A Man Called Blessed (#02 in Caleb Book Series)

A Man Called Blessed is the second in the Caleb Books series by Ted Dekker and Bill Bright. Dekker is famous for his suspense, and that came through in the novel. Bill Bright is famous for his non-fiction books on spiritual maturity, and that came through as well. What didn't come through so well, for me, were likeable characters I could believe in and relate to. We didn't see much of Caleb in the beginning, and it seemed as though he had a personality transplant when he arrived in the desert. It didn't quite ring true. Equally, Rebecca seemed to morph from a military assassin into a stereotypical brash American tourist when she left the monastery. Neither transformation rang true to the characters as they had been established in this book. \\r\\n\\r\\nAnd I had issues with the plot. Some aspects were incomprehensible Others felt contrived. I also had issues with the writing, particularly the overuse of adverbs and exclamation marks, and the developing relationship between Rebecca and Caleb. I continually felt I was being told how they felt about each other-I never saw it. \\r\\n\\r\\nOn a more practical level, it was interesting to gain insight into the minds of the modern Jew and Muslim, especially Palestinian Muslims. There are serious problems in the Middle East, and A Man Called Blessed illustrated them well. \\r\\n\\r\\nThanks to Thomas Nelson and Booksneeze for providing a free ebook for review.