Prophet by Frank Peretti

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Prophet: A Novel by Frank Peretti
Series: a standalone
Publisher: Howard Books on February 14, 2012

REVIEW BY STACI TROILO

Prophet is a Christian mystery/suspense novel told from the perspectives of several characters. The titular character is John Barrett Jr., a news anchor whose father’s protest causes him embarrassment during the coverage of a political rally. The hot-button topic in the political race is abortion. The current governor, who is running for reelection, is making that issue the crux of his platform. Many of Barrett’s coworkers support the governor and his agenda. Even Barrett himself initially cringes at his father’s public opposition.

That all changes. And that’s where the meat of the book takes place.

The cast of this story is pretty large, and the way they all tie together at the end is incredibly satisfying. There are roughly four different groups—the politicians, the media, the medical professionals, and the families who have been impacted by this issue.

• The Politicians. Even though this is a political story, we really only see the campaign machine of the pro-choice side. Abortion is the weapon with which the campaign is fought, but the story is more about the politician and his staff than the issue itself.
• The Media. Most of the newsroom sides with the politician, for various reasons. Some are friends with the governor. Some don’t want politics to affect the bottomline of the business. Some have a personal stake in the issue. Background characters stay largely unaware of the undercurrents until the climax, at which point we get a variety of views. Only two reporters take the pro-life side, though their investigation is less about the morality of the issue and more about crimes committed in connection with the issue.
• The Medical Professionals. We’re given a candid look at how HIPAA laws can be weaponized for a political agenda and how doctors keep quiet at several points throughout the lifecycle of a problem to protect their careers.
• The Families. Abortion doesn’t just impact the baby and the mother. If, God forbid, something goes wrong, the circle of people impacted can be quite large. We see how far the ripples can extend, how bad it can be, and how some good can come from even the darkest of situations.

This topic had the potential to go off the rails and become a preachy lecture. It doesn’t. The author does a wonderful job of staying within the genre and making the story about the mystery. There are “natural” and “accidental” deaths that turn out to be crimes, and the investigation into those cases opens up Pandora’s box. Peretti introduces a tangle of plot lines that he deftly weaves into a cohesive story.

Prophet is not a whodunnit. We meet the villain early and loathe him for his greed and ambition. It’s still interesting to see all the steps he takes to secure his future and how it might go wrong for him.

The story is told from several points of view, often in the same scene. The head-hopping didn’t bother me too much once I got used to it. What I really loved as a storytelling device was the way the news anchor thought through everything as a newsman would, and the way the story is sometimes revealed to us through news programming (both behind the scenes and online reports) and through political ads. It wasn’t quite epistolary, but it was an invigorating storytelling device.

As I said, this isn’t a preachy novel, but there are two very strong messages.

1. It’s more important to do what’s right than what’s easy.
2. Situations can be manipulated, but the Truth cannot. At some point, we will all have to face it.

“Things happen to the Truth. I mean, even if we could prove everything, how do we know somebody isn’t going to cut it all up and mash it and paste stuff on it and turn it around and ignore parts of it…”
John chuckled. “Everybody does that with the Truth, Carl, not just the news media. It’s what we do as human beings with… well, with things we don’t want to face.”

Frank Peretti, Prophet
Conversation between Cole Barrett and John Barrett

Overall, Prophet is an easy read. Once you get past the head-hopping (if that bothers you), you’ll fly through the pages. It’s not a sanctimonious novel, though it does have important messages. I rate this novel four fish.

_{I read Prophet through Scribd.}