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Hidden West #2
Copper Hill
Book by Bly, Stephen A., Bly, Janet
- GenresFictionChristian Fiction
348 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1997
About the author
Stephen Bly
127 books72 followersStephen Bly (August 17, 1944 - June 9, 2011) authored 100 books and hundreds of articles. His book, THE LONG TRAIL HOME, (Broadman & Holman), won the prestigious 2002 CHRISTY AWARD for excellence in Christian fiction in the category western novel. Three other books, PICTURE ROCK (Crossway Books), THE OUTLAW'S TWIN SISTER (Crossway Books), and LAST OF THE TEXAS CAMP (Broadman & Holman), were Christy Award finalists. He spoke at colleges, churches, camps and conferences across the U.S. and Canada. He was the pastor of Winchester Community Church, and served as mayor of Winchester, Idaho (2000-2007). He spoke on numerous television and radio programs, including Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family. He was an Active Member of the Western Writers of America. Steve graduated summa cum laude in Philosophy from Fresno State University and received a M.Div from Fuller Theological Seminary. The Blys have three sons: Russell (married to Lois) and father of Zachary and Miranda (married to Chris Ross) and mother of Alayah, Michael (married to Michelle), and Aaron (married to Rina Joye) and father of Keaton and Deckard. A third generation westerner, Steve spent his early years working on ranches and farms.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 1, 2024
A failed cocktail of marriage, menopause, mystery and murder. (2 stars)
The only reason I read this book is because I got it in a discount bundle of books from a Christian bookstore. Now I know why they were trying to get rid of it. The story line revolves around a husband and wife who team up to write books about their travels. If you haven’t read the first book in the series, the relationships between the characters can be hard to figure out. For the record, the main characters are Tony and (Dr) Priscilla (Price) Shadowbrook. The Shadowbrooks have two daughters, twins Kathy and Christina (Kit), and two sons, Mark (married to Amanda and father of Cooper) and Josh (engaged to Melody).
In this volume, the Shadowbrooks visit Jerome, an old Arizona copper mining town. The intriguing beginning immediately arouses interest, as they bump into an eccentric traveller carrying his own tombstone – marked with the approaching date of his death! But aside from the last two chapters – which contain an exciting and suspenseful concoction of murder and mystery – the book really doesn’t live up to its early promise. Most of the content revolves around the Shadowbrooks and the book about Jerome they are working on. After a while, it dawned on me that the book the Shadowbrooks are producing was the very one in my hands! It sounds like a novel idea, but the novelty soon wears thin. After reading sentences like “Can we use any of that scene in our book?” for the fourth time (p.165), I began thinking: “Just get on with the book!” It soon gets a bit tiresome to hear the husband and wife writing team arguing about a suitable title, deciding what events to incorporate, and giving each other kudos for their brilliant writing in the previous chapter. The fictional Shadowbrook is supposedly a famous writer, having ardent fans constantly bow at his feet, and is mentioned in the same breath as Clancy and Grisham (p.168). But Copper Hill makes it painfully evident that Bly is no Clancy and no Grisham!
But I suspect the real Bly and the fictional Shadowbrook have a great deal in common. Can it be a coincidence that both Bly and Shadowbrook are writers of Westerns? That they have authored books with the same title? That the Shadowbrook husband and wife team are writing a book about Jerome called Copper Hill, just like the Bly husband and wife team? The connections between the Shadowbrooks and the Blys are too strong to be ignored. Secretly I wondered how much of the Shadowbrook’s marriage and family is simply a reflection of the Bly’s own life, particularly because a great deal of the book concerns the ins and outs of a marriage relationship hampered by menopause and trivial family squabbles.
In this respect Copper Hill did have the potential to give a solid message about marriage and the family. But any positive message is sadly cheapened by the frivolousness of the conflicts. A mother of the bride who suddenly decides she’s opposed to a backyard wedding, convinces herself that wedding rings are pagan symbols, and wants to add a train to the wedding dress – all just days before the wedding? Puh-lease! When will the silliness stop? Of course it does stop in the last two chapters when the murder mystery really heats up, but by that time it is really too late.
Hampered further by some questionable theology about spiritual warfare (p.34 & 155), and a lack of courage in applying Biblical absolutes (p.68-72), this book is in the end a rather unfortunate disappointment. On its own, the cocktail of mystery and murder had the potential to be a winner. But when combined with a watered down mix of marriage and menopause, the final cocktail sadly turned sour.
The only reason I read this book is because I got it in a discount bundle of books from a Christian bookstore. Now I know why they were trying to get rid of it. The story line revolves around a husband and wife who team up to write books about their travels. If you haven’t read the first book in the series, the relationships between the characters can be hard to figure out. For the record, the main characters are Tony and (Dr) Priscilla (Price) Shadowbrook. The Shadowbrooks have two daughters, twins Kathy and Christina (Kit), and two sons, Mark (married to Amanda and father of Cooper) and Josh (engaged to Melody).
In this volume, the Shadowbrooks visit Jerome, an old Arizona copper mining town. The intriguing beginning immediately arouses interest, as they bump into an eccentric traveller carrying his own tombstone – marked with the approaching date of his death! But aside from the last two chapters – which contain an exciting and suspenseful concoction of murder and mystery – the book really doesn’t live up to its early promise. Most of the content revolves around the Shadowbrooks and the book about Jerome they are working on. After a while, it dawned on me that the book the Shadowbrooks are producing was the very one in my hands! It sounds like a novel idea, but the novelty soon wears thin. After reading sentences like “Can we use any of that scene in our book?” for the fourth time (p.165), I began thinking: “Just get on with the book!” It soon gets a bit tiresome to hear the husband and wife writing team arguing about a suitable title, deciding what events to incorporate, and giving each other kudos for their brilliant writing in the previous chapter. The fictional Shadowbrook is supposedly a famous writer, having ardent fans constantly bow at his feet, and is mentioned in the same breath as Clancy and Grisham (p.168). But Copper Hill makes it painfully evident that Bly is no Clancy and no Grisham!
But I suspect the real Bly and the fictional Shadowbrook have a great deal in common. Can it be a coincidence that both Bly and Shadowbrook are writers of Westerns? That they have authored books with the same title? That the Shadowbrook husband and wife team are writing a book about Jerome called Copper Hill, just like the Bly husband and wife team? The connections between the Shadowbrooks and the Blys are too strong to be ignored. Secretly I wondered how much of the Shadowbrook’s marriage and family is simply a reflection of the Bly’s own life, particularly because a great deal of the book concerns the ins and outs of a marriage relationship hampered by menopause and trivial family squabbles.
In this respect Copper Hill did have the potential to give a solid message about marriage and the family. But any positive message is sadly cheapened by the frivolousness of the conflicts. A mother of the bride who suddenly decides she’s opposed to a backyard wedding, convinces herself that wedding rings are pagan symbols, and wants to add a train to the wedding dress – all just days before the wedding? Puh-lease! When will the silliness stop? Of course it does stop in the last two chapters when the murder mystery really heats up, but by that time it is really too late.
Hampered further by some questionable theology about spiritual warfare (p.34 & 155), and a lack of courage in applying Biblical absolutes (p.68-72), this book is in the end a rather unfortunate disappointment. On its own, the cocktail of mystery and murder had the potential to be a winner. But when combined with a watered down mix of marriage and menopause, the final cocktail sadly turned sour.
January 8, 2008
Tony and Price decided to stay closer to home this summer to help their second son prepare for his wedding. Jerome, Arizona, becomes much more interesting than anticipated when one local man starts driving around with his own tombstone in the back of his pick-up, complete with his quickly-approaching date of death. Is he a con artist, prophet or quack? Then wedding plans go crazy and Tony and Price can't agree on a title for their book... will emotions and mysteries find a satisfactory conclusion?
July 16, 2012
When I read this book I was a little skeptical because westerns are not my thing, but it was mysterious and funny and held my attention--especially one character who claims to know the exact date he will die and carries his tomb stone around with him already!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews