Sean Chercover
Tim Trinity is a prosperity gospel huckster who makes Robert Tilton look like a rank amateur. He even “speaks in tongues.” Only lately, much to his dismay, he is speaking in tongues. That is, God is speaking through him. He predicts the destruction of a New Orleans oil refinery and the Kentucky Derby. A lot of powerful people don’t like that. A secret society along the lines of the Freemasons isn’t happy about it. A Las Vegas gambling mogul really doesn’t like it. More importantly, the Vatican doesn’t like it. So they send an operative, Daniel Byrne of the Office of Devil’s Advocate, to debunk Trinity. Byrne has special motivation to stop Trinity. Byrne grew up as Trinity’s ward before he became sickened as a teen by his tent revival con game.
Except Trinity’s not faking it. And those all-powerful theys that don’t like that? They’re trying to kill him. Byrne goes from dutiful priest in search of miracles to trying to keep his uncle alive. It’s a race against the clock, complicated by CNN’s interest in him.
This is a much different novel than Chercover’s Ray Dudgeon books. The plot and cast is wide ranging, and the action snowballs toward a life-and-death confrontation only hinted at in the beginning of the book. It’s not surprising that Trinity is not the villain even he paints himself as. What is surprising is the true nature of the two power blocks working behind the scenes and the identity of the man in the apartment at the novel’s start. Chercover is a skillful suspense artist.
Carrie Wilkerson
Starting your own business and working from home is not a mystery. It just takes a lot of due diligence, a lot of focus, and a lot of determination. Carrie Wilkerson’s book, which I listened to on audio, is part textbook, part promotion for her Barefoot Executive web site and coaching services. There are a lot of books like this that purport to tell you how to get rich quick. The worst I’ve read/listened to recently was Larry Winget’s It’s Called Work for a Reason, in which you pay to listen to Larry yell at his employees under the guise of “motivating you.”
Wilkerson doesn’t waste your time with that kind of self-love. She gives you concrete steps, case studies, and outlines her own history in running her own businesses. Granted, she does push her own Barefoot Executive services a bit too much, and I would like to hear what her earlier businesses were.
While Wilkerson’s delivery in this audio presentation is pleasant – It made a few stressful commutes easier to handle – I recommend you read this in hard copy. Don’t even get the ebook. You’ll want to mark up the book, make notes, and go mad with a highlighter.
Edged in Blue 