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What Are Your Thoughts on Christian Suspense?

I’ve been doing the Wednesday feature, putting up book excerpts by authors — and so far, I’m happy with my choices. I’ve never read a Christian suspense, but today I’m featuring one, The Beloved Daughter by Alana Terry.

Elevator pitch:
In a small
North Korean village, a young girl struggles to survive, but is her
father’s faith, not the famine of North Hamyong Province, that most
threatens Chung-Cha’s well-being. Winner of the Woman of Faith Writing
Contest and #1 Christian suspense on amazon.com.
 

Teaser Excerpt

On
hearing Father’s words, I was sure the officer would beat him, but for the
slightest moment, a look of terror flashed through Pock-Marks’ dark eyes. I was
certain that Father noticed it as well, and he glanced in my direction as if to
say, Did you see it too, daughter?

 

     Unfortunately, that moment of victory was fleeting.The
officer looked Father up and down, then smiled. “It’s a dangerous proposition,”
Pock-Marks goaded, “being so bold when there are children present.” 

     I
stood still, willing myself to breathe. The corner of Father’s lip quivered,
but his voice betrayed no terror as he spoke. “Chung-Cha belongs to Christ,”
Father declared. “Even if you destroy me, God will still watch over my
daughter.” 

     The agent chuckled, taking a single stride toward me. “And what if I
destroy her?”

—–

Buy The Beloved Daughter on Amazon or on the author’s site.
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 Drop by on the 23rd, Friday, for a satirical guest post by famous blogger and awesome blog-friend, Gary Pennick. I know I’m looking forward to it!
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If you’re an author and would like your book excerpt featured, drop me an introductory mail with a link to your book at  atozstories at gmail dot com. I’m now accepting submissions for features in November.
Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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15 Comments

  • Laura W. says:

    This book sounds neat. What I like about it is that it isn't about the "safe" Christianity that so many inspirational novels or Christian fiction tackle. In a way, people in first-world, largely Christian countries going about their lives and dealing with their faith can be a nice read, but at the same time, it's not like it's terribly hard for them to be Christian. Usually those books feature middle-class white people in prosperous countries. This book seems to tackle the genre from a different angle. It's actually a huge danger for these people to express their faith, which probably makes for both a great suspense novel and for interesting discourse about living in faith.

  • Anna Tan says:

    I've read some Christian fiction and found most of them either annoyingly generic or super spiritual. (Same goes with movies).
    Hope this one's different!

  • I have never been able to understand the use of the word Christian in the description of any genre.I find it strange, this automatic assumption that a reference to God belongs only to Christianity.

    • Laura W. says:

      Books that are Christian in genre are specifically about the Christian God and people who follow a Christian religion. This book clearly fits that description, so I don't quite understand what your confusion springs from.

      It sounds like this book in particular is about a Christian family trying to survive in a place where their religion is not accepted and could get them killed. I'd make a guess that it's also about the daughter struggling between admiration for her father's strength in his faith, vs. resentment that he could get her killed, all the while while she's trying to discover what she believes for herself.

  • Alana Terry says:

    Thanks so much for highlighting the book!

  • Hi Damyanti!

    The excerpt sounds interesting!

    I don't really go for heavy religious books but books which touch on religion lightly are okay for me.

    Nas

  • klahanie says:

    Greetings human, Damyanti,

    Although not a fan of stories from a more religious angle, I think my human would have a read, based on the blurb. Found out what a "blurb" is!

    Pawsitive wishes,

    Penny the Jack Russell dog and modest internet superstar! 🙂

  • Melissa says:

    Great excerpt! 🙂

  • I love faith and suspense. This book is two for two for me.

  • Sue H says:

    ….interesting…..I'm curious to read more!

    We get very little Christian fiction available over here in the UK, suspense or otherwise!

    SueH at I refuse to go quietly!

    Twitter – @Librarymaid

  • Damyanti,
    The excerpts do sound interesting.

  • I tend to like suspense books, Christian or otherwise. This would definitely be something I would read.

  • You know… this sounds like something I might read.

    Not generally a fan of inspirational fiction, but this sounds good. 🙂