Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Bethany House (March 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0764203460
ISBN-13: 978-0764203466

From the inside cover:
A breath from tragedy, a whisper from glory.

For Patrick Nolan, every climb tells a story. And now maybe it’s his own…He’s right at the rim, staring over the cliff’s knife edge and wondering how things went wrong so quickly.

It all started after arriving home from a weekend climbing trip with his father, Kevin. That’s when word reached them. In a silent moment, they’d lost the person most important to them — her death raising unanswerable questions and dangerous doubts.

Launching a new life in a new town to escape their pain, son and father find themselves in danger of being torn apart forever. As his father seeks a route to solace on the dangerous high face of the rock, Paterick finds a path to hope with the unlikeliest of allies — a pastor’s daughter. Together they must discover the one answer that can bring Patrick and Kevin back from the brink of the precipice.

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I really enjoyed this book. I’m not much into rock climbing, or any type of sport for that matter, but the book was a good read. After Patrick’s mother’s sudden death, him and his father, Kevin, open a rock-climbing store in West Virgina.

I really liked the twist near the end.(SPOILER BELOW, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT YET READ THE BOOK)
The twist I’m talking about is when we discover that Patrick’s mother’s death may have not been a suicide. Also, since I’m a romance novelist, I enjoyed reading about the flourishing romance between Patrick and Rachel, however, I wish I could have changed the ending, and made it so that they were together at the end! I was so disappointed that they hooked up with other people!

Patrick’s faith was something he had to learn late in life on his own since neither of his parents ever attended church. When he accepted Christ, and then was baptized by Preacher, and started going to Rachel’s church regularly, made it a book truly worth reading. Then his newfound relationship with Christ caused a rift between him and his father, a rift that did eventually iron itself out, somewhat, however, we’re left wondering if his father really did accept Christ before his tragic death.

I also loved how Patrick and Rachel accidentally came across his deceased mother’s Bible, and they found evidence that she had, indeed, accepted Christ before her untimely death. I was relieved when I read that part. I know these people are not real, but when a writer does a great job with developing his/her characters, I sometimes forget that I’m reading about fictional people.

Oh, another unique thing about this book, which I loved, is that it takes place in the seventies! I grew up in the seventies, and hope to write a book of my own one day that takes place during that timeframe!

I highly recommend this book as a good, satisfying read. It’s a little bit different than most of the books that I read, but different in a good sort of way. Also, it’s told in the first person, which is not something I see in books very often nowadays.

Cecelia Dowdy
www.ceceliadowdy.com