Signs of Life by Creston Mapes

Signs of Life by Creston Mapes
Book 1 of 6: Signs of Life Series
Publisher: Independent (August 7, 2019)

REVIEW BY GWEN M. PLANO

Signs of Life focuses on the ramifications of a mass shooting. It is told in the first person from the perspective of an aging detective (Wayne Deetz) and a bereaved husband (Tyson Cooper). The story begins one year after the tragedy when the court date approaches. The nineteen-year-old shooter (Rogan Sneed) is chained and on his way to the trial. The citizens fill the streets and demand justice. The detective wants to be sure there are no accomplices. And the husband seeks revenge. All convene on this fateful day.

The husband marches towards the courthouse with one thought in mind. He will end the life of the criminal who destroyed his life. In route to the trial, he discovers a small church and decides to go inside. He collapses on a wooden pew, and we read –

A floodgate is suddenly unbolted, and I break down. It’s as if a wall of raging emotion is unleashed. I lean over on the pew in front of me and cry my eyes out, letting it go—the landslide of poison that’s held me in bondage the past year. Sorrow. Evil. Shame. Anger. Loneliness. Regret. They fall away from me as if I’m literally shedding scales.

-Creston Mapes, Signs of Life

This is an absorbing story. I found myself pausing, taking a breath, then sharing the emotions of the two principal characters. And, as I often do, I faced the question of forgiveness. What does it mean? How does one really forgive the unforgivable?

Mapes’s writing is visually and psychologically evocative. For example, The smell of cigarettes emanates from the old man’s weathered skin. And another example, Sorrow is chiseled into his forehead like old leather. Each of these lines tells a story, a very human story. As for pace, it is fast and furious. I loved the immediacy, the realistic situations, the choices between good and evil, and I especially appreciated the emergence of HOPE.

Signs of Life is an excellent Christian Mystery and Suspense story. The religious dimension is sometimes subtle, but I valued the understated quality because it brought me deeper into the heartfelt emotions. This was a five-fish read for me, and I highly recommend it.

I purchased an ebook of Signs of Life from Amazon.