[.ca] Life Support: A Novel (ISBN 0849943744)

Good until the end:
I thoroughly enjoyed this book until the last little bit. Having the main character be sent home so quickly was unrealistic, having Ted suddenly decide to become a music therapist was not transitioned smoothly and probably unrealistic, I didn't care for the late addition of new characters (nurses), one of whom just happens to sing and the cliffhanger with no warning was frustrating - I felt like it was just a ploy to get us to buy the next book. I would have liked to see more development of Alex's conversion and subsequent learning to live as a Christian. The fight between Alex and Ted to see who would get to make the "unchristian" nurse mad because they had permission to play the music was unchristian of them both. I felt frustrated because I did enjoy most of the book, but am not sure I'll buy the sequel.

Entertaining, thought provoking reading.:
Ever since John Grisham wrote "The Firm" and it became a run-away bestseller, legal thrillers have become a dime a dozen. Lots of book publishers have sought to cash in on the trend toward the public's interest and the legal thriller has almost become its own genre-so much so that I fully expect it to get its own section in the bookstore someday. So, it probably shouldn't come as too great a shock that there would, eventually, be a subset of the Christian publishing genre for a legal thriller. What was shocking was how good it turned out to be. Robert Whitlow's "Life Support" is a legal thriller-and it's one with a Christian emphasis. But I'd easily put this legal thriller up against some of the best the secular publishing world has to offer. "Life Support" is just that good. Rena Richardson did not have a happy childhood and she's not grown up to be a happy adult. She married an heir to a family's good fortune and has grown to love the good life. She wants to keep all that-the thing is she doesn't want to keep her husband, Baxter. So, one day while hiking she pushes him over a cliff and makes it look like an accident. But in a cruel twist of fate for Rena, Baxter survives and is put on life support. Rena wants to terminate it to cover her own secrets, but her fat her-in-law, Ezra has another legal document that gives him control over Baxter's life-and he very much wants his son to be living so he can exercise his power of attorney. Ezra has his own agenda as well-he's not all on the up and up and his company harbors some shady secrets he'd rather see kept out of the light of day. Enter into this attorney, Alexia Lindale, who is assigned by her law firm ,which represents Ezra, to go in and mediate things. Rena draws Alexia into her web of lies, leading to Alexia's termination and striking out on her own to represent Rena in a battle against her former employers. Along the way, Alexia meets the musical director at a local church and finds herself being drawn not only to him but also to a newer and deeper relationship with God. "Life Support" is a fascinating character study and one in which the pages fly by. Unlike a lot of other contemporary Christian fiction, the characters are all not lily white, but are instead real human beings. For as much of a one-note villain as Rena could be, Whitlow invests her with just enough likeability to make us feel some sympathy for her and to understand her plight. And as much as Alex and the music minister are the heroes of this novel, they are still human enough to have faults, doubts and foibles. It makes the pages come alive because we feel like all these characters are real people-not just one-note characters the author has created to hammer home his own agenda or point. And although there are some things that are the standard stock of your basic legal thriller and your basic Christian-oriented novel, Whitlow blends them together seamlessly in his novel. This was a great book and one that I found myself sorry to see end-even though it does end at a crossroads with a promise for more to come in 2004. I've not read any of Whitlow's other work, but after reading this one, I am definitely eager for more. Whitlow delivers a page-turning thriller with a profound and heartwarming message at the center. Just like life, there are no easy answers, but that's what makes this book such a pleasure to read.

Disappointing:
I rarely write reviews but this book left me shaking my head. I enjoyed the initial set up with Rena and her husband. The romantic/spiritual subplot seemed contrived and disconnected to the basic plot, until the end of course when the God guy saves the day...with a couple of 30 minute sessions. I was hoping that Alex would begin to sense something was wrong and she would be forced to reevaluate her biases. But no luck. As I approached the final 10 pages of the book, with no twist in sight, I began to smell an overly simplistic, rushed conclusion...and that's what I got. Oh well. I did enjoy The List.

Breathtaking:
I loved this book. I couldn't stop reading it. IT was unlike any book I've read but I was absorbed in it. The end left me begging for the next book to hurry out!!

A wonderful read!!:
This is one of the best thrillers, Christian or not, I have read in a long time. I couldn't put it down! The sequel is coming out in Fall 2004 and I am waiting "on pins and needles" for the conclusion of this story. Resist peeking ahead at the last page of this book because the last sentence is a cliff hanger!