Review: The Missionary by William Carmichael and David Lambert

Review: The Missionary by William Carmichael and David Lambert

Here is a summary this novel from The Missionary website:

Yesterday, David Eller was an American Missionary in Caracas, Venezuela. Today, he's an international fugitive.

David and his wife Christie rescue impoverished children in the slums of Venezuela. But for David, that's not enough. The supply of homeless children is endless because of the corrupt policies of the Venezuelan government.

In a rare moment of anger, David lashes out publicly against the government, unaware of the chain reaction that will soon follow.

When the CIA offers David a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play a key role in a "bloodless" coup, he decides to go for it. But little by little, he falls into an unimaginable web of deceit that ends in a desperate, life-or-death gamble to flee the country with his wife and son, with all the resources of a corrupt dictatorship at their heels.

My Review: 
When I offered to review this Christian Fiction novel I did not expect to be taken on a journey full of action, suspense and intrigue, but that is exactly what I received!  Although I have only listened to James Patterson's books, this novel seemed to be written in a similar style to Patterson, as things happened quickly and I found myself not wanting to put it down.

David and Christie Eller help to run the Hope Village mission in Caracas, Venezuela.  Money is tight for the mission and if they only had more funds available they could help out the children and community so much more.  David thinks that he may have found himself a golden nugget when he accidentally runs into a man named Carol Edwards one day that seems to take a special interest in Hope Village.

Venezuela is run by a dictator who does not take into account what would be best for the citizens of the country.  Guzman is a greedy, power-hungry leader and many secret organizations and drug rings would do what is necessary to render him powerless.  When David is confronted with a plan to complete this task, he struggles with his faith and what is best for his country and family.  But David is offered a large sum of money to complete just a mediocre task in the overall coup and finds that he can't pass up the opportunity that will in the long run benefit Hope Village financially.

Unfortunately the attempted coup goes awry and David finds himself and his family in grave danger.  They flee Hope Village and after David finds safety for his wife and son he must find a way to save himself.  First he must figure out who exactly he can trust, and to do what he needs to learn who hired him.  Was it a governmental agency like the CIA or could have been some blood-thirsty drug lords?

David's struggle with his faith is really what brought on his problems in this novel, and finding his way back is what saved him.  I enjoyed that about this novel.  It showed us that even devout Christians that have a strong faith still make mistakes, and even big mistakes at that, but can still find their way back to the right road.  I've only read a few Christian fiction novels and found myself starting to avoid them because they were only filled with the almost perfect ideal what we strive for through Christianity, but not what we actually endure.  I think you can see that I enjoyed this novel and definitely recommend it.

My Rating:  4/5

Disclosure:  This book was provided to me from Arielle at Bring It On Communications in exchange for an honest review.