Light from Distant Stars
by Shawn Smucker
Light from Distant Stars is an interesting book that takes the reader on a journey through the life of Cohen Marah in a series of flashbacks of memory as he deals with a situation in his present-day life and ponders a question that is heavy upon his heart and soul. Can you kill someone without doing the deed?
As we are taken through Cohen's life we get to understand him and his relationship with his father - a relationship that is hard to define as it is one that also includes that of employer/employee. After leaving his position as a pastor following a total breakup of the Marah family Cohen's father takes on the duties of a funeral home with the upper floor being his and Cohen's new home.
The gruesomeness of his father's new profession leaves a permanent impression on Cohen especially when he walks in on an especially troubling scene. A scene which leads him to seek a short escape from this new life and brings him into a most unique friendship (of a sort) with two young people who are attempting to find and stop something that Cohen can't explain. He just knows that it is dark and evil.
Cohen's memories are interspersed through the present as he and his sister Kaye struggle to come to terms with the loss of their father. And Cohen has the added guilt of his last conversation with his father weighing on him.
If you want a twist of suspense in your reading Shawn Smucker definitely gives it in this book. I don't think there is as much speculatism in this book as his previous titles (The Day the Angels Fell and The Edge of Over There) but there is an underlining thread of it that is subtly present. Overall this is a good read. The family dynamics add something to the story and I can't really say I empathize with his parents in any way but I do like Cohen and Kaye. Those who like the writing of Frank Peretti, Ted Dekker, and Erin Healy will most likely enjoy this one.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher with no expectations but that I offer my honest opinion - all thoughts expressed are my own.
About the Book:
When Cohen Marah steps over his father's body in the basement embalming room of the family's funeral home, he has no idea that he is stepping into a labyrinth of memory. As the last one to see his father, Cohen is the primary suspect.
Over the next week, Cohen's childhood memories come back in living color. The dramatic events that led to his father being asked to leave his pastoral position. The game of baseball that somehow kept them together. And the two children in the forest who became his friends--and enlisted him in a dark and dangerous undertaking. As the lines blur between what was real and what was imaginary, Cohen is faced with the question he's been avoiding: Did he kill his father?
In Light from Distant Stars, master story weaver Shawn Smucker relays a tale both eerie and enchanting, one that will have you questioning reality and reaching out for what is true, good, and genuine.
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~ Blooming with Books