I can’t remember where I heard about this book, but it ended up on my Amazon wish list shortly after I read the synopsis. Lucky for me, it’s one of several books my brother and s-i-l gave to me for Christmas.
Title: When Crickets Cry
Author: Charles Martin
Publication Information: Thomas Nelson (April 4, 2006), 320 pgs.
Genre: Fiction – General/Fiction – Christian
Explanation/Summary:
When tragedy struck Reese Mitch, he headed for the hills. The hills of Clayton, Georgia. In this sleepy, little Southern town Reese blends right in making a living restoring old boats with his childhood friend/brother-in-law, Charlie. One day, Reese happens upon a freckle-faced little girl selling lemonade. He notices there’s more than meets the eye when he purchases his cup. The reader gets a sideline view of Annie Stephens’ story, the lemonade girl with physical heart problems, and Reese’s story, the runaway with spiritual heart problems. This beautiful story tells how each helps the other find true healing for their heart.
Analysis and Evaluation:
Charles Martin is a talented writer who masterfully weaves scientific, medical information about the physical blood pumping heart in with beautiful, emotional story telling.
Martin’s writing is beautiful. His scientific writing is reminiscent of Michael Crichton, but instead of high-intensity suspense, Martin blends his tale with thoughtful, beautiful prose.
The strength is that it is a well written story with a bit of everything: drama, mystery, friendship, and a love story. I also enjoyed that every character had an enduring faith in God, or they were working to help others learn about God. As for the weakness, it’s minor, and it really just has to do with my preference – I don’t care for flashbacks. It took me the first quarter of the book to figure out who was who and what was going on in each time period.
Oh, this was a good book. Like a lot of stories set in the South, it had a sorta slow-moving, lazy-day feeling to the start, but it certainly picked up and increased in pace through the end of the book. It was a truly moving book that I greatly enjoyed.
Yes, yes, yes! I’m so happy that I’ve finally found a book that I can whole-heartedly recommend with absolutely no reservations. This was a pretty quick read (about 3 days for me) and it offered a good message of the love and hope offered in a relationship with Jesus.
I just finished this book last week. I’ve never read this author before, his story / style reminded me of Nicholas Sparks. I did enjoy the flashbacks as a way to fill in the background. I also would highly recommend this book to others (& have already loaned it to a friend). Look forward to finding more books by Charles Martin.
Enjoy this year of homeschooling! We’ve done it w/ our two sons from day one (they are now 13 & 12), the early years go by FAST!
Lyn in FW