An unwed (and unwanted) teen pregnancy with two possible fathers. Abusive relationships. Drug and alcohol addiction. Rape and molestation. The struggle to understand grace, forgiveness, and free will versus predestination. The Judas Ride hits the road running in the opening pages, where Sonia and Xavier argue explosively about whether Sonia should have their unborn child and about who the father is: Xavier, a struggling Christian, or Vader, an abusive and abused drug dealer. As the pages turn, readers continue to meet a hodgepodge of troubled teens and eclectic characters, including Pastor Manny, a quirky immigrant pastor infatuated with John Wayne. Pastor Manny desires to help the tortured souls in his community but finds that it takes more than unconditional love to reach them. Secrets literally kill in The Judas Ride, an edgy, in-your-your face Christian novel that boldly explores the struggles of modern-day young people.
The Judas Ride
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle.
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Truly depressing, dark, and poorly written story with no point.,
By
This review is from: The Judas Ride (Perfect Paperback)
I hate to be so negative, but here goes...
While I love an edgy story (and this book has lots of edge) it bugs me when the point of view switches so often that you barely feel what the one person is going through and then you are out of their head. Plus the author does not resist the urge to explain. While some of that info may be good info, it needs to be shown through the book, not explained and told. It's like taking a basic math class and having the professor explain about numbers and then branch into calculus. I was like, "huh?" The author has major potential when it comes to setting, description and quirky characterization, but the technique she uses is severely lacking especially when it comes to characterization and dialog. The way the characters think and the words they use in their internal thoughts don't fit either. And I've worked with many, many domestic violence victims and none of them have begged to be hit or said they loved it. Now I understand when people have death wishes, but that wasn't how it was portrayed here. And there wasn't anything to like about Sonia so having two guys pining for her was weird. I just had a hard time liking any of the characters. Some of the sickest ones had the most spiritual thoughts. You don't beat someone half to death and talk about Jesus like you know him. Strange personality switches, everyone yelling a lot and telling people to shut up. It was like everyone was tense all the time. At first I thought I liked the pastor and even he ended up being strange. He shoved one of the guys he was supposed to be ministering to and it just seemed over the top and inappropriate. Bottom line, I think the content in this book was interesting, but after reading 100 pages I still didn't get the point of the story. Then when I turned the last page, rather than thinking I felt a sense of completion like you should feel when you finish a book, I felt a lack of worth. It was like "why did I just waste a lot of time reading this story?" I hate to say that because it's not nice, but honestly, I wouldn't know where to begin to fix this book if I were editing it. It also had a dark theme. I wouldn't call it a Christian book, but a book of theological fiction. They debate theology, but I didn't see real faith in any of the characters, many of whom died by the end or were maimed for life. On the good side, I loved a few of the scenes because they were so realistically done, like the scene where the boys went fishing and one was attacked in the bathroom and watched the worms die from the floor. I was there for that scene--including the ride home. Most of the others were very abrupt and frenzied-feeling. I don't like feeling negative tension. I did like the way each title began with a phrase from Ecclesiastes. That worked well. Unfortunately by books end, I had to agree. It was utterly meaningless.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Take Another Ride!,
By
This review is from: The Judas Ride (Perfect Paperback)
Deciding to go on "The Judas Ride" is not a Sunday afternoon ride through the country. It is a jumping into a car without your seatbelt going 110 mph on the streets of New York. There is nothing comfortable about it. It will take many readers out of their comfort zone. It explores subjects that few people have to deal with on a day to day basis. Much less as young teenagers.
Our world is very much like this book today. Raw. Edgy. Desperate for hope. There is a LOT of desperation in this book. What I find lacking is hope which is sad for a book of Christian fiction. One of the main characters is a pastor and even he is as lacking and confused as the rest of the characters in the book. I realize that pastors are human and have their "moments", but Pastor Manny truly disappointed me. I wish I could say I recommend this book, however the "Judas Ride" is one I would just skip.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Where is the hope?,
By
This review is from: The Judas Ride (Perfect Paperback)
I hate writing negative reviews. I know the author spent epic time pouring out her heart and soul into this book that is her baby, I don't relish saying anything that will be devastating to her. But as a reviewer I owe it to my readers to tell the truth and point out the good and the bad or how can they trust me when I say something is really worth their time and money to read? This is one of the times that I have to seriously dissuade my readers from wasting time, money or brain cells on this book.
Starting out on a positive note... I like the cover of this book, and even the title. For a small publisher I was impressed by the presentation of the book. There is also a lot of good character development, quite a few central characters yet I still felt like I was really getting into their heads (almost more than I wanted to). Okay, that is about where the good ends. Rarely do I read a "Christian" book that leaves me with the sense of wishing I could get my precious hours back that I spent reading it. That leaves me wishing I could take a shower and wash it away. This book did just that. I kept thinking that there would be some redeeming factors by the end that would make it all worthwhile - but no, instead there are tons of funerals (which was repeatedly spelled wrong by the way) whether by suicide, murder, fire or more suicide. Really? The pastor in the story is losing his faith by the end, for a long time I couldn't even figure out why it was called a Christian book. Then some of the characters started debating theology quite a bit - but that doesn't make it Christian. I look for God's redemption, His grace and mercy to shine through and bring hope... just because the baby born is named Mercy Grace does not mean God's grace and mercy have been exhibited to the reader. This was the darkest, vilest book I've ever read. I understand that the author was going for "realism", "edginess" and "grit". But that doesn't mean you have to take every evil thing that has ever happened to someone and roll them all into one book (molestation, rape, murder, physical abuse, mental abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, premarital sex, unwanted pregnancy, abortion, and the list goes on...) This is supposed to represent the struggles of youth today, I may be naive but I don't know one single teen that is going through all those things. I do know that no book is written for everyone and I am convinced that this book was not written for me... I just haven't figured out who it was written for. I have 2 copies of this book and I was going to give them away, but that is before I read it. I can not in good conscience pass them on to other readers. The odd thing is that I read Peggy's book "Tare" and didn't think it was awful, it was kind of dark at the end, and didn't have the closure I was looking for but it wasn't anything like this book.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
