Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Evil Still Lurks At Cat Lake, April 6, 2007
First, let me say this and get it out of the way. John Aubrey Anderson has in a matter of a few months become one of my favorite authors. His books are among those that will always remain in my possession. I couldn't possibly think of parting with them. They're too important for what they teach and how they entertain. Entertaining while teaching valuable truths is one of those things I want to learn to do in my own writing. With the help of novels like Wedgewood Grey and it's predecessor, Abiding Darkness, I feel it is a doable task.
Wedgewood Grey is book two in the Black Or White Chronicles. And it's the ongoing saga of the Washington family and the Parker family. This emphasis this time out is on Mose Washington, whose family went through so much and yet this man stood strong in his faith in book one, Abiding Darkness.
Fifteen years prior to this books story, Mose lost his young son to the evil that has taken root at Cat Lake. That was only the beginning. Now as you open the pages of Wedgewood Grey you'll find Mose in another predicament at the infamous lake. One that will cause him to run, while taking on the responsibility of raising a boy whose lost his mother despite Mose's best efforts to the stop the evil from taking her.
The one thing I found surprising about this second installment was the near absence of Missy Parker, who upon reading Abiding Darkness, one would conclude is the focal point of the series. She's there and she plays a most valuable part, but it's very late in the story. On the contrary the story really centers itself around Mose and an FBI agent named Jeff Wagner. Wagner is a man who, try as he might, can seem to draw no other conclusion concerning resent events than that it's the work of demons and the God they oppose. A shoe he finds, as an unbeliever in such ideas, very hard to fit.
With this novel, Anderson's second, I see growth as a writer and storyteller. His words are full of wisdom and charm, wit and grace. He is indeed among the best of today, and maybe even yesteryear's, southern fiction writers. If you enjoy stories of the old south or of the good ole days as many call them, you'll love this story. If spiritual warfare is your thing, you'll love this book. If you just love an engaging story that will take you to a place you've never gone, but would love to be, you'll love this story.
I can't wait for the next installment coming later this year. It's called And If I Die. I'm full of questions about what more will happen with Mose and what's to become of Missy.
I hope you'll join me in finding out.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Jam-Packed with Story, February 21, 2007
"Wedgewood Grey" plays out like a crime scene drama with facts layered upon each other while details of the situation's depth is fleshed out. Set in the south at a time when white men considered men of different skin to carry little value, and women of different skin to be worthless.
This story will likely be too gruesome for the Big Honken Chicken club, and may be a bit too scary. However, the tension and the potential of the spiritual warfare isn't so intense that you'll never sleep without a nightlight again.
"Wedgewood Grey" reminded me of early Peretti though the spiritual warfare aspect takes a backseat to Anderson's human characters. "Grey" carries a strong Christian message, with at least one character becoming born again after an encounter with a demon-possessed man.
John Aubrey Anderson crafts descriptive sentences, multiple characters, interwoven storylines and scatters the blend with wry humor.
I'm not a fan of omniscient story telling. I feel you lose the intimacy with the characters or gain too much intimacy with secondary characters who are just passing through. However, Anderson tells quite the story and manages to tie up the loose dangling threads he feeds into the mix. This impresses me, writing is not for the weak-kneed, and his cast of characters and storylines must require file upon file to keep them straight and tied together.
Compulsion to see what would happen next kept me reading, though some of the story lines didn't hold my interest as well as others and I skimmed a few times.
If you are a big fan early Peretti or you like omniscient narrated fiction with a strong Christian thread, I believe you'd enjoy "Wedgewood Grey."
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anderson Hits Almost All the Right Notes, February 22, 2007
John Aubrey Anderson is a new author who writes with a wisdom and talent that belies his "new" status. His first book in the Black and White Chronicles, Abiding Darkness, set a high standard for the subsequent books.
Let me say right away that you won't do the story justice if you don't read Abiding first. The story there is spoiled if you skip to Wedgewood Grey. He does a good job of bringing in the elements needed from AD into WG, but it isn't the same as savoring it directly.
WG continues the story of the Parkers and Washingtons, a white and black family respectively, from Mississippi. The wise and "mild-mannered until pushed" Mose Washington is drawn into a confrontation with some white youth over the attack of a black woman, and staying true to AD, the confrontation is much deeper than the direct event. Soon there is trouble with a deplorable politician, a backwoods sheriff, and a green FBI agent.
Anderson continues to excel with memorable characters. From the southern belle Caroline "Ceedie" Davis to the fresh faced agent Jeff Wagner, he gets in the heads of his characters and brings them to life on the page. The world created here is one you are not prepared to leave when finishing the book.
He also does a masterful job with the tension and suspense. There isn't quite as much action as AD, but he skillfully works the struggle - playing it out without going overboard.
One minor disappointment is that the key character from AD, Missy Parker, is not as prominent in this book. Maybe I just fell in love with her too much, but I'd be surprised if her story was over just yet...
Anderson is not afraid of going into spiritual ideas, but it is handled with care and flows with the story. If you want to read a well-crafted, suspenseful novel, then don't let anything hold you back from the Black and White Chronicles. My only complaint? Now I have to wait until August 2007 for the next book in the series, And If I Die. Dadgummit!
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