The Dead Don't Dance

March 22, 2004
Competent writing and a poignant plot combine to make Martin's first novel with newcomer fiction imprint WestBow an absorbing read for fans of faith-based fiction. In rural South Carolina, Maggie and Dylan expectantly await the birth of their first child. Tragedy strikes when their son is stillborn and Maggie slips into a long-term coma. Refusing to give up on her recovery, a devastated Dylan marks time earning money as an adjunct English professor at Digger Junior College. In a role vaguely reminiscent of the teachers in Mr. Holland's Opus
or To Sir with Love
, Dylan connects with his students in spite of himself and is able to offer hope to others amid his own disappointment and grief. As Dylan waits for some change in Maggie's condition, he reflects on his life and hers in numerous seamless flashbacks. Martin integrates faith elements into the story with a deft touch. But what makes this book sing is not the plot, which sometimes feels disaster-heavy (rape, abortion, coma, car accident), but the delightfully quirky characters. From Amos, the black, bald deputy who is Dylan's best friend, to Bryce Kai MacGregor, a Vietnam veteran who lives north of town in a drive-in movie theater, drinks Old Milwaukee beer and plays the bagpipes mostly in the buff, they are ingeniously imaginative creations. (May)

Forecast
:This promising novel marks the debut of Thomas Nelson's new fiction imprint, WestBow Press, which will also feature titles by Ted Dekker, Angela Hunt, Frank Peretti and Robert Whitlow.

June 1, 2004
Dylan Styles, who once dreamed of a college teaching career, loves the South Carolina farming life he shares with his beloved wife, Maggie. He could not be happier when she tells him that she is pregnant. Nothing prepares Dylan, though, for the tragic delivery, which leaves his infant son dead and Maggie in a coma. Ironically, he is offered the teaching job he had once desired so badly when all he wants now is for Maggie to wake up. One of his students, Amanda, who also works at the hospital where Maggie lies, helps the suicidal and broken Dylan regain his will to live and come to terms with a God who let his son die. What should have been a powerful first novel turns out to be competent but lacking in emotional depth. Nothing here will offend Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) readers, but most libraries should pass on it except for regional collections. Martin lives near Jacksonville, FL.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2004
Although not perfect, life for Dylan Styles is initially just the way he likes it. Once a professional student, he finds his footing in Digger, South Carolina, the small farming community where he grew up. Here on his grandparents' old farm, Dylan and his wife, Maggie, find happiness in the daily rhythms of the natural world. Maggie's pregnancy only adds to their contentment. However, a complicated delivery changes everything; their son is stillborn, and Maggie falls into a deep coma. Suddenly Dylan is thrown into a position of painful uncertainty. His doubt extends into theological realms as he asks the agonizing question, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Fortunately, he is surrounded by people willing to help and lands a teaching position at a local college. Here Dylan finds an example in one of his students who handles her own pregnancy from a brutal rape with infinite grace. Like God in the story of Job, the author tests his protagonist repeatedly until Dylan returns to an underlying truth that was never really lost.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)