September 21, 2019 
Reviewed By:
Erin Janko, Freelance Writer and Developmental Editor Delavan, WI
Book Title:
Light From Distant Stars
Author:
Shawn Smucker
Publisher:
Revell
Publication Date:
2019
Format:
Print book
Length:
386 pages
Review
Finding his father’s lifeless body in their family’s funeral home drives Cohen Marah to face a terrifying question: did he cause his father’s death?
The days that follow, with his father on life support, connect Cohen to memories of his troubled childhood and relationship with his father growing up. He relives his father’s affair, his parents’ divorce, watching his father succumb to alcoholism.
Tucked in Cohen’s past lies a dark secret. His friendship with two mysterious children in the forest engaged him in a mission that led to an unthinkable end. In the hospital at his father’s bedside, Cohen battles to reconcile the events of the past with the present. And to find redemption for his sins. Smucker’s spell-binding prose creates a cerebral experience for the reader. The blurred separation of imagination and reality in Cohen’s psychology paints his guilt struggle poignantly. As Smucker weaves in themes of self-blame, trauma, and fathers, he leads his readers through a journey of receiving forgiveness.
ASSESSMENT
Rating (1 to 5):
5
Suggested Audience:
Readers of suspense and psychological thriller
Christian Impact:
This story will deepen readers’ understanding of how false guilt and shame bind Christians from finding freedom in God’s fatherly love.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[…] like Smucker’s book Light from Distant Stars, this story has a heavy sense that the past is bearing down on the present. Most of the book cuts […]