Based upon the recommendation I saw in World Magazine, I obtained and read a novel by Randy Singer entitled False Witness. For a summer novel, it was not a burden to read but I could not give it high marks. It is a paperback you can buy about anywhere. I got mine online.

The novel was an attempt to explore the intrigue of bounty hunters, corrupt lawyers, mobsters, and incredibly valuable technology that falling into the wrong hands, might destroy our way of life. It even included the naïveté of law school students. It was written in a way to maximize its readability, but that always seems to import a certain amount of shallowness. With a governor on violence, there was also a concomitant impediment to self-examination by the characters. Because they did not go too far, they had little to regret, and without regret, there is no twisting of the soul with which to commiserate or self-examine.

The other thing that made it less noteworthy was that the author, to be a “good Christian author,” minimized sexuality and violence while writing about characters that would not have been less violent than they desired, much less than to meet criminal objectives of the highest magnitude. Likewise, Christian characters were noble in the face of sure death and none suffered from cowardice or avarice. In other words, to protect our sensibilities, the author failed to take us where we are afraid to go, failed to take us where we cannot go, and failed to make us confront our own failings, lusts, and weaknesses. In other words, what was the point of the cost, time or effort spent writing it or reading it?

If you like weak tea, well-done meat, and abhor frantic dancing, then you can safely coast through this novel. But if you want a novel that challenges your emotions, challenges your assumptions, and has something lasting to say, this is not it.