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Intervention

by Jessica Gerald  
6/06/2010 / Book Reviews

Author: Terri Blackstock
Genre: Christian Thriller/Suspense Fiction
Publisher: Zondervan, 2009

When they say that Terri Blackstock is known for her "up all night fiction" - believe it! I literally couldn't stop reading this book. I was up till 2:00 in the morning to finish it.

"Our culture is killing our kids."

The story begins when Barbara Covington picks up Trish Massey at the airport. Trish is an interventionist with a drug rehab center halfway across the country from Barbara's home. Trish has come to accompany Barbara's daughter, Emily, to the rehab center in Atlanta, Georgia, although Emily doesn't know it yet.

Eighteen-year-old Emily was brought up in a Christian family. But when her father died four years ago, she started going downhill. Emily had fallen in with a wrong crowd and gotten addicted to drugs. She spent time in a juvenile detention center for DUI and possession, but returned to the drugs when she was released.

Her mother, Barbara, has tried everything to help her. She even attended AA herself, but Emily was not cooperating. She would sneak out of the house and had a network of "drug" friends to hide her when she wanted.

Barbara took out a second mortgage on her home to pay the thirty-thousand dollars to send Emily to Road Back Recovery Center with Trish. If this didn't help Emily, she was out of options and out of money. Barbara was afraid her daughter would end up in jail, or worse - dead.

She also has a fourteen-year-old son, Lance, who is not into drugs or any type of trouble. She worries that she is so occupied with Emily's troubles that she is leaving him out.

After tears and tantrums, Emily reluctantly agrees to go with Trish, mainly because she knows she has no choice. Barbara and Lance drive the two of them to the airport, say their good-byes, and watch the plane take off.

One of the rules of the rehab center is that the clients are not allowed to have cell phones. But when the plane lands in Atlanta, Emily calls her mother from Trish's phone and says they have arrived safely. Barbara is relieved and thankful that the nightmare is almost over.

Little does she realize that it is just beginning. Later that evening, Barbara gets a call from Detective Kent Harlan from the Atlanta Police Department. It seems that Trish has been murdered and Emily has disappeared. And Emily is the main "person of interest" in the murder!

From here on the book will keep you racing through the pages. Barbara and Lance take the 11:00 flight to Atlanta to search for Emily, if she is still alive. The journey takes them "where angels fear to tread."

Terri Blackstock reveals at the end of the book that her own daughter was trapped in the bondage of addiction. So she writes this book from a mother's heart. She knows exactly what parents of drug addicts go through because she has been there herself.

I believe there are several strong messages in this novel. The first one she addresses is the stigma that is attached to drug addicts. Many people, especially ones who haven't dealt with this problem, assume the worst because a person is a "junkie." In this book, the law enforcement and the media just assumed that Emily was the murderer simply because she had an addiction problem. No one but her mother and brother gave thought to the fact that maybe she didn't murder Trish, and that she might be dead or in grave danger herself.

Throughout the book, Barbara is constantly beating herself up mentally over her own possible mistakes or failures as a parent. She had brought Emily up well, so why had she turned to drugs? Had Barbara been too strict, or too lenient? Where had she gone wrong? Where was God in all of this?

We also see firsthand what drug addiction does to the whole family, not just the drug addict themselves. The shame and humiliation pile up as the daughter gets into more and more trouble, and it's all public. Even Barbara's well-meaning friends think she should just practice "tough love" and get on with her life.

As I was reading this book, I couldn't help but think of the Pharisees who criticized Jesus for hanging out with the "sinners and tax collectors." I believe if Jesus walked physically on the earth today, he would be hanging out at the methadone clinics. And he'd be criticized for that, I'm sure.

But, thank God, Jesus came to "seek and save those who are lost." (Luke 19:10) "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17) Praise God!

Jessica Gerald is a Christian wife, mother of two grown sons, retired elementary school teacher, and current Sunday school teacher of fourth and fifth graders. You may visit her website at http://www.oldfashionedhomemaking.com.

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