This Side of Salvation
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
David confronts his desires and his demons in this novel about what it means to be left behind—literally, figuratively, and spiritually—from the author of the Shade trilogy.
Everyone mourns differently. When his older brother was killed, David got angry. As in, fist-meets-someone-else’s-face furious. But his parents? They got religious. David’s still figuring out his relationship with a higher power, but there’s one thing he knows for sure: The closer he gets to Bailey, the better, brighter, happier, more he feels.
Then his parents start cutting all their worldly ties in preparation for the Rush, the divine moment when the faithful will be whisked off to Heaven…and they want David to do the same. David’s torn. He likes living in the moment, and isn’t sure about giving up his best friend, varsity baseball, and Bailey—especially Bailey—in hope of salvation.
But when he comes home late from prom, and late for the Rush, to find that his parents have vanished, David is in more trouble than he ever could have imagined…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grief at the death of oldest son John Cooper drives a wedge between his remaining family members. His parents find solace in a fringe Christian movement, which 17-year old Mara rejects, while 16-year-old narrator David tries to bridge all fissures. On the night that cult leader Sophia declares the Rush (Rapture) will occur, David and Mara return from a forbidden after-prom party to find their parents gone; the clothes left on their bed give the appearance that they vanished. Chapters alternate between "Now," the time after the parents' disappearance, and preceding years, with David recounting events progressively closer to the present. Suspense builds in both time frames: the circumstances of John's death remain ambiguous until the end, while the mystery involving the Cooper parents unfolds as David, Mara, and close friends unravel clues. A homeschooled, competitive baseball player, David wrestles with his parents' rigid and bizarre biblical interpretations, which ironically prods his own spiritual journey in a different direction. Smith-Ready (the Shade trilogy) combines a thought-provoking exploration of faith with high-stakes family drama to create a page-turner with real heft. Ages 14 up.
