Beautiful review of A Slow Burn

Oct 20, 2009Write!


This review comes from Christina Severinghaus.

This is the second book of fiction that I have read written by Mary DeMuth. Just like the first one, Daisy Chain, this one A Slow Burn kept me up all night, I simply could not put it down. Her character development is amazing, the descriptions of Defiance so real, I immediately feel transported to this slow town in hot Texas. I can almost hear the dialogues and the scents, sounds, the wind, the heat from the fire are so vivid, I truly feel I am right there and not in the comfort of my little house in CA. Mary has a way with words that make them jump off the page and become alive. It is a delight to read such well written work.

I do not read a lot of fiction as most is so formulaic, and half way through the book I can usually predict the ending, not with Mary DeMuth’s fiction. Her characters are not black and white, good and evil, but a little of both and many shades of gray, much like most of humanity. I can easily identify, although reluctantly, with Jed, Hap, Emory, and Ousie, all of whom I share experiences and feelings with. The only one I wished I could identify with is Hixon but if I am truly honest with myself I have a long way to go to be like him. Although this is fiction, it forced me to think, to reflect, to readjust, to reconsider and redirect – all the while keeping me at the edge of my seat as I followed the lives of the people in Defiance. Mary DeMuth shows that there is hope, there is redemption, and there is grace in this fallen world.

This is a book that will force the reader to think, it will challenge common wisdom and conventions and it will vividly depict the immense and incredible love of Jesus. There is only one problem with this book, that the third book is not available yet. I cannot wait to learn what will happen to my friends in Defiance.

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