Review/Giveaway: Brilliant Disguises

A WINNING READINGS GIVEAWAY!

Title: Brilliant Disguises

Author: William Thornton

Genre: Christian fiction

How to enter: Leave a comment on THIS post right here! If you're a subscriber or a follower, leave a second comment for a second entry.

Entry deadline: June 25, 2010

Restrictions: Open internationally!

That's right, enter right here for this giveaway.  This is my review copy, so it has been thoroughly read.

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Publisher:  Xlibris Corporation
Physical Description: 300-page paperback
List Price: $19.99
ISBN: 978-1441591302

Synopsis:

Cameron Leon is a newly-hired worker for the Forster Foundation, a world-wide charitable organization led by a reclusive billionaire. To get the job, Cameron has to join a church. However, Cameron, still mourning the recent death of his brother Peter, decides he will only pretend to “get saved.” In the process, he impersonates not only a Christian, but on occasion his brother. Cameron continues to receive tearful phone calls from Peter’s widow, Cecelia, who wants to hear her late husband’s voice. Cameron, a born mimic like his brother, flawlessly impersonates him but feels the need for a personal kind of cleansing. In the end, Cameron discovers not only how many faces he has, but how many there are among the people around him. In the end, he finds he has been impersonating someone - or Someone - all along. According to Thornton, BRILLIANT DISGUISES grew from a longing to see the inner life of a Christian in a fictional setting. But the only way to make such a familiar setting appear unfamiliar to Christian readers was to have the story told by someone posing as one. Thornton says, “Probably anyone who has attended an evangelical church, or any church for that matter, has a story of someone who volunteers for everything, is there for every service, has been a model of prayer and devotion for what seems like generations. It could be the Sunday School director or the lady who helps out in the kitchen or the organist. Then one Sunday, they come forward during the dedication and announce that they’ve never felt they were saved. I wondered how that could happen, and I figured it would help if we were dealing with a character who was a born mimic.”

About the Author:

William Thornton is an award-winning writer who has been a newspaper reporter for the past 21 years. He teaches a Sunday School class and is a deacon in a Southern Baptist church. He also maintains a blog on Christian themes in secular and religious fiction and non-fiction. He lives in Alabama with his wife and daughter. You may follow his blog at brilliantdisguises.blogspot.com.

What I Liked:  This isn't typical current Christian fiction - and I enjoyed the variation.  There's an obvious story, but there's an underlying analogy in everything - and I had to think about the hidden meanings.  There isn't much description in terms of settings - city, weather, day-to-day mundane activities - but there is vast description of personal interactions, states of the heart, and internal conflict/conversations.

The book is written in first person - and the main character is well-read.  I enjoyed the quotes and schools of thought he brings out as he analyzes his life, thoughts, and feelings.

And the overall theme is brilliant!  The author takes on a topic we can all relate to if we think about it - the masks we wear in church, in the world, that disguise our inner turmoil.  By dramatizing it, exaggerating it, mysticizing it, if you will, you have a story that bluntly points out the flaws in judging people by their exteriors.  More importantly, you have a story of God's transformative power and forgiveness, even for most brilliant mimics among us.

What I Didn't Like:  Nothing!  I was pleasantly surprised by the thought-provoking quality of this book.  I will caution you that it is not a quick read - if you attempt to skim or speed-read, you'll miss out.

Thanks to the author for the review copy of this book.