consider motivation and to see people in a different light.

This book lacked the suspense of Terri Blackstock's other novels. The characters were incomplete and shallow. Mostly I was disappointed in how much I didn't care. I really didn't care about the characters, and I certainly didn't care who committed the murder. I was expecting a griping, murder novel that would make me stay up and read in a well lit room, and this was not it.

The best part of this book was the alcoholic father and sympathetic mother. They have a relationship worth exploring.

One has said movies are meant to take you to a world you have never been before, and this novel does that; it helps you be aware of the world of Contemporary Christian Music. This novel is a mystery, and my guide to a good mystery is to be surprised by who did it but then thinking that I should have been able to figure it out by the given clues, and this passed that test as well.

Several of the reviews have pointed out that this was not a page turner. I will be honest -- it took me a while to read it. I'd read a chapter, put it down a week, read a couple of chapters, put it down till the next weekend. However, though I could put it down, I had enough interest to pick it back up again and again. I never thought about not finishing it.

From a Christian perspective, it shows that sometimes Christians get away from their foundation.

Double Minds was a great mystery. I think it might be my favorite of Terri Blackstock's books. Finally a character who wasn't prefect and an ending that wasn't predictable.

Parker James, the singer/songwriter heroine of the novel, has to choose between expressing her Christian convictions in her songs and watering them down for secular audiences. And the author, Terri Blackstock, exxpresses her own convictions without toning them down for a wider readership. Her concern isn't so much in converting non-belivers as it is to give deeper insight into the decisions to be made by those following the Christian path. And at the same time, she gives us a suspenseful thriller. I term this a thriller rather than a mystery because the perp is ultimately revealed by circumstance, not by the deduction of an investigator. This is of course highly recommended to Christians, but I feel non-Christian readers will also be rewarded by this insight into Christian ethics.

I love Terri Blackstock and I think I've read almost all of her books. This one, however, left me flat. It was a bit like one of its characters. Anorexic with not enough "meat" on its bones. I was a bit disappointed. However, it won't stop me from buying or reading Terri's books.

DOUBLE MINDS was an enjoyable novel that delved into the darkness of Christian Music. The skeletons portrayed in the Christian market seemed to have no limit. Murder, betrayal, anorexia, thief, it's all there in its ugliest.
Parker James, is a Christian songwriter that waits in the wings while her good friend, Serene, reaches superstardom with the songs Parker has penned. Parker works at a recording studio, dreaming of the day when she will be able to record her own music and make a name for herself instead of just being a mention on Serene's liner notes.
Serene is anorexic and on the verge of self-destruction all because she feels pressure to fit into a cookie cutter mold of what a singing sensation should look like. When she crosses over into the secular realm, she asks Parker to "generalize" her clearly Christ-centered songs so they can reach a broader audience.
When a teenage girl is murder at Colgate Studios, working a shift that Parker was slated for, her brother, Gibson James, a detective on the case worries that the murder has something to do with Parker. When the news is released that the teenage girl was actually the daughter of one of Colgate Studios rivals, the murder is no longer treated as a random act of violence.
When Serene offers Parker a chance to come on tour with her, in lieu of her agreeing to rewrite her songs, Parker feels she's finally going to get her break. But when another murder occurs, a suspect goes missing, and Serene's tour manager gives Parker the boot, nothing is turning out the way if should.
DOUBLE MINDS kept my interest throughout most of the story. There were areas that dragged, but over-all I felt pulled to read to the very end.

great book keep me guess who did it to the end,couldn't put it down,kept my interest the hold time

Awesome! always enjoy her books. This one is set in Nashville, TN, and it was nice reading about places that I've actually been to in a book.