Whistlestop Wednesday Book Review: "The Map" by David Murrow

While genre crossing is common nowadays, it's rare to find a novel crossed with a nonfiction book. David Murrow's The Map begins as a page-turning thriller, takes a corner onto a teaching road introduced by the story, and then merges back into the novel for a cliffhanger ending.

While I enjoyed the thriller and think the teaching important, needed and life changing, I developed a case of literary whiplash due to the hybrid nature of the book. The format might have worked better if it had been clear from the start that the thriller was an illustration. Instead, we have the author opening the teaching portion of the book by stating, "I have a confession to make." We are thus jolted out of an excellent novel into a classroom. Although David Murrow has a wonderful teaching style, the shift jars.

Despite this, I recommend The Map for male readers and the women who love them. Murrow proposes that a valid reason exists for the absence of men in church services. He goes on to explain the Christian walk as three journeys up a mountain. While I differ from him in seeing a separate teaching for men in the passages from Matthew he cites, men will most benefit from his honest insights and call to manliness.

Available at Amazon.com

*A complimentary copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher for purposes of review.