"The Face of God" by Bill Meyers

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Zondervan (July 1, 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0310227550
ISBN-13: 978-0310227557

On a trip to Jerusalem, Pastor Daniel's wife is murdered, and he discovers its over an odd stone that a merchant pushed into his hands. Still reeling from her death, he isn't ready to deal with his rebellious son, Tyler, and the possibility that his stone might be one of the twelve stones representing the tribes of Judah from Biblical times. Could it really reveal the face of God? With prompting from Tyler, Daniel heads back to Jerusalem in search of answers. There he meets two very different woman, Nayra and Professor Helen, who help him discover the whereabouts of the other stones. Because of this, Daniel catches the attention of Muslim terrorists, who are also after the twelve stones, and wish to see the "face of God" for themselves.

Daniel, our main character, develops pretty well throughout the story. His faults are brought to light, although I felt that one of the examples of his bias, was rather contrived; I am talking about Nayra of course.
Tyler is your typical young person, who grew up in the church and is rather ignorant of  other religions. Because of this, I found him just a tad annoying, considering how much he disrespects his dad.
Helen is Jewish professor, who, after being abused by her uncle as a girl, no longer trusts men, instead she uses them to further her career. Daniel, with his sincere heart, and kindness, baffles her.
Nayra, the young Muslim girl, bothered me immensely. She insults every religion other than her own and is obviously a bigot, treating Helen with weariness because she is a Jew. She has also apparently never heard about 9/11, and never saw Islam murders until the end of the book. She did not seem to realistically portray a Muslim girl.

A major plus for this story is the history lessons you get. You learn all about Israel. I felt inclined to get out a pencil so I could underline things and take notes.
The story is well paced, and my only real complaint is Nayra. The author may have wished to portray Christians as tolerant with Daniel's respect for Nayra, but it looks more like ignorance and stupidity. There could have been good tension between the two as Daniel strived to show a young, blind girl the love of Christ, but instead, we just respect her because she is religious. Even though she is the only flaw, I felt she alone changed this book from good, to below average.

In the end, I would rate it two stars.

You can buy "The Face of God" at Amazon.com and read it for yourself.

If you wish to learn about the many books that Bill Meyers has written, check out his website.

Next up, I'll review "Marduk's Tablet" by T.L. Higley.