Customer Reviews

Loss of Carrier

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First, a couple of disclaimers:
1. Russ White is an acquaintance of mine
2. I have read a lot of his technical books, and have tons of respect for his knowledge and ability.
3. I really don't care for the mystery novel genre

Loss of Carrier is the kind of book that tries to please everyone, and seems to end up pleasing no one. Computer folks will want to argue the technical details, the faith-based folks will probably want more theology, gun enthusiasts will want more shootouts and mystery readers will want a less predictable plot.

Think of a combination of Miss Marple and Ned Flanders, who's been dropped into the set of "Office Space," and you understand the story. Hero discovers crime, but no one believes him. So he investigates himself. Uh oh! the bad guys are on to him! They must try and kill him! Wait, he's saved by a pretty girl who believes in him! Can they solve it together? Will they stay alive? Will romance bloom? You can pretty much guess all the answers. It's a very predictable story - but maybe all murder mysteries are.

I wish Russ had put more depth into his characters. Unfortunately, they are one-dimensional. The good guys are not just Christians, but salt-of-the-earth, take-milk-and-cookies-to-old-ladies-in-the-rest-home kinds of people. The bad guys are soulless evil villains without redeeming qualities whatsoever. More complex characters would raise this story above the cartoonish plot it has.

Loss of Carrier was a stretch for me. Not necessarily in a bad way. A technical style of book that actually fed that recent hunger I have had to read a suspense/ mystery. The book goes into great detail about the workings of technical things such as computers. It is explained well, but a bit TMI at times. I enjoyed the story line and where Russ White was taking me as the reader so I plugged on (no pun intended...). I appreciated how the book is not overly Christian with an overwhelming message, but instead author Russ White has woven together a story that reflects Christians in what feels to be a natural light.

Russ White writes tech as that is what he knows well. There are three more books planned for this series. This would be an author I would like to keep an eye on and see how this story develops as well as his writing.

Thank you to the author for my copy of this Christian fiction mystery. I learned a little technology as I read since the protagonist is a geek network engineer. Although it gets technical, explanations are given so that even I could understand.

It's disconcerting to trip across misspellings and grammatical errors, and unfortunately, this book contains some. In addition, the flow is a bit choppy. However, the compelling plot keeps the reader turning pages.

There's a scene where the protagonist and his love interest debate the merits of waiting for sex until after marriage.