Healing Waters by Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue

Lucia has lived her life condemning herself for her weight problems while serving and elevating her sister Sonia and her faith healing ministry. But her world is shattered the day Lucia witnesses Sonia's plane fall from the sky, leaving Sonia has the only survivor. A burned survivor. Her once-beautiful has been destroyed by the accident, and the doctors are skeptical as to whether it will ever heal. While trying to care for her sister, Lucia finds herself dealing with Sonia's "friends", her partners in ministry. She was already turned off to Christianity, and now she is even more so. But when Sonia develops a severe case of psychosis as a result of the accident, Lucia immerses herself into caring for Sonia's ignored six-year-old daughter. But Lucia is forced to face her own problems when offbeat psychologist\counselor Sullivan Crisp, a good friend of Sonia's, comes to her mansion to help out. She soon realizes needs his comfort and guidance, especially since someone is trying to kill someone in the mansion...

Once again, Stephen Arterburn and Nancy Rue have written a character based plot driven by super characters. Yet this plot is dragged down by its typical end, as is usually the case with the Sullivan Crisp series.

Lucia, Sonia, Sully, and all the other eccentric characters coming and going in Sonia's mansion are entertaining, imperfect, and realistic. It is one of the best casts of characters I have ever read. They create a strange situation that cannot be compared to any other plot. Sully remains to be the realistic therapist instead of the fatherly mentor he could have so easily become. Lucia is a good lead because while she could have been made into a victim because she helps people so much, the authors did not do this. She is a real person with real problems that the reader can relate to. Sonia is also one of the more interesting characters because it is interesting to watch her progression into insanity. However, it is not interesting to see her miraculously return from this insanity and become a repentant person.

This brings us to the book's biggest problem. While the body of the book is entertaining mostly because the situation is a bit off-the-wall, the end was where the rating started to fall. While the villain was surprising and intriguing, the authors twist things around so that Sonia turns into a victim rather than a lunatic. This is the product of a cheesy showdown scene with the villain, which of course, ends predictably. Healing Waters was definitely a fall from Healing Stones.

Yet this book was not all bad because of the situation the characters created. The Sullivan Crisp series is one of the best series on the market because it is consistently driven by good characters.

4 stars