Broken - Travis Thrasher

You’ll recall the Biblical story of Hosea: called by God to marry a prostitute in order to demonstrate the love God has for His people and to portray in vivid detail how His people are sinning against Him. The picture we get from this comes from God’s perspective. But what of the woman? What of this soul so broken that she finds it hard to love herself let alone another?

In a stunning tale of mystery, intrigue, and danger, Broken takes us on a heart-rending journey in the life of Laila, a girl whose broken past is beginning to catch up with her. Six months earlier, she’d killed a man. In her defense, it was to protect herself, but she’s still haunted by the guilt. Nobody knows. Nobody. Or so she thinks. When she’s discovered by a stranger who knows about her crime, and wants to make her pay, she’s forced to run. But running seems to do little good. Her only chance is to accept the help of the One who can bind up the broken and make her whole again.

Each time I read a novel by Travis Thrasher, I close the cover and tell myself that was his best. But I find it hard to imagine that Thrasher is going to be able to surpass Broken easily. As the pieces fell together in the closing chapters, as the mystery became clear, as the tension heightened, as the story climaxed, as the theme hit home and began to wash over my soul…the story literally drove me to tears. And when I did close the cover, it left me in quiet and prayerful contemplation.

The writing is superb. It takes a few chapters to get used to Thrasher’s use of the present tense, but it’s a technique that throws the reader into the moment more than ever. Flashbacks in the form of diary entries serve to paint the background story for this broken soul. The action is intense, the pace breakneck, the aura of mystery palpable, the sense of the supernatural mysterious. But it all serves only to point to Thrasher’s theme: No matter how broken, there is hope for redemption.

Broken? That’s a place I’ve been, a place I am. Not the situation that Laila finds herself in, but I get Thrasher’s message. It’s his Hosea story. It’s his story of all of us and how utterly broken we are and how we need the hope that can only be found in Jesus. Of how, even though we are the cause of our brokenness, He takes His broken heart and heals us with His broken body. In the vein of Isolation and Ghostwriter, Thrasher gives us Broken, one of his best stories to date.

Broken is such a great book that I want to give it away. As a matter of fact, throughout the rest of this week and into the next, I'll be giving away copies absolutely free. The observant among you have already entered contest #1 on my Facebook fan page, this is contest #2. Comment on this review and be entered to win a copy of Broken. Nothing else required. If you've signed up for contest #1, go ahead and enter here as well. The winner of contest #1 will not be eligible for to win, but everybody else is! Contest will end at 11:59p Saturday.

Broken - Travis Thrasher