Hadassah: One Night With the King by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen

Haddassah has been taken by force to Persian King Xerxes' palace in order to undergo a year of treatment to be ready to meet the king and perhaps become the future queen. Hadassah did not choose this life: it chose her; but she is willing to do all she can win the contest she's been caught up in. She has had to leave behind her adoptive father and the only man she ever loved in pursuit of a new and greater love. She has to keep her identity a secret for fear of those who want to kill her. As the day draws near, everything in her life hinges on her one thing; one thing decides what she will do the rest of her life. It all is decided on one night with the king.

Tommy Tenney seems to enjoy fictionalizing Scriptural accounts, and perhaps he has found his place in life. A story like the story of Esther gives him room for creative licence, and he used this freedom in the correct way by making it realistic. Yet Hadassah fell short of the Elite List because of one thing-that thing being the most important thing an author can add to his book.

Characters are the most important thing, and Tommy fell short in this category. He retained the personality of Xerxes, for one can hardly ignore that, yet he resorted to stereotypical characters when dealing with the others. This is critical in such a limited plot as this, yet Tommy did not deliver, causing this book to fall below the Elite List.

Tommy expanded the story by adding background on how Haman was an Agagite and how Hadassah came to be named Esther. He opens the reader's eyes to what really went on in Persia using historical accounts. Many realistic things happen outside of the true story. The plot was as good as it could have been under the circumstances.

But adapted plots can never be five stars unless they are altered. There is a cap of four stars on an adapted plot because the reader already knows what is going to happen and because the author did not necessarily invent anything. Hadassah did not make this par because the characters are undeveloped. The only thing an author can do to improve an adapted plot save for changing it is adding good characters.

Yet Tommy Tenney shows promise as an author. It would be nice to see what he can do when he's not hiding behind borrowed plots, but again perhaps he has found his place in this world.

3.5 stars

Rescued by John Bevere and Mark Andrew Olsen

Alan Rockaway, his second wife Jenny, and his teenage son Jeff are currently on a cruise geared toward married couples. They think all is well in their lives until they get caught in a government operation gone wrong. Everyone on the cruise except Jeff ends up trapped underwater in a submarine in which the oxygen levels are limited and time is running out. Jeff tries frantically to reach them in time, but his efforts seem futile. Meanwhile, in the submarine, something is happening that no one else knows about. Those who are facing death are about to experience something they never thought they would experience that day. Their lives and destinies are about to be changed forever-and death is only the beginning.

The best thing about Rescued is the element of surprise. I love it when authors mislead the reader with the book's description and then in the middle of the book, flip the world upside down and change the rules. Rescued is not cheap suspense because of this. Even though the cover and the description hint cheap and predictable suspense, this book is a good example of not judging a book by its cover.

The plot is based entirely on imperfect characters and how wrong choices effect eternity. Even though at first, the characters are good at deceiving the reader into thinking everything in their lives is fine, everything is not fine. There is something seriously wrong with each one of them. Not a single character is perfect in this book because imperfection is its basis.

I cannot tell you anything about this book's real purpose because that would be giving things away. It has a point deeper than the reader realizes at first. I simply love books like this one that are centered around choices. This book is clearly John Bevere's life work. It also makes evident that Mark Andrew Olsen needs a good coauthor to write successful books.

Besides the deep foundational idea behind this book, the biggest lesson I learned was how not to prejudge a book by its description. This book also proves that any kind of plot has potential.

Mark Andrew Olsen should consider coauthoring more books.

5 stars

The Road Home by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen

Ruth is a cocktail waitress on a strip in Las Vegas. Her husband and his brother have just recently died of separate causes. Their mother, Naomi, also a widow, has nothing to her name but a beat up Impala and thousands of dollars of debt. She decided to embark on a trip across America back to her roots in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and reinstate herself as an Old Order Mennonite. Ruth begs to go with her and Naomi allows her to. Together, in a car that might not last another day, they travel across the country on the road home to where they need to be.

Everyone who is a true Christian knows the story of Ruth. Tommy and Mark do not abandon the story at all, but predictably follow the storyline with a few additives. Save for some minor character development, there is nothing new or exciting about this retelling besides the extended road trip.

As I said, the characters are okay. Naomi's personality is the same as the real Naomi's personality in the Bible. Ruth lacks personality, and Boaz's has been changed. Otherwise, there are few characters but even fewer personalities. Fewer characters should mean better personalities, but obviously neither of these authors knows how to such properly.

People enjoy the story of Ruth because it is an ideal romance. Tragedy at the beginning, conflict in the middle, and a seemingly perfect male lead to save the day and become a replacement romance. There is really no point in retelling a story everyone should already know. One learns nothing from this. If an author will put their own spin on the story, this is another situation entirely. I do not mean modernize it like many have or expand upon an obscure part of the story like the authors did in this novel. I mean altering the story in a part where a major choice is made to see what an alternate outcome could have been. The argument for this is changing what the Bible says. This does not affect the Biblical account at all. This shows the reader why God did not allow certain things to happen and why He still does this.

The authors spent so much time on the long road trip, that other aspects of the story are thrown together. The end of the book, especially the meeting of Boaz, is obviously thrown together and rushed. Also, the parallels between the Bible and fiction are very obvious, not even bothering to change any of the names of people or cities. On one hand this is interesting because they took the time to find modern parallels.

There is nothing inherently wrong with this book, and it may be better than you might think, I just want the authors to be more creative.

2.5 stars

Ulterior Motives by Mark Andrew Olsen

Greg Cahill is a disgraced soldier who serves in prison ministry. He is dumbfounded when the US Army calls him, telling him they have a special job for him-one that they feel only he can do. An Al-Qaeda email has been intercepted that reveals secrets of a coming attack on America. The leader of the terrorist cell has been captured, but he isn't talking. He silently clings to his religion in a dark cell. The Army is desperate, therefore, they resort to extreme measures-they want Greg to befriend the man all America hates and, in an offer disguised as clemency, steal important information from him. But then Greg and Omar must flee for their lives under strange circumstances in order to stop the tragedy that is coming upon America.

As usual, Mark Andrew Olsen has crafted a five star idea backed up by extensive research. He has even added to his compliments imperfect characters with personalities. But as one can expect from a terrorist plot, there are problems with the end. An author has yet to craft a five star terrorist plot because they cannot cease meddling with the otherwise realistic end.

Greg has a troubled past, but it is a product of his own wrong choices. He is not a victim of anything but his own doing. This is a plus since this is a character-based plot. The character enactment is realistic. This is something most authors neglect in suspense plots because they believe it to be unnecessary. The fact that Mark has crafted good characters in this book shows that he is growing as an author.

But as with Mark's other books, he couldn't resist fixing a key part of the plot in the end. The plot was already an impossible plot, but he added to it with extra meddling. Other than this, Mark wrote the book to its full potential. If Mark continues to grow as an author, we could be looking at a five star book down the road. It is an encouragement to see that he did not get stuck in a rut with the The Watchers series.

All in all, Mark Andrew Olsen is among the most promising authors for the future.

4.5 stars

The Assignment by Mark Andrew Olsen

When the members of a covert order unearth a man who is alive in his own tomb, they attempt the keep him a secret from the world. The man claims he has lived for two thousand years, even though he does not look old at all. Despite their attempts to keep him undercover, the man leaves to continue to fulfill his mission-keep Satan from inhabiting a man before God is ready for the Rapture to begin. He travels the world following one man in order to keep the Destroyer away from him. Along the way, he gains the interest of the CIA, the Israeli Mossad, Hamas terrorists, renegade factions of the Vatican, a young priest, and a terrified grad student. The world is no longer the same place it was before this man came. He has seen the blood-stained history of this imperfect world, and he has lived to tell about it.

At a glance, this book looks like a bogus speculative book complete with exorcisms. Well, it has exorcisms, but it's not all that shallow. The immortal's identity is a very well explained, carefully crafted idea backed up with Scripture, believe it or not. It is not a mindless sci-fi idea, but a professional work of fiction.

However, the book is more of an exhibition for what the mysterious immortal has done and has gone through rather than a suspense tale. Never fear, there are pointless gunfights and near-death experiences to complete the seemingly mindless globetrotting experience.

It seems at first the Mark is not going to do anything original with this plot, until the reader reaches the middle of the book. That's when things start to get interesting. The book begins to take on more purpose and worth than it previously had.

By the end, there has already been the breaking up of a romantic subplot and a key character death. The one downfall of the book besides the wasted time at the beginning is the lack of good characters. Granted, they are imperfect; even the immortal is imperfect. This is a step in the right direction, but Mark should have used some of that wasted time to develop personalities. Perhaps it is a skill he will develop down the road.

It's good to know that authors like Mark Andrew Olsen are on the market, the type of authors that aren't afraid to try something original. That's always a plus in our book.

4 stars

The Watchers by Mark Andrew Olsen

Abby Sherman has just had the strangest dream. No, more like a vision. In the vision, she became another person and was able to hold the Son of God. Now she has shared the news with the world by posting her entire vision on her MyCorner blog. Not long after this, she is put in the hospital by an unknown assailant that killed a close friend of hers. When she tells one of the nurses about her vision, she is about to admit her into the mental institution, until another nurse levels with her and tells her that she had the very same experience one day. This is compounded by an overwhelming response to her blog. Thousands of emails come in from women saying they all had the same experience. Another vision leads Abby to the jungles of Africa, where she crosses paths with Dylan, a man who was hired to kill her. The more Abby learns about her strange visions, the higher the stakes get and the more dangerous the chase gets.

As usual, Mark Andrew Olsen has written a professional plot based on a creative idea that is backed up by Scripture. The idea is well researched and well thought out as opposed to the cheap, slapped-together fiction we often see on the market. Mark is definitely a step above most authors because he means business. However, there are problems with The Watchers.

As usual, Mark is lacking in the character department. The main characters neither have personalities, nor do they make any mistakes. They are typical plot devices used to fill typical places in this plot. If Mark wants a five star book, he needs to work on his characters.

Another problem with the book is Mark's frequent use of sensationalism. The gifts and the visions cause him to be liberal with cheesy imagery and sensationalism. I see this very often in books like these. Authors feel the need to appeal to the public with sights of angels, healings, near-death experiences, and the like. Mark could have avoided this common mistake easily.

And lastly, generally everything works out in the end. Where there was potential to land this book onto the Elite List, Mark ruined it by meddling with the character's realistic situations. Mark would have done better to leave well enough alone. This would have put the book onto the Elite List instead of making it fall in line with other mediocre books on the market.

All in all, there is hope for Mark Andrew Olsen if he continues the normal track of an author and fixes his problems in order to become a better author.

3 stars