cover image Blown Coverage

Blown Coverage

Jason Elam, Steve Yohn, . . Tyndale, $13.99 (374pp) ISBN 978-1-4143-1732-8

With a pure shot of Christian fiction testosterone, pro NFL kicker Elam and pastor turned full-time writer Yohn offer a second Riley Covington thriller. The pro football life of Riley is wrapped around a terrorist plot to kill him after he heroically thwarted a full-blown stadium attack months earlier, in Monday Night Jihad . For readers who enjoy a suspenseful near-super-hero versus underworld story, this thriller disappoints with its predictable arc and passages of dialogue that are downright mundane and off the plot path. More successfully, the authors use multiple points of view to get inside the minds and excruciating decisions of individual terrorists wrestling, along with the bombs in backpacks, with their own jagged emotions and faith. The novel mixes inside looks into pro football, the faith decisions of terrorists and an irresistible passion between hero and heroine. Christian thriller fans will find enough to keep them on the hook until the last page. (Jan.)