Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 084994516X
ISBN-13: 978-0849945168
Jan Jovic, after witnessing the murder of an innocent priest and young girl in Serbia, during WWII, has moved to America and made a fortune with the book he wrote, summarizing the events that changed his life and converted him to Christianity. His perfect plants to marry a beautiful co-worker, Karen, go up in flames when he ends up saving a young woman named Helen, who happens to be a drug addict. His closest friend, Ivena, convinces him to help the poor girl, and both lavish her with clothes, food, and a home. In no time at all Jan has to admit he has fallen in love with this woman, but things can't be easy. Even after revealing to his friends that he has married a drug-addict, he faces the wrath of one man who has supplied Helen-a dangerous man called Glen Lutz. Jan does everything he can to help Helen, but both of their lives end up threatened.
Jan's character is hard to understand at certain points. You know he has turned his life around, but upon falling in love with Helen, we are not truly informed of what motivated him to be with Karen in the first place.
Helen, at first, is someone you can feel sorry for. Her life has basically sucked and she now only lives for the feeling of drugs. Time after time, even after Jan has married her and fought for her, she continues to return to Glen. And I do mean, time after time...after time, after time...after time. A lot of times!
Ivena is probably the most like-able character. She is like a mother to Jan and the wisest person around being as she witness the events In Serbia. She is the one who convinces Jan that his motivations have changed since WWII and now revolve around the money he makes for his ministry.
I admit I have my share of complaints in this book, the main one being how fast Jan falls for Helen, and the irrationality of how he treats her behavior. There never seems to be a moment, where he says, "maybe she won't change, maybe she doesn't want to, maybe she's using me", and I thought that doubt would have crucially improved his character. And the scene where Jan admits he loves her, is rather cheesy-granted, these things are hard to write without coming off that way but still, it was cheesy.
But even with all of my complaints, one thing makes this book worth reading-the close up accounts of drug addiction. Of all the christian authors I have read, none has ever been brave enough to show such things. These sort of things are often viewed from the far away lense of "I'm a Christian, so don't show me these things". Not in this story.
For that alone, I would give it three stars. No avoiding the dirty truth here.
You can buy it at Amazon.com for a decent price.
If you want to learn more about the many books that Dekker has written, see his website.
Next up, I'll review "The Personfied Project".
