A TATTOO ARTIST, AN ATHEIST, AN OBSESSIVE / COMPULSIVE AND A JOCK WALK INTO A STORY . . . IS THIS A JOKE?

Not hardly!

The idea intrigued me.  Four stellar authors, collaborating on one . . . book?  novella?  miniseries?  thing?  And they did it for fun.  Just to answer the question, “What if . . .?”

I mean, the questions were numerous:  how was this all coming together? would it all come together?  what about “creativity clashes?”

Well, I’m here to tell you . . . it worked.  Each author wrote from the perspective of one of the main characters, maintaining and developing that character’s personality (at times comically, other times quite emotionally), telling one story made up of four.

In THE CALL, Bill Myers introduces us to Brenda, a conniving tattoo artist with a satirical streak a mile wide, and a penchant (gift? curse?) for tatting future events.

Frank Peretti gives us the Professor in THE HAUNTED.  The professor is a former priest turned atheist whose logical bent would win accolades on the planet Vulcan (pardon the Star Trek allusion; I’m dating myself, here!). 

In THE SENTINELS, Andi is the professor’s obsessive/compulsive assistant with a fascination for numbers.  Strangely enough, in this instance, the numbers are far from random.

Finally, THE GIRL by Alton Gansky brings us Tank, a naïve, football playing good ol’ boy with the (inconsistent) gift of healing, and an amazing capacity for love.

Through a series of orchestrated meetings, these four random strangers have been brought together to help restore order, bring healing – and oh, yes – settle the score with supernatural beings intent on bringing death, destruction, annihilation, and subjugation to the inhabitants of planet earth.

You couldn’t make this stuff up.

And perhaps these four award-winning authors didn’t.  Perhaps, and I’m just going out on a limb here, perhaps they have creatively combined their God-given imaginations to share with us an allegory, perhaps a parable - an earthly story that communicates a spiritual truth in a way that draws us in, instead of driving us away.

I’ve made up my mind.  Perhaps you ought to get a copy for yourself and draw your own conclusions.  

Regardless . . . my questions have been answered.  It works.  All of it works.  And I’m looking forward to the next installment.

Five Stars for a seamless collaborative effort on the part of four extremely gifted authors!

Invitation (Harbingers): Cycle One of the Harbingers Series

Frank Peretti, Bill Meyers, Angela Hunt, & Alton Gansky

ISBN: 076421974X

Bethany House Publishers

Print Length: 353 pages

$15.99 paperback