This is a pretty good book. At the beginning it skips back and forth between two main characters, which I didn't like at first. I have read some of his other writings and decided to keep at it, and I am glad I did. If you are patient, a rhythm develops. While Jenkins tries to make his characters rounded, I think he falls a little short. Sometimes I felt his desire to get a Christian message accross actually interfered with the storytelling. There are sections of this book toward the end that are long passages straight from the bible. While they have a good reason to be in the story, I feel it was a bit over done.