74 of 76 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A philosophical premise made into a story., 23 May 2003
By Michael Erisman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Deadline (Paperback)
This book attacks the concept of political correctness and the hypocritical quicksand of "moral relativism" by weaving a tale of suspense and intrigue into the everyday life of a liberal newspaper reporter. The book hooks you from the beginning, with a story about three friends on a typical Sunday afternoon watching football, and tossing a coin to see who will drive to get the pizza at halftime. The coin lands, and stays, on its side! All three pile into the car together and after picking up the pizza and heading back, there is a terrible accident and the story picks up with one of the three, the reporter, awaking in the hospital. Thus begins a journey during which his popular beliefs about life, meaning and morality are challenged in a very personal way. Instead of spoiling the story, I will leave it up to the reader to explore.
The message of the book can be best described by the following passage regarding morality (page 419). "Maybe the greatest danger isn't when the rules get broken, maybe it's when the rules get changed. Once they're changed you can follow the new rules and think you are doing the right thing, while all the time your new truth is just the old lies. You can tell yourself it's OK because the standards have changed, but if the standards mean anything at all they don't change. I want to follow the truth no matter where it leads me. The Truth will set you free."
Overall, this is a well-written story, and provides enough twists and turns to keep the reader interested. Often however, the author seems to try and take on too many issues at once. The depictions of the social agenda's of various special interest groups and how they drove the slant of news stories was frighteningly accurate, considering the book was written in 1994 well before the documented events of liberal bias on behalf of Networks and print media had been exposed in the last few years by numerous sources. The author points out in the notes at the end of the book that "This is a work of fiction. While it contains many factual details which are the product of careful research, it intermingles these events with fictitious settings and persons".
A good story, with a well-needed message.
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Like a Grisham Novel With More Heart and Soul, 25 Jun 2005
By M. golay Erisman "faithgolay" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Deadline (Paperback)
This book was recommended to me by my husband as something to hold my interest while on the elipical machines. It did just that and left me feeling disappointed when it ended.
Randy Alcorn creatively navigates through several modern issues with interesting characters and a twists-and-turns story. I think it goes without saying that Alcorn is a talented writer. And once you read this book, you'll realize he's also a writer with a mission. That mission, it seems, is to illuminate how the earthly impacts the heavenly (Deadline alternates between Heaven and Earth).
The images and concepts of Heaven are like none I've ever read before. They radically expanded my vision of Heaven, and prompted me to live motivated by an eternal perspective. That's how impactful the imagery is.
Alcorn doesn't shy away from sizzling social and moral issues via Deadline's characters. At times I was surprised at what he was willing to tackle. The main character is a liberal columnist for a major metropolitan newspaper whose moral compass shifts gradually and radically throughout the book. Alcorn steers clear of religiosity, however, by preserving this character's wit, passion and humanity. He remains a critical thinker but from the side he had always scoffed. In the end, he returns to his true love, his teenage daughter, and seems to have found deep peace.
Whether you believe in Heaven and live with an eternal perspective or not, this book is a great read. It could make you angry if you disagree, applaud if you do agree, and simply think differently if you're somewhere in between.
Four stars only because the book is packed...so packed it could have easily been spread into two books. Regardless, thanks to Deadline, I'm looking forward to reading another Alcorn book.
44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To Change A Life, 18 May 1997
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Deadline: A Novel (Paperback)
As a new Christian, I was hungry for any kind of information which would provoke thought and give me something to increase my faith. I began to read the Bible, but enjoyed novels very much. I had heard about "Deadline" from several people, but the size of the novel was a little intimida-
ting. A friend had loaned it to me when I was ill, since I had so much time on my hands. I finally picked it up and began to read. In about two or three pages, I was hooked.
Randy's description of heaven brought me to tears. It gave me great hope and encouragement. I could hardly put it down, because I wanted to remain at that place: the place to which his novel carried me. One of serenity and peace.
I had also been teetering on the fence of my views on abortion. However, when I read Randy's descrip-
tion of conception, my heart was changed forever.
This truly is a life-changing book, and I intend to give it as a gift, to all those in my family who are not saved. I feel like handing it out to people on street corners! We need men like Randy Alcorn, who has a vision of where everyone should strive to be: heaven, worshipping the God who wants us there.