You do this because you don’t believe. You don’t know that I love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about it, but you don’t know it.” The police in the film adaptation are convinced that Missy’s disappearance is the work of a serial abductor who has taken at least five young girls over the years, providing a link to the original killer but without using his name.

Billboard 200: The Week of March 18, 2017". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media . Retrieved March 16, 2017. A parent struggles with his worldview after a family camping trip ends in the abduction of his daughter by a serial rapist/killer. And the author thought himself progressive and hip by coming up with these 'radical' ideas....well, maybe, sadly they are for some special folk; but to me it just felt forced, racist and sexist...in my humble opinion.

I don't disagree with the message that God loves us and wants a relationship with us, but this book is so full of pot-holes and misinterpretations that renders it useless: Huh?? What Bible is the author reading? What about St. Paul telling us to be imitators of Christ. Is that really the reason for Christ's death on the cross? It is hard to not get carried away and be too effusive about this book. When one has spent time with someone or something, it is natural to feel a close connection to that thing and, I think, lose objectivity. Obviously I didn't try too hard to be calm and subdued in my praise because one can see that I rated it 5 stars; however, I think I will start with why I don't think it is a 5-star book. Divine intervention comes by way of an invitation to the place where his little girl breathed her last. Masochism, curiosity, and a longing for answers and closure compels him to go alone to the spot. God appears, taking three forms:

I'm also not what I would consider to be a very religious person. I don't offend easily and I respect the views of others. I was raised as a Methodist, but I'm not a devout follower by any means. The beginning of the book is blah, the middle drags (Oh yes, Jesus! How it drags!), and the end question and answer part does little to help the genre of spiritual fiction. It's a book whose enjoyment will vary massively depending on your views toward faith and Christianity (if any) - I have relatives who are Christian and went to a Church of England Secondary School so it was something I was brought up around - which may be why I don't have such serious angry thoughts towards this book as I've seen other reviewers have.As we are listening to you, it is as if this is the first time we have known about them, and we take great delight in seeing them through your eyes." Okay, enough bashing, because this was an incredible book that should be read by everybody. That I rated this a 5 in spite of the things that I didn't like, should tell you that there is something very amazing about this book. There is no way I can convey the impact of the thought-provoking and possibly life-changing conversations we become privy to. I don't know that you would much care for the book if you were a total athiest, not atuned to the spiritual at all, but people of all spiritual and religious persuasions will find aspects of this book deeply worth pondering. You must read it. On the one hand, I can see that the author attempted to bridge the gap and present a book that might cross religions. However, since the book was so heavily based on Christian principles and beliefs, this attempt fell flat. It was clear that the god presented was based on Christian teachings. Young assaults the church as something created by man that God has no interest in. I found this highly irresponsible. I agree that the earthly church is created by and run by man and as such is fallible. Still, my experience with church leaders has been one of utter joy, learning and spiritual growth. To suggest that these fine people could be replaced by blindly reaching out to God without a guide of any sort sounded illogical to me. Young also suggest that we should disregard the Ten Commandments as an unattainable ideal. The Ten Commandments played a more guiding role in my book. When Mac is telling his guests about his family and stops saying, "Now here I am telling you about my kids and my friends and about Nan, but you already know everything that i am telling you, don't you?