When You Judge a Book by it's Cover

I know that they tell you not to judge a book by it’s cover, but that is a rule that I literally break on a regular basis (it’s a side effect of being a graphic designer). Sure, there have been the rare occasions that I read a book with a bad cover that I thoroughly enjoyed and vice versa, but for the sake of this blog post, we won’t dwell on those.

This story begins last year while I was in the Family Christian Bookstore and saw the book cover for Fatherless. It seized my attention. Noting that the book was written by Dr. James Dobson, I flipped open the book and read the synopsis. Incredibly intrigued but not willing to pay the $25 price tag, I regretfully put the book back on the shelf.

Fast-foward to February of 2014, I signed up for a subscription for Audible. Audio books and dramatic audio presentations are like my daily bread, I love having my mind occupied while cleaning, cooking, sewing, designing graphics, etc. Care to take a guess at what my first audio download was? If you guessed Fatherless, you’d be absolutely correct. In less than 48 hours I had eagerly devoured the entire thing.

In Fatherless, Dr. James Dobson and Kurt Bruner depict America 28 years in the future. They explore the dire consequences that could result if America continues on the path she is currently on. It is 2042: the world has past a tipping point. For the first time in history, developed nations have more retired elderly than young workers who can sustain them. The planet finds itself in the midst of an economical collapse. The solution? The president introduced a “forward-thinking” plan called the Youth Initiative. In this plan, elderly can choose to end their life by euthanasia in order to “transition” their wealth and assets to their children and grandchildren.

The stage being thus set, enter Julia Davidson, Troy Simmons, Kevin and Angie Tolbert, Matthew Adams, and a slew of supporting characters whom we grow to love, hate, cry for, and celebrate with throughout the trilogy (Fatherless, Childless, and Godless).

This series may be too political for some, but I loved the blend of social problems, politics, mystery, relationships, morality, ethics, and even spiritual warfare. I encourage you to give this trilogy a try. I should note that this series grapples with some pretty weighty topics (as you’ll quickly discover from the opening sentence of the forward), suicide, abortion, this series has it all. I should also note that the trilogy has some mature-ish content that seems to be aimed more toward married audiences, so I don’t know that I can recommend these to anyone younger than myself.

In Fatherless, Childless, and Godless two diametrically opposed world-views clash as America becomes hostile territory to the family and Christianity. The trilogy relentlessly calls for Christians to be a “bright-spot” in an increasingly dark world.